> The goal is to crack down on fraud, terrorism, money laundering, human trafficking and other crimes.

Estimated yearly cost of KYC/AML worldwide: $180 bn. Money actually frozen (frozen doesn't even mean it's going to eventually seized): $12 bn. 15x less. Complete, total and utter failure.

Basically these KYC/AML rules are profoundly unjust and overwhelmingly only affect honest people who did exactly nothing wrong.

The situation is so bad that there even the EU is now trying to rectify things a bit.

Here's a recent article I read (in French):

https://paperjam.lu/article/liste-contacts-ouvrir-compte-b

The article says this:

"ABBL a échangé avec la Commission de surveillance du secteur financier (CSSF) pour que la réglementation AML/KYC s’applique de manière proportionnée, en conformité avec les textes. L’obligation de diligence variera dans son intensité selon les risques effectifs que peut représenter une structure."

Basically: discussions are ongoing to make sure banks use proportionated KYC/AML rules and all the while staying within the letter of the law.

For the situation has gotten so out of hand that it's an issue for startups and individuals trying to open bank accounts and it's beginning to have a noticeable effect on the economy.

Basically 180 billions, worldwide, burnt yearly in nothing productive: only pointless administrative work. It's not helping poor people. It's not helping the economy. It's helping nobody. It's leeches leaching all the while making everybody suspicious and scared that their accounts are going to be closed.

An example: the association of parents at my kid's school wanted a bank account. We're talking about a non-profit with a yearly budget of few thousand dollars. Due to crazy KYC/AML they couldn't.

That is not "proportionate". And some of the demands were likely not in accordance with the law.

For example I've had sites, to verify my identity, which asked me to film myself while speaking (AirBnB "conciergerie" / high-end thinggy IIRC. Not sure but that "videos of yourself talking" happened to me on several sites).

I'm not sure that the EU directives regarding KYC/AML allow the collect of information including videos of people talking.

When speaking about things needing to stay proportionate, I've had a notary ask me to trace the source of funds up until 2014. Seriously WTF: there should be a limit as to how many years they can go back in time.

I bought an apartment in 2001 and I now want to sell but I'm concerned because I don't have any trace of the money anymore: it's from nearly a quarter of a century ago. I'm concerned that, before the sale, the notary (who's forced to snitch btw) is going to ask me the source of the funds used to buy that apartment in 2001 (nothing shady: I was writing computer books but I don't have any trace of any royalties payment. I don't even remember through which bank I bought it).

Another example: I did cancel a private insurance. All that was needed was a proof I moved to another country. Or so I thought. They gave me the full KYC/AML... For cancelling an insurance! Why? I take it because I moved and went living to another EU country: if you move from one country to another, you automatically become someone suspicious.

Now where it becomes really vicious: these KYC/AML always go back further and further in time but banks do not allow you to go back more than 8 or 10 years (when you want to check older statements). They then bill you hundreds of EUR, per account, per year, to give you your older bank statements. Which is adding insult to injury: the very same clique that is making your life miserable with KYC/AML is making money for the very bank statements they're asking (well, technically it's bank B asking your statements of bank A... But for another person it's going to be bank A asking that person's statements at bank B).

It's so bad I now have a Git-versioned folder only for KYC/AML with proofs of everything. Any wire transfer of more than 10 K EUR I now save and archive for posterity.

Another big issue is that none of this KYC/AML nonsense is centralized: so you basically have to do the same fucking paperwork for your insurance, banks, brokers, notary, etc.

Fuck KYC/AML. Just fuck it. This horrible, pointless waste of time and energy is bane of my existence and needs to die.

These laws/rules reflect the sick mind of those who wrote them and those who voted them (and they're badly failing at actually freezing and seizing drug/terrorist/trafficker' money).