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If you use an ATM and make transactions in cash, then your bank does not know about your transactions (so cannot demand information on them).


This is not the point here.

I'm wondering how it became the norm the your own bank requires to know everything about you and you are not allowed to say no any more. It doesn't feel good. :)

Actually I feel violated..


A lot of this is induced by US regulations also. If you don't comply with these regulations, then you can't interact with the US banking system, even if you do not have any presence in the USA. If you're a bank of almost any size, your going to need US banking access.

It's not personal, it's algorithmic. Switching banks is not going to solve this for you, since every bank that interacts with the economy you live in will have to interact with these laws.

Some are more of a pain about it than others although. Like venmo in the USA temp freezes your account if you put "iranian food" and insists you put descriptions for your transactions, while other p2p cash transfer services in the usa do not insist on transaction descriptions for example.

AML is the least effective policy out there, costing more than it recovers by a large amount and causing a lot of collateral damage to the poor, but there is an entire industry funded by it so thus it continues. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/25741292.2020.1...


Violation is the societal norm these days — e.g. recent discussions about what modern cars are recording and sharing, geofence warrants, app location data sales, etc.. the list is endless and of course local laws vary so some parts might not be applicable to a dane but in general the panopticon is reality.


> your own bank requires to know everything about you

Don't be angry at your bank. Be angry at your politicians. They pass the laws. The banks (just like everyone else) simply obey the laws. No bank wants to have the cost of a KYC and AML (and it is EXPENSIVE)(consider also the penalties for going over or under on these tasks).

In the same spirit, don't blame your judges. They work with the laws passed on the various parliaments (and/or EU Regulations)


You should. Surveillance is crazy these days. Can you realistically move your business over to in-person cash transactions, or alternate forms of money - precious metals, BTC or similar, etc?


I was told by my bank not to use crypto currency or else ..


Sounds like you, sir or madam, need to get plugged into your local, not-online, crypto exchange community. Some googling should sort you out on that, at least. Inconvenient, cash-based, but FAR less intrusive to your lower GI tract than your local bank, apparently.




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