Since September 2016, the nine largest personal current account providers in the UK are legally required to offer basic bank accounts to customers who do not have a bank account or who are ineligible for a bank\u2019s standard current account, provided that the customer is legally resident in the EU.<\/p>
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The industry produced Joint Money Laundering Steering Group (JMLSG) guidance notes contain a list of documents which are capable of evidencing identity for special cases, including refugees, who either cannot meet their standard verification requirement, or have experienced difficulties in the past when seeking to open accounts, and which will generally be appropriate for opening a basic bank account. In the case of refugees the suggested non-standard documentation includes an Immigration Status Document with Residence Permit.<\/p>
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To help refugees to prove their identity, when an individual is granted refugee status by the Home Office they are issued with a Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) as proof of the holder\u2019s right to stay, work or study in the UK.<\/p>
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The treatment of customers by financial services firms, including banks and building societies, is governed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in its Principles for Businesses. The FCA\u2019s Principles include a general requirement for firms to provide a prompt, efficient and fair service to all of their customers and the government works closely with the FCA to ensure that members of the public have access to useful and affordable financial products and services.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4095", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Steve Barclay"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "North East Cambridgeshire"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Stephen Barclay"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2017-07-19", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "groupedQuestionUIN" : {"_value" : "5046"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2017-07-19T15:51:42.947Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "14"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Treasury"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "CaTreasury"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2017-07-14", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Financial Services: Refugees"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to improve the financial inclusion of refugees in the UK.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4640", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for David Linden"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Glasgow East"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "David Linden"} ], "uin" : "5045"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 1, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }