Problem with completing business profile because of neighbour's non-residency

[Yellow Fang]

The management company for our block of flats has a business account with the farking stupid Natwest. The company is not-for-profit, and the directors are the five owners of the flats. The management company pays for the electricity, insurance, and any maintenance that needs doing. The problem is one of the directors now lives in the far east and has let his flat. The bloody, stupid Natwest are demanding we complete our business profile, but they won't let send him a copy of his passport. They were demanding he get a solictor or accountant out there to sign a letter to say who he is. I am not sure why he won't do this, but he his English accountants have sent them a letter to say they have known him eight years. They keep sending us letters to say we can update our business profile on-line, but they won't accept unverified passport photos, and you can't upload any solicitor's letters to verify them. They keep threatening to stop our bank account. They'd done this twice already.

So, are all the banks like this or are there any better ones?
Is there any other type of account we can get?
Is there any other way around this?

 

[Cycleops]

Why doesn't he go into a solicitors office, take his passport, copy it and get them to swear it?

 

[Yellow Fang]

Why doesn't he go into a solicitors office, take his passport, copy it and get them to swear it?

Not quite sure really, but otoh why won't Natwest accept a letter from his British accountants?

 

[kynikos]

...because they want something a bit more concrete than "Mr X has been known to us personally for eight years" which is not very high on the hierarchy of positive identification of their client.

 

[Drago]

It's anti money laundering regs. You've little choice but to comply, or else find another method of administering the building.

 

[Cycleops]

His reluctance to comply with his full ID might indicate he wouldn't welcome a stewards enquiry from HMRC.

 

[Yellow Fang]

...because they want something a bit more concrete than "Mr X has been known to us personally for eight years" which is not very high on the hierarchy of positive identification of their client.

From a firm of accountants? I can identify him. He was my neighbour.

 

[kynikos]

From a firm of accountants? I can identify him. He was my neighbour.

Which might be OK in some situations as indeed might be a letter from a firm of accountants but neither will satisfy NatWest who will have an MLR (Money Laundering Regulations) Compliance Policies and Procedures Statement which will set out when and how they will identify their clients. I've not seen their statement but I'd put money on it not accepting a letter from a firm of accountants as ID - and I'm not a gambling man. So your co-director can make as much noise as he likes but it's highly unlikely to get him anywhere with NatWest or any other bank for that matter.

I may be wrong - I'm just a bloke on the internet but I am the main bloke and the nominated officer in a business registered under the MLA.

As Cycleops has intimated, his reluctance to comply is suspicious and is putting your relationship with NatWest at risk.

 

[midlife]

Slightly off topic and might have read the OP wrong but is he subletting? Is that allowed

 

[Yellow Fang]

Slightly off topic and might have read the OP wrong but is he subletting? Is that allowed

He has let his flat. I am not sure what the difference is between subletting and letting.

 

[Yellow Fang]

Which might be OK in some situations as indeed might be a letter from a firm of accountants but neither will satisfy NatWest who will have an MLR (Money Laundering Regulations) Compliance Policies and Procedures Statement which will set out when and how they will identify their clients. I've not seen their statement but I'd put money on it not accepting a letter from a firm of accountants as ID - and I'm not a gambling man. So your co-director can make as much noise as he likes but it's highly unlikely to get him anywhere with NatWest or any other bank for that matter.

I may be wrong - I'm just a bloke on the internet but I am the main bloke and the nominated officer in a business registered under the MLA.

As Cycleops has intimated, his reluctance to comply is suspicious and is putting your relationship with NatWest at risk.

I'd be really surprised if he was a money launderer. I'm pretty sure he's not laundering much through our maintenance company. I have now asked him why he did not ask a solicitor/accountant from the country he's living in to verify his identity, but how's a Thai solicitor/accountant more trustworthy than a British solicitor/accountant?

I still think Natwest are incompetent. They keep addressing letters to an ex-neighbour I have not seen for ten years. I have written to them to address their letters to me. They still list someone as a director I've told them isn't any more. Their website does not take into account directors may not all live at the same address or share an office. The website, if you can get on it, allows you to upload passport scans, but not the letter from a solicitor/accountant that corroborates it. Apparently there is some complicated phone app too which you can use to corroborate your ID, but the chances of getting data from that app to Natwest's website must be pretty poor.

 

[kynikos]

I'd be surprised if he were a money launderer, very few people are. I'd be surprised if any of my clients, the majority of whom are charities, were either but that doesn't mean I don't have to identify them properly. I suspect, although you don't make it clear, that he's being asked to provide a certified copy of his passport - certified by a solicitor or accountant, which is not the same as a letter from his british accountant.

I can't comment on NatWest's website capabilities and I suspect there's better out there but they'll all want to see director's ID if you want to make the switch so personally I'd concentrate on getting the one missing directors to NatWest rather than five lots to a new bank. If he's adamant that he's not going to provide it to anyone on the terms they ask for then you're going to find yourselves with no bank at all.

It's frustrating, I know. HSBC insisted on a whole raft of stuff from me a couple of years ago despite the fact I had held a current account with them since 1970 and worked for them for 20+ years along the way. Of course the irony is that it was HSBC who were the money launderers and not me.

 

[Hacienda71]

As above, there are very clear guidelines re AML as to when and what id checks are required. I suspect Natwest are simply following the statutory requirements for a bank in this situation. When my 13 year old daughter opened a bank account with HSBC they insisted on ID from me and sight of her passport. She was only putting £150 in to the account.
I have a list of what is acceptable in my profession and a letter from an accountant would not be.
Property is a hot topic and anything to do with it is under scrutiny.

 

[Chromatic]

He has let his flat. I am not sure what the difference is between subletting and letting.

Sounds like he has let his flat and is not declaring the rental income.

 

[bikingdad90]

As a director of a UK company but domiciled outside the UK the bank has a duty to report overseas persons connected to a UK company in whatever way under the automated exchange rules which disclose affairs to oversee authorities to ensure full compliance with double taxation treaties and appropriate taxation is paid in the relevant countries. The bank also has a duty to comply with criminal corporate offence regulations and AML so a letter from an accountant is not going to cut it. It needs to be a formal document recognised as proof of identity that needs to be provided.