Offshore
Lloyds Banking Group Freezes Some Offshore Accounts

The accounts were frozen because clients didn’t respond to requests rather than specific concerns.
Lloyds
Banking Group has reportedly frozen about 8,000 offshore
banking accounts as part of a crackdown on money laundering, a
move that comes three years after the UK-listed lender asked
people to prove their identity.
The figure of 8,000 was given in a report by the Financial
Times; although the bank did not comment or confirm that
figure.
The bank is acting to enforce tougher KYC rules, at a time of
heightened worries about money laundering in a number of European
jurisdictions.
HSBC, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland have also tightened
controls in Jersey, the FT reported, citing unnamed
sources.
“In January 2016, we began to contact certain expatriate banking
customers to ensure we were provided with up to date information
for our records, where customer information was missing. This was
required to meet international regulatory standards. Over the
last three years we have made multiple attempts to contact these
customers, asking that they provide us with the necessary
information,” the bank said in a statement emailed to
WealthBriefing.
“Unfortunately, where a customer has not provided us with this
necessary information we have had to freeze their account until
we get the information. This is also to protect the customer, as
it prevents anybody else trying to use the account if the
customer has stopped using it or has moved address,” it
added.
This publication understands that the move was made after changes
in Jersey’s Money Laundering Order. The accounts were frozen
because clients didn’t respond to requests rather than specific
concerns.