I’m not sure if this topic has come up or not. A little long – TLDR: PO asked for a lot of private info before allowing me to take out my own money, other Japanese banks don’t ask for same info – what gives?
Today is payday, so I went to get money out of my PO Bank from their atm. I was rejected initially despite having sufficient funds. At first I quickly glanced at the receipt and saw CODE in katakana, so I assumed I just mistyped my PIN and tried again. Same result. On closer inspection, it had a message (in Japanese and English) that I needed to update my residence information. So, I went in to the PO to sort it out.
I was pressed for time so I told the staff at the counter that I would fill out any form a bit later. Initially, she seemed to accept that, but “computer says no”. At this point, I lost my rag a bit and said it was my money and I needed it there and then. Some manager came and pretty gruffly said I had to fill in the form. So, after a bit more to-ing and fro-ing, I agreed.
Now a few weeks back I had received a letter from the PO Bank linking me to an online version of the same form, but I had put it off as the information it required seemed egregious and kind of forgotten about it. The form presented me today was after the same information. Namely:
* my income
* information about frequency and amount of transactions
* foreign transfers
* when I entered Japan (I couldn’t remember)
* (and this is where I went nuclear) my company information
That’s when I remembered why I hadn’t filled in the form in the first place and asked the staff why they needed to know my company information. Up until that point, they had been pretty stubborn but oddly they let me skip that part of the form. Even though the form said (in English and Japanese) that if I refused to fill in all the necessary parts of the form they could refuse to honour my transaction.
Something seems off about this. While I’m aware that there is some obligation for financial organisations to ask for some information from customers, it seems patchily enforced. I actually have 3 bank accounts all with different Japanese banks:
1) A leading bank – never been asked any information about anything (this is the bank I’ve had an account with the longest)
2) A more minor bank – they do ask me for information but only the front and back of my residence card when my visa is up for renewal
3) PO Bank – just started asking for all this info.
My question is are JP Bank overreaching with the information they want. And if not, how is it possible to ask for so much info. Seems more like China than Japan. I’m not a citizen so I probably don’t have a leg to stand on, but I’m confused why I’m not asked for the same info from all 3 of my banks if it’s a legal requirement plus why did the PO staff today let me skip parts of the form.