Thread: Purchasing binoculars internationally - harassed by bank?

Originally Posted by sightpicture

Yeah, because as usual, when crims ignore the laws we simply MUST punish, thrash and regulate the law-abiding citizenry harder. / sarc.

The AML / CFT was not implemented to target criminals or the public. It was bought into place because without those rules in place, we would likely become unable to trade fairly with other countries. Restrictions would be (And have been to other countries) put in place to reflect the risk of trading with supporters of terrorism. Essentially, if these rules were not instituted, dealing with the US, UK , Aus and others would become more difficult, and more expensive.

The law essentially is a lowering of the threshold from the Financial trading act, and a lot more specific about what types of verification is acceptable as well as addressing what to do if these conditions are unable to be met. Most banks have been brining their IDs up to that standard in the last few years, Casinos, TAB, and financial traders have been complying with this since 2009, and more recently Lawyers and real estate agents and car sales have also been brought up to this standard.

One example given to us for NOT doing it was a real estate agent who said it would cot him business. He had a sale for a $2m going through that week (cash buyer) for a house in Auckland. It was for a 25 yr old lady. When asked how he knew it was not from drugs etc his reply was "He had a business relationship of many trade built up with her and she had purchased several houses for cash before so it was not unusual". When asked where exactly a 25 yr old got the cash to pay for half a dozen houses each exceeding $1m? And did he think that this was a good storage idea for Drug funds so they dont get stolen? He had no answer.

At the end of the day, the only impact on most people will be the drop in transaction value form 10k to 6k and the more specific ID requirements. (EG Driver license is NOT acceptable without a secondary form of ID as there is no background check to verify identitiy of the holder- but Passports or Firearms License is acceptable as stand alone ID due to the scrutiny undertaken to verify the ID of the possessor before issuing.)

Side note- I deal with this on a daily basis so have a little experience with it....