Ethnically diverse clients face more checks at Dutch banks

Ethnically diverse Dutch people are more often subject to checks by their banks for potentially suspicious transactions than people with a Dutch-only background, Medy van der Laan, chairman of the Dutch Banking Association (NVB), told Trouw. She blames the Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing (Prevention) Act (Wwft), which requires banks to investigate transactions with countries on high-risk lists.

The high-risk lists contain dozens of countries, including Syria, Afghanistan, and Turkey. According to Van der Laan, ethnically diverse people are more likely to have a link to such a country, for example, because they still have family there. It means that someone could get a call from a bank if they transfer money to their parents in Turkey, for example, to help fund a renovation. “And then there doesn’t have to be anything wrong. But as a bank, you still have to check.”

Van der Laans tressed that banks don’t decide which countries are on the high-risk lists. These lists are compiled by the European Commission and the Intergovernmental Financial Action Task Force. She said that banks themselves find it annoying and uncomfortable to question people in these types of cases and emphasized that the checks work completely without consideration for someone’s ethnicity or religion.

According to Rabin Baldewsingh, the National Coordinator against Discrimination and Racism, the banks are still discriminating against ethnically diverse clients. “Something is still discrimination if it is not intended that way, but it works out that way,” he told Trouw. Though he acknowledged that the anti-money laundering law is partly responsible for this. “It has a negative impact on Muslims and people with ties to Muslim countries.”

Last year, Baldewsingh spoke out about banks discriminating against their Muslim clients. He said that Muslims have to answer questions about small donations during Ramadan or even for ordering an Islamic book online. He still gets similar complaints. “And not only when it comes to transactions with countries on the high-risk lists, also for small amounts within the Netherlands.

The NVB said that it would soon meet with Muslim organizations, under the leadership of former MP Farid Azarkan, to see how to improve things. Baldewsingh called that a “first step.” He also advocates for mandatory staff training against prejudice.