Is it dangerous not to specify that you are employed in your broker account?

[Sig]

Thanks for detailed response!

The reason i don't want to give broker that info is that i am afraid they contact my employer to verify my work place and my employer will find out about me opening broker account (there is reason i don't want him to know, to put it simple - he thinks all the internet trading is scum and any person who tries to participate in that is an idiot, so that will just put me in bad position in his eyes)

other than that i am okay to share my work info with broker

Does your boss speak English? Because it's pretty unlikely that they're going to have a Russian speaker in their compliance department dedicated to making employment check calls unless they have a dedicated operation in Russia.
For what it's worth I own my company and obviously list that as my employer and have never had a broker's compliance department call my office.

 

[Tim Smith]

The financial industry is (for obvious reasons) the most at risk from crime (be it fraud, money laundering or other risks). The insurance industry is a very close second.

You wouldn't doubt me for a minute if I told you that the insurance industry shares data. Which they do.

So you are being incredibly naïve if you think the financial industry does not share data.

Organised criminals don't work in silos. The only way to effectively combat organised crime is to work in an organised manner to fight it, and that absolutely does involve data-sharing.

I'm sure if you look at the small-print for any retail broker, you'll find data-sharing provisions. The wording may not be explicit, but the wording of their small print will be such that it allows them to.

For example.... a quote from ctfc.gov website:

The final rule permits financial institutions required by the BSA to establish AML Programs and associations of such financial institutions to share information regarding individuals and other persons involved in possible terrorist activity or money laundering. FCMs and IBs are required to establish AML Programs, and thus are permitted to share information with other financial institutions that are required to establish AML Programs, such as other FCMs, IBs, broker-dealers, and banks.

Or from the SEC website .....

Voluntary Information Sharing Among Financial Institutions: Section 314(b): A separate safe harbor provision encourages and facilitates voluntary information sharing among participating financial institutions. The safe harbor provision, added to the BSA by Section 314(b) of the USA PATRIOT Act, protects financial institutions, including broker-dealers, from certain liabilities in connection with sharing certain AML related information with other financial institutions for the purposes of identifying and reporting activities that may involve terrorist acts or money laundering activities. Treasury's implementing regulations require that a financial institution or association of financial institutions that intends to share information pursuant to the regulations must file an annual notice with FinCEN, maintain procedures to protect the security and confidentiality of the information, and take reasonable steps to verify that the financial institution or association of financial institutions with which it intends to share the information has filed the required notice with FinCEN. This may be done by checking a list that FinCEN makes available. A notification form and instructions for submitting a notification form (initial or renewal) are available on FinCEN's website.

As I said... in any "western" country, you'll definitely find information sharing.

 

[stevegee58]

Call me old-fashioned but OP's apparent easy inclination to lie is a sad commentary on modern culture.

 

[Sig]

The financial industry is (for obvious reasons) the most at risk from crime (be it fraud, money laundering or other risks). The insurance industry is a very close second.

You wouldn't doubt me for a minute if I told you that the insurance industry shares data. Which they do.

So you are being incredibly naïve if you think the financial industry does not share data.

Organised criminals don't work in silos. The only way to effectively combat organised crime is to work in an organised manner to fight it, and that absolutely does involve data-sharing.

I'm sure if you look at the small-print for any retail broker, you'll find data-sharing provisions. The wording may not be explicit, but the wording of their small print will be such that it allows them to.

You greatly overestimate the ability of companies to both work together and difficulty of building a database system that would allow cross-checking to the extent that they could determine that a retail investor with a $10,000 account is or isn't employed by the person he/she said they were. That task in and of itself is monumental. Let's just take the fact that pretty much any company could be written out at least a dozen different ways, plus typos. Add in that people switch employers all the time, consultants might do so multiple times a year. And of course there are thousands of Igor Borskys in Russia. The data in such a database would be so dirty that to do anything other than meta level analysis of the entire set would be a road to madness.
Do financial entities share data when it comes to hundred million dollar accounts of suspected Russian mobsters, probably. Do they have any clue or care about our OP, absolutely not.

