"Know Your Customer" laws in the US, specifically the USA PATIOT ACT,
require banks to obtain the following info before opening an account:
Name, adress, taxpayer ID number, and, for individuals, date of birth.
The bank is required to verify this information, using either
documentary or non-documentary means. Documentary would be looking at
a driver's license for an individual, looking at articles of
incorporation and corporate resolutions for a business, or examining
other documents that would prove the customer's identity.
Non-documentary means would include getting a credit report on an
individual or a Dun & Bradstreet report on a business. The bank must
be satisfied, through the info provided and its own investigation,
that it has correctly identified the customer. The bank must also
assess the potential risk of the customer. Examples of high-risk
customers, at the bank's discretion and in its judgment, could be
individuals who are not citizens or residents of the US, businesses
not headquartered in the US, any small business, businesses of certain
types, or any customer who is not present in person at the time of
account opening. The bank may, at its discretion, require additional
information from customers it has determined to be high risk before
opening an account. The bank MUST refuse to open an account for
anyone who does not provide the required pieces of information, or
anyone it believes it cannot positively identify or whose identity it
cannot verify. The bank MAY refuse to open an account for anyone it
believes poses an unacceptable risk.
Therefore, it is unlikely that any law-abiding bank in the US would
open an account under the circumstances you describe. |
