Written answers

Tuesday, 31 March 2015

Department of Finance

Photographic Identification

Photo of Aengus Ó SnodaighAengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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252. To ask the Minister for Finance if the social welfare card is acceptable proof of identity when opening post office or bank accounts for the purposes of receiving social welfare payments. [12903/15]

Photo of Michael NoonanMichael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Firstly, I must confirm to the Deputy that it is not appropriate for me, as Minister for Finance, to comment on or become involved in the detailed position of consumers opening post office or bank accounts.  The National Treasury Management Agency has informed me that a social welfare card does not contain a photograph.

When opening a bank account the standard documentation which may be used for the purpose of verifying identity is one item of photographic ID (typically to verify name and date of birth) and one item of non-photographic IDs (typically to verify address). Depending on the risk assessment of the customer additional ID verification may be required. This does not prevent the use of two documents under the heading "Photographic ID" for the identification of name, date of birth and address.  A social welfare card by itself may not accepted by itself to prove identity but could be used in combination with other documents to confirm identity.

Guidelines on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering and terrorist financing are available on my Department's website at . Appendix 2 of these guidelines is a non-exhaustive and non-mandatory list of alternative documents that can be used to verify identity in circumstances where a prospective customer cannot, for justifiable reasons, meet the standard identification and verification requirements, or has experienced difficulties in the past when seeking to open accounts.

On the issue more generally, it is a matter of good commercial practice that any firm should know its customers. It is particularly important that a financial institution confirms the identity of their customers because financial institutions often undertake high value transactions on behalf of their customers. In addition, EU directives require that financial institutions ascertain the identities of their customers in order to prevent the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering and terrorist financing.

If an individual is not happy with the way that a regulated financial institution has treated them, they can make a complaint to the institution. If they are not happy with the outcome of the complaint made they can refer the matter to the Financial Services Ombudsman (FSO). Further information on how to make a complaint to the FSO is available at www.financialombudsman.ie. The FSO can investigate, mediate and adjudicate on complaints made about the conduct of regulated financial service providers involving a failure or refusal to provide a service.

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