 

[Tim Smith]

You greatly overestimate the ability of companies to both work together and difficulty of building a database system that would allow cross-checking to the extent that they could determine that a retail investor with a $10,000 account is or isn't employed by the person he/she said they were.

And you greatly underestimate the desire of the industry to do just that. The compliance failure fines are significant, let alone the costs to the business of criminal transactions. There is a significant commercial desire to stop criminals "at the door" rather than having to hope to catch them later after they've executed transactions.

The database doesn't have to be 100% perfect, it just needs to be good enough to flag up stuff that needs manual review. Those databases do exist today, and are continually being enhanced and refined.

I have said my 2c. I am not going to be commenting any further on this thread.

 

[jj90]

How likely do you think that a us broker will contact my employer? (Who is based in russia)?

Does your boss speak English? If no, right there its almost guaranteed pass.

 

[ET180]

Call me old-fashioned but OP's apparent easy inclination to lie is a sad commentary on modern culture.

I kinda agree, but why does the broker need to know your employment status, sexual orientation, race, or gender identity? I did something similar when I signed up for internet service. My provider asked for my social security number and I lied and said that I did not have one. They still signed me up...think the customer service rep just had to talk to his manager for a waiver. For the OP, if you're really worried about it, sign up for a second job at a fast food restaurant, then list that as your employer. I'd probably just list retired or unemployed if you're really worried about your manager finding out about it.

 

[stevegee58]

Lying is a bad habit to get into.
If someone asks me for information that they don't need I tell them they don't need it and I won't provide it. 99% of the time they say OK and that's that.
At the very least challenge them on why they need it. Mostly they're just trawling for as much dope on you as they can.

 

[murray t turtle]

I've never heard of financial institutions sharing data to each other about their clients for obvious client retention issues. I think you may be biased.

%%
Never heard of a US financial institution that does NOT share, winterG; but i am not talking just about brokers only.Soros said the market has a bias, i agree with that; not that i would agree with all Mr Soros said.LOL Thanks

 

[murray t turtle]

The financial industry is (for obvious reasons) the most at risk from crime (be it fraud, money laundering or other risks). The insurance industry is a very close second.

You wouldn't doubt me for a minute if I told you that the insurance industry shares data. Which they do.

So you are being incredibly naïve if you think the financial industry does not share data.

Organised criminals don't work in silos. The only way to effectively combat organised crime is to work in an organised manner to fight it, and that absolutely does involve data-sharing.

I'm sure if you look at the small-print for any retail broker, you'll find data-sharing provisions. The wording may not be explicit, but the wording of their small print will be such that it allows them to.

For example.... a quote from ctfc.gov website:

The final rule permits financial institutions required by the BSA to establish AML Programs and associations of such financial institutions to share information regarding individuals and other persons involved in possible terrorist activity or money laundering. FCMs and IBs are required to establish AML Programs, and thus are permitted to share information with other financial institutions that are required to establish AML Programs, such as other FCMs, IBs, broker-dealers, and banks.

Or from the SEC website .....

Voluntary Information Sharing Among Financial Institutions: Section 314(b): A separate safe harbor provision encourages and facilitates voluntary information sharing among participating financial institutions. The safe harbor provision, added to the BSA by Section 314(b) of the USA PATRIOT Act, protects financial institutions, including broker-dealers, from certain liabilities in connection with sharing certain AML related information with other financial institutions for the purposes of identifying and reporting activities that may involve terrorist acts or money laundering activities. Treasury's implementing regulations require that a financial institution or association of financial institutions that intends to share information pursuant to the regulations must file an annual notice with FinCEN, maintain procedures to protect the security and confidentiality of the information, and take reasonable steps to verify that the financial institution or association of financial institutions with which it intends to share the information has filed the required notice with FinCEN. This may be done by checking a list that FinCEN makes available. A notification form and instructions for submitting a notification form (initial or renewal) are available on FinCEN's website.

As I said... in any "western" country, you'll definitely find information sharing.

%%
Strange, Tim Smith, but i liked= It how many large insurance companies knew when my auto insurance renews, wanting me to call them for quotes + i did. Some factor in credit scores; never mind some millionaires have no credit scores. LOL.