Banks Eh?

Have you got outraged over FATCA yet? Over the last quarter, I have received several pieces of correspondence from different banks asking me to certify that I have no income that the US Government might be interested in. It goes to show just how poor, the Banks’ whole person/customer knowledge is. Let’s make no mistake, the bank’s enquiries are not about their solvency or our customer service; not only must the banks tell the US Government about US Taxpayers for whom they act as bankers, but they must prove they have taken due diligence to ensure that they have overlooked no one. This is a banking compliance issue to meet the needs of a foreign government; a government which has seemingly torn up the internationally agreed rules that income is taxed by the government of the place where the work is done.

This stems from the banks’ poor whole person knowledge, which in many cases is caused by the product orientated strategies that drive the banks and the ancient systems on which they rely. These weaknesses cause an existential threat which I explore in a blog article at linkedin, “The customer is and will be king”.

While this FATCA stupidity is (currently) the last straw, much of this dreadful customer experience is made worse by the anti-money laundering laws passed in the UK, again at the US Government’s behest; it’s known in the Levy household as “Buggering citizens around in the pursuit of their lives act”, it has now been joined by “Fucking around, collecting taxes for America”.