Shockingly enough In all my travels around the world I hadn't encountered the above. True I hadn't been to the US though, but Europe / Middle East / Africa /Asia has been trouble free for me for the past 3 decades... that's why I was so surprised by IB's attitude (not to mention the difference with TOS).
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
Iraq and Interactive Brokers
- Thread starter hayder
- Start date
Shockingly enough In all my travels around the world I hadn't encountered the above. True I hadn't been to the US though, but Europe / Middle East / Africa /Asia has been trouble free for me for the past 3 decades... that's why I was so surprised by IB's attitude (not to mention the difference with TOS).
Quote from wildkactus:
I don't know what this guy is on about,
I have dual citizenship and don't live in either country. when I open just about any account with a financial institution I am asked a heap of extra questions that other people never have to answer.
I asked about it once and it was explained to me it is because my situation does not fit neatly into one of the catergories of the account opening procedure as laid out by the new Know your customer and anti money laundring rules.
no big deal if you have nothing to hide just supply it and move on, BTW I have never had an account not opened.
I am always very suspicous when I hear of the above, the first thing I think is that they are hiding something or there is something not right with their documents.
If you are that worried about privacy move to a cave and don't come out.
No need to be suspicious. IB have my complete address, my passport (that they can verify with the British Embassy), my banking and credit card details with everything I bought (hell even which restaurants I dined in). They have my driving licence and record and can see if I ever had any points or accidents or insurance claims and if they had requested any additional FINANCIAL information I would not have hesited to send them (I've dealt with financial institutions for many many years). I have accounts with OANDA (FX trading), DUKASCOPY (FX trading) and bank accounts in the UK / Finland / UAE and somehow I never had problems with ANY OF THEM.
Quote from buzzy2:
It's not IB's fault, it's the US KYC/AML know-your-costumer/anti-money-laundering regulations, as well as regulations regarding who can and who can't open accounts in the US.
In this case, I suspect they are investigating whether you have dual citizenship Iraq-UK. So according to US regulations UK citizenship doesn't matter you're still an Iraq citizen.
I suggest opening an account in another country, or opening an account through a 3rd person or an entity.
If it's any consolation, american citizens face similar discrimination when opening non-US accounts. When some banks see place of birth "USA" they want to see the american passport, even if you are legally a citizen of another country in the relevant jurisdiction, i.e. not a US citizen.
I agree with zdreg, it's a terrible injustice to limit economic freedoms to people just because of place of birth.
Thank you for your constructive and polite reply.
I haven't sent any money through to TOS either just in case my account is (subsequently) frozen by them.
It seems that I'm stuck with the (more expensive) European based brokers for now.
Quote from 50_Bip:
Why don't you choose a new broker there Einstein?? Don't blame IB for following up and requiring additional information on you. For all they know, you are an international terrorist wanting to launder dirty money through them. If I ran a brokerage, I'd think the same thing!
Honestly, as I wrote in my first post, I had supplied them with ALL my personal information and financial information. Compliance (if they are doing their jobs) would have verified my information with the UK authorities, the UAE authorities, My bank, my landlord, the Roads and Transport Authority in the UAE.
There's no way in hell they could possibly had thought I was a terrorist unless the "born in baghdad" = automatic presumption.
They could check my name against the US wanted list, the UK and INTERPOL list etc... they could verify all of that information. The additional questions they asked are :
a - unverifiable.
b- irrelevant
c- presumptuous
PS. the snide (like many other commentators on this thread) are uncalled for. This is a trading site or the Stormfront forum?
Quote from hilojack:
I guess the Caves at Tora Bora ain't a condo complex golf resort community. Its called the Patriot Act. Deal with it.
So the patriot act doesn't apply to OANDA or ThinkorSwim?
PS. There's a lovely golf club right next to my home http://www.dubaigolf.com/egc/
Quote from PohPoh:
it's called the OFAC list...
you are on it..
get used to it..
I checked out the OFAC list. The UK wasn;t there, and even Iraq is exempt, with the only "iraqis" on the list being members of the former regime (who are certainly NOT British citizens)
http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/faq/answer.shtml#50
http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/programs/ascii/iraq.txt
On July 30, 2004, the President issued a new Executive Order 13350 effectively
lifting the sanctions against Iraq and expanding the authorities of E.O. 13315
with regard to the former Iraqi regime, including an Annex containing the names
of parties blocked under this order. These names have been incorporated into
OFAC's SDN list.
Quote from limitdown:
I agree with you both,
seems like you're limited to a British firm that will accept your British passport and have more reasonable "vetting" questions...
oh, BTW (by the way)
weren't the comments by the other posters here worse than IB's?
Well, the posters here can be as rude as they want to me, I'm just an anonymous "lowlife", but to IB I was a potential customer with whom they would have made considerable amounts in commissions.
As a customer I've never been treated like this by a supplier who stood to make so much money out of me. Surprising really.
Quote from Cutten:
There are numerous regulations regarding money-laundering, so financial firms have to "know their customer", especially so after 9/11. Due to your background from what is now a politically sensitive conflict zone, they would be insane not to enquire further. This is obviously the reason they asked these questions, I doubt they give two hoots what your race is.
If you don't want to answer the questions, then don't. Just refuse to use IB if you find their security checks invasive. No one is obliging you to go with them. And they have no obligation whatsoever to take you on as a customer.
I fail to see the problem here. A free country is one where people choose who they do business with. If IB want to check in detail on people who were born in war zones or dictatorships, that's their prerogative.
Oh I agree with you. The only thing is, my "crime" was not being born in Iraq. It was being born in "Baghdad". Let me put it another way, my parents were born in "Samawah" (a small city in southern Iraq), yet my father has an account with bank of america (opened in 2002, after 9/11) and Citibank (opened 2007). Reason being, his "British Passport" had place of birth as "Samawah" which is UNKNOWN to the people looking at it, whereas everybody knows "Baghdad" so it gets red-flagged.
This shows that had I been born in a small town in afghanistan (unknown to the masses) then the "compliance" dept would not have batted an eyelid at my application!
Quote from 1000:
All the previous posts seem to be subjective and not based on personal knowledge of Iraqis, except for the above one
So here is my personal experience about an Iraqi
From my point of view: these exiled, disenfranchised Iraqis suck
YOU SUCK IRAQI DUDE
So from knowing one Iraqi (among 27 million) you came to this conclusion about me.
Would you accept similar conclusions to be reached regarding the entire US population based on a sample of one?
Quote from Sam321:
Or, perhaps you are spreading lies because you are born and raised in Dubai and are trying to cut into IB's action.
Born in baghdad (see that's the whole problem that IB have with me).
Raised in Europe.
Had I been born in "nina" or "kufa" then IB would not have batted an eyelid since my passport DOES NOT state "born in Iraq". IF they hadn't recognised the town name they would have let my account pass through... so much for patriot act + compliance + blah blah blah...