I have been put through a lot of inconveniences by Standard Chartered bank for four weeks, as I couldn’t access my debit card. I have some critical questions for the bank and I would like them to be answered by a competent authority in the bank.

My questions are:

1. My debit card was blocked because of a certain Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance requirement, as informed by the bank’s customer care staff, and an official at the branch. I would like to know what the reason was.

2. The customer care staff acknowledged the card was blocked, but didn’t seem to know why? Please explain.

3. The official at the branch acknowledged the card was restricted, and in her presence, I could pull out a mini statement but couldn’t withdraw cash, and she said it’s because of the KYC. In an effort to KYC, can the bank ask me personal questions, in terms of all my accounts in the UAE or abroad, the assets and properties in my possession, my banking relationships with other banks in the world, the extent of my properties, jewellery, shares, bonds, mutual funds, deposits and so on, that I may have abroad?

5. Can the bank ask me sensitive questions about the kinds of possessions, bank accounts and assets my wife holds?

6. If the bank has the liberty and the right to ask me such questions, do they have appropriate permissions from the Central Bank or other legal bodies to ask their customers such questions, failing which, they have the right to block access to a customer’s own account?

The bank is keeping itself aloof from all such queries and simply say there is no problem in their system. It seems this is one of their standard operating procedures — putting the blame back on the customer or the debit card or their ATM. But I have covered all those aspects.

I request Gulf News to seek out answers to my queries.

From Mr Shyam Chittari

Dubai

The management of Standard Chartered responds:

Upon receiving the complaint, Standard Chartered Customer Care Unit contacted the client, apologised for the inconvenience caused and informed him of the bank’s policy and procedure relating to KYC identification and verification process.

Mr Chittari responds:

Thank you, Gulf News. Standard Chartered customer care contacted me only after the newspaper’s intervention and the fact remains, they did nothing for over 45 days to resolve the matter.

Their apology is a standard operating procedure, which, I feel they don’t mean at all, because their apology was followed up with the standard line, that there was “no problem in the system”, but the fact remains that my card was blocked only for cash withdrawal purposes, while I could check balances, get statements, etc.

When I asked them for a clarification on requisite permission from Central Bank authorities about KYC details and their bank’s policy, they simply refused to provide it, saying it is an internal matter and an account holder or customer is not entitled to it.

I believe every shareholder, account holder or customer of a bank is entitled to know every policy of the bank that affects the said customer.

Although they have replaced my card, they haven’t answered my questions and basically denied the problem was at their end.

Editor’s note: The reader’s follow up letter was forwarded to Standard Chartered for further comments. However, the bank’s management said that they had nothing further to add.

(Process initiation: September 14. Response from organisation: September 27. Process completion: September 28.)

Editor’s note: Do you have similar issues that you would like to raise with us? You can write to us at readers@gulfnews.com.