AML regs kill customer relationships

I just had my American Express Business Card suspended without warning or explanation. It turns out that they need to re-onboard me due to Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulations. Strange. I’ve been a customer for 25 years and they need to re-establish if I really am me. So much for trust.

More than this, they claim they have emailed me regularly and called me often to tell me that this is mandatory or my card will be blocked. Well, I got no emails or calls. Thanks AMEX.

American Express pride themselves on service. Their brand is all about customer support. So, I call them and end up with the worst customer experience and lack of support. I get a message that my call is in a queue, so I waited ... and waited ... and waited.

After 45 minutes I hang up and, you know that feeling? That feeling of how long do you wait? You’re sitting there after ten or twenty minutes and thinking that they could answer any second now, so should I stay or should I go? Should I call back and maybe jump the queue? Should I just wait … and wait … and wait. After 45 minutes, I’m gone.

So, I try and contact them online, through the app, by phone and email for days. Nothing.

I am travelling on business overseas and the one card I rely on is suddenly blocked with zero notice. What to do?

Well, like most people, I have other accounts and cards, so I get by using personal cards. This is going to be an accounting nightmare reconciling personal and business cards for my next accounting period.

Finally, I get through to a human (ish) person at AMEX who tells me they are forced, by law, through the FCA, to re-onboard every business they deal with.

What this means is that, after being an AMEX business card member since 2001, twenty-five years folks, is that they need to re-verify me for everything.

They ask me for all sorts of documents to prove how the business works. Documents that show who are the owners, the organisational structure, the registered address and more. It’s ridiculous.

I am sitting here, as their customer, thinking that they – as a provider – have a responsibility to comply with the law but why should I – as their customer – be required to deal with a sudden, unannounced, huge amount of administrative overhead to prove we comply?

I ask the CSR (customer representative) whether they are getting similar issues with other business card users and, sadly, they tell me “yes”. That’s the reason for the hour long wait on the lines.

Probably the saddest thing about this story is that you have a new regulation forcing a financial firm to completely change their processes with no idea of what the process is, how it works, the impact on their customers and the impact on their customer relationship and perception.

For me, AMEX has broken any trust, relationship or connection we ever had due to this clumsy, idiotic way in which they are re-onboarding me.

So much for compliance and regulation.

What really suprises me is that, during the 25 years I’ve dealt with AMEX, their customer service has been pretty exceptional. Now, I am massively disappointed and angry with them.

The question is whether it is their problem or the regulatory requirement regime?

I say it’s their problem.

In fact, their customer service person says they are really sorry, they don’t want to lose me as a customer (although they are about to) and that it is all the fault of the FCA.

I don’t buy it. It’s their awful implementation of a regulatory requirement which has led to massive call volumes and a website that is just terrible from a customer experience viewpoint.

The company wants me to upload all sorts of documents, none of which I have or know what they are. It is just the worst.

So, I posted about this awful experience on X and got lots of replies. Here is a typical one:

All my banks have been asking me for additional AML info by Feb. I’ve started, but it’s a lot of information, which felt excessive… so I just gave up 😂Guess my accounts are about to get locked 😱 Has there been some regulatory change? 🤔

— Iain Herd (@iainherd) January 27, 2026

AMEX claims it is all to do with a regulatory crackdown by the Financial Conduct Authority, so I ask ChatGPT what’s going on. The answer?

The reason for financial institutions asking for updated anti-money laundering (AML) information is driven by the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) stricter enforcement and updated guidance on existing AML regulations, rather than a single specific new regulatory change.

Banks are being pushed to move beyond "tick-box" compliance and demonstrate that they can obtain, verify, and continuously update accurate customer information in practice.

Key factors contributing to this trend include:

• Increased Scrutiny and Enforcement Action: The FCA has increased its supervisory scrutiny and issued significant fines to major banks (e.g., HSBC, Starling Bank, Barclays) for systemic AML control failures. These penalties demonstrate that the FCA is no longer satisfied with policies "on paper" but demands effective, practical implementation.
• Focus on 'Know Your Customer' (KYC) and Ongoing Monitoring: Regulations such as the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLRs), and subsequent amendments, require firms to conduct ongoing monitoring and keep customer due diligence (CDD) information up to date. This necessitates periodic reviews of existing customer data to ensure it remains current and consistent with the customer's activity.
• Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA): This Act enhances AML powers and promotes better information sharing among firms to detect and prevent financial crime. It also introduced a new corporate criminal offence for "failure to prevent fraud" in large companies, encouraging stricter compliance procedures.
• Risk-Based Approach: The regulations require firms to apply a risk-based approach to AML. When a bank identifies changes in a customer's activity or profile, or as part of a general periodic review, it must gather additional information to reassess the risk and ensure the source of funds and wealth are legitimate.
• Upcoming Supervisory Changes: The UK government has announced its decision to make the FCA the single AML supervisor for all professional services (including legal and accountancy firms) in the future (though this requires legislation and will take time). This move towards a single, more consistent oversight regime is increasing pressure on all regulated entities to strengthen their AML controls in preparation.

In essence, your bank is likely performing an enhanced or updated due diligence check as a direct result of the FCA's heightened expectations and enforcement approach to ensure robust and continuous compliance with the existing AML framework.

What a load of rubbish as criminals circumvent all of the above if and when they want.

The total amount of money laundering globally through banks in 2025 is estimated to be between 2% and 5% of global GDP, which translates to an annual amount of approximately $800 billion to $2 trillion.

Money Laundering Statistics 2025 – 45 Facts & Trends | Shufti

That is even with all the money laundering regulations developed over the past fifty years and will still be the case with all the money laundering regulations for the next fifty years.

Meanwhile, such regulations just cause the average customer pain and the average financial institution the loss of a good relationship.

So, what’s the solution?

Well, it’s not sending loads of documents and identifications to providers online. It’s about having a bullet-proof digital identity system. Something I’ve talked about a lot recently, and is a focus of my new book Intelligent Bank.

Simples?!?!?!

I guess the general message is: never kill a customer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M91lzp1u7ww