A Santander customer has been left furious after the high street bank refused to allow him to withdraw £2,500 of his own money in order to buy his son a motorbike.
Uploading footage of his interactions with the bank to social media, the customer known only as Mr Jackson, expresses his outrage after the request to withdraw his own funds is seemingly refused.
The Santander clerk, who requests not to be filmed, then connects Mr Jackson with another staff member over the phone.
With his fury at the situation only increasing as a result, the voice on the telephone enquires: "what are you using the £2,500 for Mr Jackson?"
"To buy a bike for my son," Mr Jackson replies.
"So have you got any evidence?" the Santander employee responds.
"No I haven't got any evidence of this motorbike at all, 'cos I don't know what I'm getting yet."
"Okay, so if you don't know what you're getting, how do you know how much you need?" the Santander employee replies.
"Because I've got a budget of £2,500 for the motorbike!" a frustrated Mr Jackson responds.
"When you find the bike for your son, if you can show us some evidence…" says the voice of the Santander employee.
"I'm coming to the bank to withdraw £2,500; are you going to let me? I've got £11,000 in my account," he reiterates.
Mr Jackson frustratedly adds: "Are you going to let me take the money or not?"
It's a video that has caused outrage, with internet commenters reacting to the video with outrage.
One commenter by the name of Dr Lensi explained that she had gone through a similar ordeal: "Santander did the exact same to my friend! They ended up apologising and paying compensation."
Another wrote: "If this is actually real, we need to boycott Santander and any bank that makes it difficult for us to withdraw our money. It’s understandable if it’s £100,000 but £2500?? Really?"
Speaking following the emergence of the video, LBC's consumer expert Dean Dunham explained that banks "have the power, and a legal obligation, to ask questions about money movements (withdrawals and transfers) where a ‘red flag’ is present".
Expanding on the Banking Protocols, he explains the measures were first rolled out in London in 2016 as a pilot scheme, before expanding nationally in 2017.
He says that "red flags" are typically scenarios where "the transaction involves a large amount of money or the transaction is unusual – so where the customer would not withdraw or transfer a particular amount or where a transfer is to a suspect account.
"As well as asking what the purpose of the withdrawal or transfer is, banks can also ask for evidence."
He explained that customers are under "no legal obligation" to answer the bank's questions or to "provide any evidence". However, he says such a refusal "will nearly always result in the bank refusing to allow the withdrawal or transfer and a report being made to the authorities".
"It is therefore always best to forewarn your bank when you want to make a unusually large withdrawal or transfer of funds and to be ready to answer questions on the purpose."
:Whilst this can be inconvenient for consumers, the purpose behind the code to help prevent scams and financial crime and it is reported that the Banking Protocol has prevented £100m of financial crime since its inception in 2016."
Santander have since said they are aware of the incident, with a spokesperson telling LBC: "At Santander, protecting customers from financial harm as a result of fraud and scams is our key priority.”
It reiterated that it cannot comment on this specific customer's situation, with steps put in place to identify fraud scams on behalf of customers.
It comes as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) which oversees the banking sector emphasised the need for "proportionate" steps to prevent financial crime.
“We expect banks to be proportionate when taking steps to prevent financial crime," they told LBC.
"If customers are unhappy, they should complain to the firm and then the Financial Ombudsman Service”.
