Expat campaign to know your bank as well as it knows you

Thanks to everyone who's filled in and submitted ExpatMoneyChannel's Offshore Britain questionnaire. Your answers and comments will help us campaign for a change to current banking regulations whereby British expats seeking to keep open their existing bank accounts when they move abroad, and/or open new UK bank accounts whist overseas, are barred from doing so.

It seems that whilst many Brits on the brink of moving overseas are told by some UK banks that they must close their onshore accounts and open new ones offshore, other banks are turning a blind eye and allowing pre-existing arrangements to continue. The situation is further confused because, whilst the government maintains that the banks are not legally prevented from offering products and services to British expatriates, the banks claim that to do so would put them in breach of 'know your customer' (KYC) regulations, which clearly state that they can only provide accounts to applicants providing UK postal addresses.

The collapse of the Icelandic banks in Guernsey and the Isle of Man dented the confidence of expats looking to start up a new relationship with a bank in an offshore location, such as one of the three finance centres that make up Offshore Britain, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. In many cases, expats first put their toes into offshore waters on a trial basis and closing off the continuity of long-held banking arrangements and relationships early on is neither sought nor welcomed. In fact, there are far too many stories of the whole process of switching to a new bank taking far too long, endless teething problems in re-establishing standing orders and direct debits, and little by way of back-up when the new expatriate needs bank documentation to support a new tenancy application or open an account with a utility company abroad. And then there's the pure comfort factor of leaving savings and money management back on UK soil and familiarity of its regulatory environment. Who wants to turn their back on that? The ideal solution would be for expats, particularly working expats who plan to return to the UK, to keep their UK bank account as well as open an account offshore.

The obstacle lies with the existing KYC anti-money laundering regulation which place stringent demands on the banks to insist on various documentation and practice which proves the bank manager does, indeed, know each customer and their business very well. It is the unhelpful detail in this regulation that has to be challenged, whilst preserving a bank's awareness and understanding of its customers' financial comings and goings, and safeguarding its ability to detect money laundering and other illegal practices.

Our campaign needs your help. To begin with we need a list with examples of the kind of documentation you've been asked to produce to comply with KYC regulation when opening a bank account either back in the UK or overseas (including details you've been asked to provide when moving to an offshore branch of your existing bank). This, plus a note of the kinds of questions you've had to answer will enable us to build a complete picture of current practice. Please also let us know about any occasion when you were turned down by a bank and, if so, on what grounds. What are the banks saying to you, the customer? What documentation or ID do they insist you present to comply with KYC regulation? What services are they saying they can no longer provide you with if you become (or are already) an expatriate?

This campaign is not seeking to get around or transgress the current regulations but it will be appealing for modification that takes into account the expats' plight, highlighting why these rules go so against them. Keep us informed with your responses and we'll keep you informed with what's being reported back to us from the government authorities, the regulator and the banking sector. And if you haven't already filled in your Offshore Britain questionnaire, you can download one here.