HSBC bank won't let customers withdraw cash unless they prove why they need it
bbc.co.uk
bbc.co.uk
However, it's a fact of life that as people age, they become more vulnerable to scammers. Many old people are tricked into withdrawing cash from the bank at the behest of scammers. Whether it's for roof repairs, or for driveway resurfacing, or to help a long-lost niece, older people are often victims of flimflam artists. This happens a lot. It's on the news a lot. I personally know older people who were victimized by scammers. Unfortunately the article didn't mention the ages of the depositors.
As the bank says in the article: "we have an obligation to protect our customers, and to minimise the opportunity for financial crime".
So I do see HSBC's point. But, as the article discusses, the whole thing should have been handled much better.
HSBC is a criminal bank. Here are a few more reasons why:
1. They were caught "transferring funds on the behalf of financiers for the militant group Hezbollah." Source: HSBC Gets Small Fine For Terrorist Transactions (12/18/2013) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/18/hsbc-terrorists_n_4...
2. HSBC laundered $881 million for Mexican and Colombian drug cartels. Source: HSBC Became Bank to Drug Cartels, Pays Big for Lapses (Tuesday, 11 Dec 2012) http://www.cnbc.com/id/100303180
3. "HSBC profited nicely from the bailout of AIG." Source: HSBC received $3.5 Billion of AIG bailout money (1 October, 2009) http://hsbcwatch.com/hsbcnews/news/hsbc-received-35-billion-...
4. This analysis suggests HSBC is 64% likely to go bankrupt in the next two years: http://www.macroaxis.com/invest/ratio/0005.HK--Probability-O...
In the 90s, I was a VP for a Wall St. Mortgage Bank. The culture there is very corrupt. IMHO, you'd be better off keeping your money hidden in your mattress, using it to buy physical gold, or converting it bitcoins than keeping it in a big bank.
I predict that the next time the financial system collapses, the banks will be "bailed in." In other words, governments are already too deeply in debt to afford to bail out the banks again. Instead, the banks will simply seize their depositors' money, perhaps issuing them stock in the bank in exchange. This is what already happened in Cyprus. And HSBC may very well be testing the waters to see how feasible it is to confiscate their depositors' cash in the UK and US, given how close they are to bankruptcy.