Leupay/Leopay and iCard customer data sharing

[Marie Manila]

Today I received an email because I have a not-identified account with a top-up limit of 250 € at iCard.
This is the plan, if you did not identify yourself via video identification call.

Outline from this email:

As of the 17th December 2019, your account funding limit becomes 150.00 euro, and if you want to increase it to 50,000 euro per month and use all great features of your digital wallet, you should verify your identity.

Also, as an EU e-money institution, iCard AD should comply with the AML/CFT regulations, which is a Europe-wide framework designed to combat financial crimes like fraud and money laundering. It requires financial companies to verify the identity of their clients before offering them any services.
[...]
You have two months to verify your identity, and redeem your remaining balance in full.
[...]
If you don't upgrade to plan "Standard" after the expiry of the above-mentioned two months, please be kindly informed of the following changes in the iCard Service and Tariff:

• A monthly fee of 15.00 EUR will be automatically applied.
• All funding operations will be limited.
• After depletion of your available balance, your account will be closed.

What happened recently, that iCard is applying these restrictions? And why is it that important to get rid of unidentified customers with less than 250 € balance/turnover?

 

[Martin Everson]

What happened recently, that iCard is applying these restrictions? And why is it that important to get rid of unidentified customers with less than 250 € balance/turnover?

EU 5th Anti-money laundering directive starting Jan 2020 sadly

KYC for prepaid cards and remote payments
Initially, 5AMLD requires payment companies to carry out checks on customers using cards funded with more than €150, down from €250 under 4AMLD, along with payment service providers ensuring that those authorising a remote payment over €50 are identified. However, in three years, KYC (Know Your Customer) validation will be required for all remote payments, and prepaid cards issued outside the EU will face prohibition unless issued from a country that enforces legislation equivalent to the EU’s Anti-Money Laundering (AML), CFT and KYC standards.

See below thread for full details on 5AMLD:

https://www.offshorecorptalk.com/th...money-laundering-directive-10-jan-2020.26879/

 

[KJK]

Looks like it will become impossible to buy anything above 150 € anonymously with fiat remotely in EU.
What is left? Maybe just cash and crypto...

Of course the excuse is terrorism etc etc. and noone sees the consequences of collected data that can be used against anyone in a few years.

 

[Martin Everson]

noone sees the consequences of collected data that can be used against anyone in a few years.

Exactly.

 

[myhand]

It's like a time machine to go back in time. People should have paid more attention to the AML