Comment by adrianmsmith
4 months ago
Banks do have obligations under AML and KYC laws to get information from their customers. I mean I know a single phone call sounds extreme, but I could believe it.
My bank (in the EU) wrote to me a while back (post, no copy to email, no sms, no phone call, etc.) saying if I didn't provide info on certain recent transactions (my salary) they'd block my account in two weeks. Thankfully I wasn't on vacation and saw the letter and answered and it was all OK.
Having information about you (that you provide when opening the account) is entirely different from calling you out of the blue after you already have an active account for long enough that you trust and depend on it for your migration status. Refusing then is in no way breaching AML/KYC requirements. They would ask them to validate the identity on the call, not to gather regulatory data on their client. If they didn't have any info and were to "call as ask" how would they know it's the right person and data anyway?
How is a bank not validating one phone call grounds for freezing funds?