To fight terror
Terra Nakazawa, a reader in Yamanashi Prefecture, recently wrote to Lifelines about a request she received from her bank:
I just got a notice from my local bank, where I have an account that I use for my salary and from which I pay bills. I am being requested to appear in person and show my residence card to "confirm your identity" as part of "regular measures to protect against money laundering and terrorism funding."
Is this a requirement only for foreign people, and if so, why?
Nakazawa, who is American, works full time for a local company and has lived in Japan for nearly 10 years. Discussion with her Japanese colleagues and in-laws revealed that nobody had received a similar request from their bank to confirm their identity, which led her to wonder if this requirement was solely for nonJapanese customers.
"I opened the bank account more than nine years ago and I haven't sent money abroad in the past eight, so I'm mystified as to why I appear to be a risk for illegal international financial transactions," she tells The Japan Times.
The online forums frequented by foreign nationals contain similar stories about other banks that have been sending out similar notices.
"Money launderers are not transferring pathetic little amounts of money like ¥10,000," writes one user. "It's just a case of having to be seen to do something, so targeting the 'easy' demographic. How about the government going after the actual money launderers in real estate and cybercurrency?"
There doesn't seem to be a particular pattern to the bank requests in terms of visa status, length of time in Japan or location. For those who received a notification, however, the contents and purpose were essentially the same: "You need to visit the bank in person to show your residence card, as part of measures against money laundering and terrorism funding." The notice was often written in several languages, including Japanese, English, Chinese and Vietnamese. The notices are politely worded, but they also warn that failure to comply may result in suspension of the account.
Lifelines met with Nakazawa and accompanied her to the main branch of the Yamanashi Chuo Bank. The staff member at the counter did her best to answer questions, although her knowledge was limited to her own bank's practices. She explained that the bank was following an initiative introduced in February 2018 by the Financial Services Agency (FSA), the government agency responsible for overseeing banking, securities and exchange, and safeguarding the nation's financial system. The initiative, "Guidelines for Anti- Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism," is available to read online in English.
When it was pointed out the wording of the bank's summons did not exactly instill confidence in a loyal customer like Nakazawa, who is not even engaging in international financial transactions, the staff member was apologetic. She explained that the bank would start asking Japanese customers to come and confirm their identities "in the near future." As for the particular timing for Nakazawa's notification, she may have been flagged in the system due to a prior visit to change her address after having recently moved house.
Since Nakazawa needs to maintain the account for her job, she acquiesced to the request to show her residence card and her details were entered into the bank's computer. The system then flagged her as being American and she was asked to fill out an additional form in compliance with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, which is part of efforts to combat tax evasion by Americans who hold offshore accounts. This required her to furnish her Social Security number and tax identification number, which she did not have on her.