Vol. 542 No. 6
85 Mr. Flanagan asked the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the banks are imposing tough rules in respect of the operation of accounts by immigrant workers; and if he has a role in assisting in this regard. [23250/01]
114 Mr. Flanagan asked the Minister for Finance if he will meet with the main banks to discuss the difficulties experienced by non-national workers opening and operating bank accounts. [23058/01]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 85 and 114 together.
The money laundering provisions of the Criminal Justice Act, 1994 require financial institutions to take reasonable measures to identify their customers. This involves verification of a prospective customer's name and address. The recommended procedures used for this purpose are set out in guidance notes issued by the money laundering steering committee which includes representatives of the financial institutions and of the regulatory authorities and is chaired by the Department of Finance.
Although the guidance notes give banks discretion to take account of the circumstances of customers who may not posses the recommended forms of name and address verification, I am aware that certain groups, including immigrant workers have experienced difficulties in this area. To deal with these problems revised guidance notes have been drawn up which give banks more specific guidance on the documents they should seek and should help to deal with the difficulties experienced by certain groups in opening bank accounts. These revised guidance notes are expected to be issued within the next few weeks and should be implemented by banks over the coming months following training of their staff in the revised procedures.
