JUST FOR READING ABOUT THESE TOPICS : BANKS AND MONEY
THIS WEEK'S NEWS:
Why
your bank account may be blocked if you don’t hand in your ID
Looming deadline for lenders to digitalize clients’
personal data could spell trouble
The Spanish government's campaign to introduce a new
ID document, DNI 3.0.
“My
office looks like a doctor’s practice,” complained a bank manager last week, in
reference to the lines of people waiting to inquire about a new ID requirement.
April
30 marks the deadline for banks to collect and digitalize up-to-date
identification documents for all account holders, as per existing legislation.
For Spaniards, this means the DNI national identity card; for foreign
residents, their residency card or passport.
In
some cases, clients will also be asked for information regarding their economic
activities, as part of new requirements to combat money laundering and the
financing of terrorism.
While
the obligation to keep digital records of clients’ personal data was introduced
in 2010, the law gave lenders a five-year deadline to complete the task.
A message from BBVA bank warning about the possibility
of blocked accounts.
“We’re
all prone to leaving things until the last minute,” confesses José María
Roldán, president of the Spanish Banking Association (AEB), adding that the
sector is now working around the clock to meet the deadline.
At
this point, clients who have not yet been contacted by their bank – the latter
has the obligation to do so – can assume that no further action is necessary
and that their ID is already in the bank’s possession.
The
problem could arise if the contact information in the lender’s power – address,
email, telephone number – is outdated and the client cannot be reached with the
request for new data.
Accounts
that do not meet the requirements will be blocked on May 1.
“Obviously,
when the client turns in their ID, the account will be activated again,”
explains a bank worker.
But
after three months, these blocked accounts will be transferred to a different
category known as “cuentas de
orden;” recovering one’s money at that point could be more
complicated and require additional paperwork.
Some
sources talk about more than five million clients without an up-to-date ID
document, although banking associations refute this figure.
There
are an estimated 70 million bank accounts in Spain, of which 50 million are
held by private individuals. The sheer volume of paperwork involved has forced
some lenders to hire external firms to help them deal with it.
Financial
companies such as the one that handles credit cards for the El Corte Inglés
department store are also under the same legal obligation, and have offered
clients numerous ways to provide the necessary information.
For
these companies, the issue is critical, because their clients pay with cards
that will get blocked on May 1 if no digital ID records exist.
A
few months ago, the banking sector applied for a deadline extension, but it was
denied. The Economy Ministry notes that “lenders had the obligation to collect
and conserve copies of their clients’ ID since 1993. The 2010 law expressly
established that electronic records had to be kept to avoid documents getting
misplaced. In 2010, entities were given a five-year period to obtain that
digitalized information.”
The
problem is particularly intense at lenders that have undergone mergers in recent years, leading to the transfer of documents
and closure of branch offices, or even of entire banks.
