Banking

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5389734

No one?

Anyone suggest a bank for business banking that uses normal 2FA and doesn't require all your info while being happy to launder drug money?

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/pressure-mounts-over-hsbc-debacle-as-small-businesses-ask-the-financial-ombudsman-to-take-action-jtc7kn38r

Small businesses have asked the Financial Ombudsman Service to step in after HSBC mistakenly blocked hundreds of accounts, including those of charities and churches, as part of its crackdown on money laundering.

Many of the business owners affected have contacted the ombudsman, which can force financial services companies to pay compensation of up to £150,000 to customers who have been mistreated.

HSBC is increasing scrutiny of its customers following a money laundering scandal five years ago, when it was fined $1.9bn (£1.5bn) in the US. It said it has contacted all customers and only frozen accounts when information has not been received. But small businesses have complained that their access to money has been blocked without warning.

The ombudsman declined to comment. HSBC said: “As part of our efforts to stop financial crime, we are conducting detailed reviews of the information we hold about our customers.

“We apologise for the inconvenience this can cause but ask customers to respond to our requests as promptly and comprehensively as possible . . . If we don’t receive all the information we need, we may be forced . . . as a last resort, to close an account.”

Natwest Business Banking have been pleasantly uninterested in who I am and what I do for the last five years or so...

One of my business partners had his HSBC channel islands account closed without warning two years ago due to monery laundering concerns. They never said what the problem was exactly. He was a pretty good customer too...was paying in over 1m a year at the time.

I've got a decent amount going on but a pittance compared to the fines they've paid for being money laundering arseholes. Of course, they now take this out on their customers.

So, I will almost certainly be moving elsewhere. Annoying since I've used their shit for over ten years.

Looks like they're panicking after fucking up and are trying to demonstrate that they have put procedures in place.

All the rules around anti-money-laundering are just getting more and more onerous but loads of places are applying it on a flat basis rather than a risk-based approach.

Santander don't seem to be causing me any hassle at the moment. They use phone based 2FA if that's what you are looking for.

Shutting innocent people's accounts down after they have been laundering money though. Fuck that shit. It's good enough reason for me to go elsewhere now before the close my shit down in 2 months.

I want something that uses Google Authenticator or Authy rather than some proprietary dongle. I also don't want my account closed because I refused to tell them how much I spent on per care in 1986 or what my favourite flavour of icecream is.

They seem to charge 7.50-40 per month:
http://www.santander.co.uk/uk/business/current-accounts/business-current-account

Didn't they used to give you some cash to switch to them? If I'm going to uproot all my banking because HSBC are being dicks I think they should pay to use my money..

Ha, they're going to close my account because I ignored their request for more information.

Bye bye fuckos!

Are there any real advantages to premier accounts offered by the major banks?

Not that I have noticed with HSBC- given their recent performance I would like to move to a different bank, also.

Not really with NatWest. It's great to be able to email your account manager and ask them to open accounts and move money without extra paperwork but other that that the benefits are no better that with their commercial account packages

Today I got a phone call and email from HSBC about the safeguard program.
They say they sent me some letter and I have to update my personal information
or they will restrict my accounts.
I never got the letter so I don't have the reference number they want to start the
process online. The other option is to do it through online banking but I can't find
a link to it anywhere once I am logged in.

I just bought a flat 2 weeks ago so I am glad the transfers were done before this nonsense
started.
Can I just open a new NatWest account and move my money across and then just close the
HSBC accounts once the NatWest ones are up and running?

Cash back on credit cards, free international transfers and offshore accounts. All of good use if you’re moving countries on a regular basis.

Good point.

NatWest have made their cashback credit card that was previously private only available to all customers. It's great. I get about £1k a year back from my normal spend and no foreign transaction fees.

Every month they have special offers. This month it is ten percent cashback at Currys/pcworld and apple. Last month it was John Lewis.

10% off an iPhone X should allow you to resell at a profit.

Sounds like NatWest beats HSBC!

I called my account manager asking for a dollar denominated account to use whilst in the US- they said they'd jump on it, never heard anything more on the subject, been a couple of months now.

It'll have taken HSBC six months to process my re-mortgage by January.

They're totally fucking useless.

Yeah, I need to move my company account to another bank. Ballache. All because THEY were fucking laundering drug money. Fuckwit banks.

Had a result with Lloyds, I did that Martin Lewis thing about paid for accounts, sent off template with my complaint two days late I received nearly £2000, the account for which I thought I'd been mis sold wasn't, but an account I held in the past was and they paid all the costs of the account back plus interest. Boom, took a whole 10 minutes of my time.

What's that then? Those shit accounts where they charge you for insurance or whatever?

Yep

Hmmm that's interesting. I've been getting annoyed at using my amex after the £10k spend as there isn't a huge amount to gain. Might take the plunge, cheers dude!

PBA claims - not dissimilar to PPI

I can't believe this is real.
replied to the HSBC safeguard email requesting them to send
that letter with the reference number again and they reply
via email and ask me to open an attachment!

Desktop Users:
Open the attachment (message_zdm.html) and follow the instructions.

This personal security image will appear on secure email to you. If it's missing or unrecognized, please contact your HSBC representative or equivalent