Know Your Customer - Why does the bank ask?

Banks and other financial institutions operating in Finland have a statutory obligation to find out the tax residence of their customers and to report the information to the Finnish tax administration. The tax administration reports the data further to other countries. The obligation is based on international agreements. For this reason, we ask you for an explanation of your tax liability to Finland and abroad. If you are liable to pay taxes abroad, we usually also need your tax number for that country.

The bank must have sufficient information about its customers' financial activity, its scope and the grounds for using the bank's services. The bank's duty is to ask about its customers' financial status, tax liability and political influence. If necessary, the customer will be asked more information about the origin and intended use of the funds coming into the account, as well as documents that confirm the origin and intended use of the funds.

By requesting customer information, the bank's employee can assess the suitability of the product or service for the customer and at the same time meet the requirements set by the anti-money laundering and terrorist financing regulations. By acting in this way, the bank is able to understand the basics of its customers' usual activities and to detect and investigate unusual activities. The bank has a legal obligation to monitor the customer's use of banking services, so that the bank can detect any unusual or abnormal transactions and react to them.

We approach our customers with a request to update their information by letter or phone. If you use our online or mobile bank, you will automatically receive a request to update your information in your online and mobile bank. The electronic form on our website is also a safe way to update customer information.

If you have received a letter from the bank asking you to update your customer information, the safest way is to type the link mentioned in the letter into the address bar of your web browser. We remind you that we never ask for your personal bank identifiers or card information by email or phone.

The bank has an obligation to identify the customer from an official and valid personal ID document. The personal ID is is requested when doing your banking and when opening new services. This applies to both our current and new customers. Take a look at the identity documents accepted at the bank.

Sufficient customer information helps the bank to consider the customer's needs and offer them suitable services. We ask our customers to update their customer information from time to time. Our obligation to know the customer does not depend on the extent of the customership and we can ask for an update on customer information from any of our customers. You can update your information at one of our branches, in our online bank or using the form below. You can sign the form by identifying yourself with the online banking codes of Finnish banks.

OmaSp processes personal data in accordance with legislation and ensures the implementation of privacy protection and bank secrecy when processing personal data.

As a bank, we may have to restrict the use of your banking services if your customer information is deficient. The services will be returned to use as soon as the necessary information has been updated. As our customer, you have the obligation to update your customer information and provide the bank with the aforementioned information when asked for it. This way we can serve you reliably and safely. According to the legislation, the bank cannot open or continue a customership if the bank does not have sufficient information about the customer.

The fastest way to update and confirm your customer information is to fill out the form found on our website. You can identify with the online banking codes of all Finnish banks. After we have processed the information you provided, we will remove the restriction on the use of your services. You can also update the information at our branches.