Bank of America questions customer’s citizenship, freezes accounts
KYC applies everywhere that wants to stop, or even to appear to care about, corruption.<p>I live in the UK. I have been with my main bank since I was a teenager, last century. A couple of years back they wrote to me, saying the KYC regulations mean they need to check who I actually am, they need proof I'm a citizen or my visa status and proof of my address. If I do nothing for six months they'll just cut a cheque for the money in the account and close it. I sent them a photocopy of my passport and driving license.<p>It seems fair to me, the biggest problem with KYC isn't that it's annoying, but that the crooks it's intended to catch are able to get away without. So if anything we need more, rather than less.<p>More annoying to me was the time my mobile phone provider, who I'd been with for about 18 years at the time, insisted on government ID as proof I was over 18 before they'd switch off their stupid censorship system for my mobile Internet. (I wanted to read Oglaf). By definition anyone who has been a customer for 18 years is over 18 years old. Duh.