Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 116: To ask the Minister for Finance the regulations in place for opening bank accounts; if his attention has been drawn to the difficulties that those living in institutions that provide supported living for persons with disabilities have in opening bank accounts due to not having utility bills; if he is aware that the standards of care for persons in residential settings encourage residents to manage their own finances, and that this requires a bank account, which has proven very difficult due to bank concerns about money laundering; and if he will amend the regulations made under section 32 of the Criminal Justice Act 1994 to take account of these difficulties; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37298/11]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The customer due diligence requirements set out in the Criminal Justice Act 1994 were repealed on the enactment of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 (the 2010 Act). Section 33 of the 2010 Act requires designated persons (such as banks) to apply customer due diligence measures prior to establishing a business relationship with a customer e.g. opening a bank account. The customer due diligence measures require that the designated person must identify and verify the customer's identity on the basis of documents or information that the designated person has reasonable grounds to believe can be relied upon to confirm the identity of the customer. The 2010 Act does not limit the range of documents or information that a designated person may have reasonable grounds to believe can be relied upon to confirm the identity of the customer. Draft guidelines, under the 2010 Act, which are being finalised by the financial services industry, in consultation with the Central Bank, provide guidance on the identification and verification procedures. These guidelines specify a non-exhaustive range of documentation which the bank may choose to accept for the purposes of verifying identity. The range of documentation includes utility bills but also many other types of documentation issued by Government Departments, state agencies and financial institutions. In the event that an individual provides a plausible explanation as to why the suggested documentation cannot be provided, the bank may choose from an additional specified list of methods to assist in confirming the identity of the customer. In the case of care homes or sheltered accommodation, the alternative forms of identification include a letter from the care home manager/manager of the sheltered accommodation confirming name and address of the care home and name and date of birth of the customer.

Ultimately, it is up to each bank to decide, on a risk based approach, whether it accepts other forms of customer identification. However, there is a clear statement in the draft guidelines to the effect that "where an individual is genuinely not in a position to provide standard evidence of identity it is important that he/she is not prevented from gaining access to the financial system solely due to not being able to produce particular documentation."