Nationwide bank suddenly requiring job title and salary etc on app?? Needs info before Jan 25?

I had this from nationwide.
I have lots of bank accounts, the NW one I pay in a monthly amount from my main account (with another bank) and my household bills come out it. Once in a blue moon I might top it up or take out the excess money built up in there.
Very boring.
Had the same account doing the same thing for about 10 years.
I don't think they need my job title.
I made up most of the answers to the questions because it was a drop-form list, my actual job is never listed.
Might bit me in the bum but I don't care.
The algorithms and any changes in pattern of the movement of money in and out of the account should be able to detect fraud, not whether if I'm a milkman or a travel agent.

I don’t work now (58) but I’m not strictly speaking retired. I don’t intend to change mine to Home Maker on my banking in case it penalises me.

I did change it on car and home insurance though - also in case it penalised me in a claim.

That's very patronising. I don't think that at all.

The right that they have is a legal right. It’s part of the Money Laundering Regulations 2017.

Also, for people who think it’s a joke to put wrong and/or silly answers, if one day you are the victim of fraud, then the bank would not have to pay you out because the information you gave was a lie. How can they be expected to be able to protect you if you are lying to them?

It’s just very basic KYC. People should be happy that the companies they bank with are attempting to comply with the current laws and financial regulations that they are supposed to. I can’t see it would do customers any favours if their bank was hit with a £200m fine for non compliance.
There’s no hidden agenda. Just answer the questions honestly and everyone can move on with their lives.
Banks would probably have more time to catch the people money laundering if they didn’t have to spend so much time looking into people who aren’t but just refuse to answer the very basic questions.

It’s KYC information and also to ensure they are selling their products to their target market

I haven't been asked yet, but I find those drop-down menus unhelpful because my job title never "fits" in any of them.

This doesn't bother me at all. My job title & employer is publicly visible on my linkedin anyway. I understand why the data is needed from an AML perspective.

I think people imagine brenda from the local branch having the ability to have a nose. In reality this data sits in a computer in a largely unidentifiable way & is analysed by automated processes that determine whether certain types of fraud/risk are more or less likely etc. I don't really find that intrusive.

It really isn’t

I might have to confess to being difficult on purpose because Nationwide don't have anything to do with my income, that is all paid into HSBC. They only see the regular amount transferred to the Joint Account. They can see where that is coming from - HSBC where it has already been subject to all the checks and balances.

It’s AML / anti fraud to help assess normal patterns on your account. It’s not just banks, I am getting the same from asset managers.

It's really just the rules - it's not Nationwide persecuting you

Yes my Nationwide is a secondary current account not my main one

Lloyd's asked me via telephone. I refused to answer. That was that.

If its a drop down list my actual title is never on it so I go for the closest one. No big deal I have to provide that information just to buy home and car insurance anyway. Smart with mortgage. Who cares if they know as my salary does goes into my account they could figure out how much I earn anyway. What's the big deal if they know? They know how I spend my money every day lol

Normally for good reason. The money usually goes into non-UK banks abroad where the UK authorities have no reach.

And the great irony is that they do all these checks and gather all the information but when people are conned into sending money to criminals, suddenly they can't trace the money and they have no idea who the account belongs to

I don't think DH has been asked yet, he uses Nationwide. He won't like this.

AML checks have a place and purpose but after I received money from a deceased relative I believe they were the basis of the bank making my life extremely difficult for a few weeks afterwards. Stuff took ages and my debit card got a bit spotty for a few days; the low point was having my routine weekly online shop fail as my bank card wouldn't work, with funny messages coming up when I rang up to pay by phone. I had to call the bank and ask wtf. Apparently this txn had been flagged as unusual activity. I was purchasing from my usual supermarket, same day of the week and spending similar amount to previous transactions. It was the definition of a routine txn and I was furious. The CS agent had the grace to be apologetic challenged and my card did work again the next day I think.

A couple of weeks later my credit card - same bank - had similar when I was trying to book a quite urgent air bnb quite late in the evening so no one to call. It was the first time I used the site but I was not doing anything wrong. I used my debit card and ended up with a few things on the opposite cards I'd usually use for those types of payments . Fortunately we could afford it and no bad consequences but I was so angry that they could just do this to me. All of it was made extra stressful as we were also paying out lots of hard saved for money as deposits or installments for our wedding at the time and had a big payment due with money from my account the week my debit card was impacted and my account seemed to be under some sort of caution on the bank system.

I complained about all of this plus bank taking forever to cash the cheque whilst sending me daily helpful "suggestions" as to what I should do with the money they hadn't actually yet let me access at the time. I was dreading these shenanigans again when another relative passed and left me some money recently but nothing yet this time.

None of the institutions I bank or have credit cards with have asked me yet. Good luck to them in identifying any sort of pattern. I'm self employed and my clients are erratic payers. I might have zero income for three months then have half my annual income land in my account on one day.

No they are not. It's about money laundering, unusual transactions, potential fraud.

I had to give my job title recently for a bank. There was a poor choice of job titles to choose from.

It’s for anti money laundering regulations.

www.gov.uk/guidance/money-laundering-regulations-your-responsibilities

If people have issues with this, they should take it up with the regulators and law makers in the country.
Banks have a duty to refund victims of fraud and it’s a low bar for personal accountability. At the same time, the regulations insist you “know your client” and ensure no fraud takes place.
It’s very hard for banks to meet both of those requirements at once. Expect the questions to become even more intrusive.

It shouldn't be a big issue to share your job title (or lack of one) and salary (or any source of income like benefits) with a bank that already deals with your financial information, unless you have a specific reason not to or just want to be difficult for no reason. Some people complain about everything.