Without warning, Stein Nordby experienced that DNB closed his bank account. The social security payments were thus returned to NAV. Ever since Nordby was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and moved into a nursing home, his wife Tora has managed the account and paid the few bills that came. She reacts to the fact that the bank did not notify in advance. – Stein did not receive any written notice in the mail. All mail comes here to our address, says Størmer. – “Everyone” in the town knows who Stein is, and he has been a customer of the bank for over 40 years, says Tora Størmer. Photo: John Inge Johansen / news Why are accounts closed? It is the Money Laundering Act that requires Norwegian banks to have good control over who the customers are. This means that the banks must have information such as name, address, birth number/organization number/ID number, a copy of valid identification and information about the purpose of the customer relationship. It is a simple matter if the bank customer has a passport and can get to the bank to identify himself. It gets worse if you don’t have a passport and have to get one first. Stein Nordby does not have a passport, national ID card or valid driving licence. Photo: John Inge Johansen / news – Stein has not traveled since 1980, so he does not have a passport. Furthermore, he feels that it is unsafe to leave the institution. He no longer has language, nor can he sign for himself, says Tora. – Minimum pensioner or terrorist? Stein Nordby is a minimum pensioner. In his case, the modest payments into the account are exclusively from the state through NAV. Basically, everyone who lives in a nursing home in Vågan must pay 80 percent of the social security benefit in rent and board to the municipality. The remaining 20 percent amounts to NOK 4,500 each month. Størmer understands that the law was introduced to reveal that banks are not used as part of money laundering, terrorist financing and other financial crimes. But don’t quite understand what it has to do with her husband’s finances. – It seems as if the bank fears terrorists on the minimum pension, says Tora Størmer. She is disappointed and believes that the system is too rigid. Has become guardian The only way out was to apply for status as guardian for her husband. She was told by the State Administrator that such a process could take up to 14 weeks. Tora Størmer had to apply to become her husband’s guardian. Photo: John Inge Johansen / news – It is an extensive process. But thanks to very good case managers, it went through after a considerably shorter time, says Størmer. Now she has decided to change banks. DNB fined Communications manager Vibeke Lewin at DNB says that the bank is obliged to terminate the customer relationship if the customer cannot provide identification. – We know the customers and the customers know us. But the law requires us to have a copy of identification and we must comply with that. Criminals who engage in money laundering have sophisticated methods, and we must follow the orders of the law, says Lewin. At the same time, the bank has the opportunity to make individual assessments on a case-by-case basis. Vibeke Hansen Lewin is communications director at DNB. Photo: Stig B. Fiksdal – On a general basis, this type of account is considered low risk. Vulnerable groups, which may fit the description in this case, we have to look at individually, says Lewin. In cases where customers have regular transfers from NAV, the bank has a dialogue to find individual solutions that ensure that the customers still receive their money, she adds. Last year, DNB was fined NOK 400 million because they did not have good enough control over their customers. The Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority has fined a total of seven banks with a total of NOK 446,600,000. After that, DNB carried out a “re-legitimization process”. Customers must identify themselves again. The bank must be able to store a copy of the identification is the requirement from the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority. – We would like to praise our customers, who have stood up to a very large extent. Right now perhaps 5 per cent of those for whom we did not have sufficient identification remain, says Lewin. Have been a customer of the bank for 40 years. In the past, many customer service agents could tick the box as “known” if they knew who was standing in front of them at the till. That opportunity is gone. Photo: John Inge Johansen / news It doesn’t help that all employees of the bank locally know who the honorary member of Svolvær Sports Club, the watchmaker and tuberculosis sufferer Stein Nordby is. – It is just another example that we are about to have a cold society, says Størmer. – “Everyone” in town knows who he is, and he has been a customer of the bank for over 40 years. It is clearly not good enough, says Størmer. The law is strict It is Finanstilsynet that has follow-up responsibility for the law on money laundering and terrorist financing. After an extensive round of fines, several banks have closed accounts. Money Laundering Act The Money Laundering Act requires the financial industry to ensure that their customers do not abuse the banking system to launder black money. The penalty for money laundering is up to 15 years if the proceeds stem from aggravated robbery, aggravated human trafficking or particularly serious drug offenses. The penalty for collecting or obtaining money for terrorist activities is up to 10 years in prison. If the banks suspect that a transaction may have criminal origins or be about terrorism, they have a duty to investigate this more closely in order to disprove or confirm the suspicion. If the investigation does not remove the suspicion, all information about the transaction must be reported to Økokrim. Source: Ecocrime Have any of the banks gone too far in closing accounts without investigating sufficiently? – We have no basis to conclude that. But Finanstilsynet confirms that transfers of public benefits generally pose a lower risk of money laundering anyway, says section manager for anti-money laundering and payment institutions, Anders Schiøtz Worren.
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