TORONTO

Want some quick change from CIBC? Better have your ID ready.

The major Canadian bank is asking people who don’t have an account to provide their name, home address and date of birth when seeking change for bills.

A reader called the Toronto Sun to complain that he was suddenly asked to give his phone number when he tried to get change for a $20 bill from a CIBC branch in Toronto. He didn’t have an account with the bank, but didn’t think he should have to provide that information for small change.

The Sun went to a Front St. branch of CIBC to get change for a $10 bill, as someone without an account. The teller was happy to provide change but only if a name, address, and date of birth was provided. The teller cited federal government requirements.

At a nearby Royal Bank of Canada branch, a teller provided change for a $10 bill without asking for ID.

CIBC says it is obligated by anti-money laundering laws to “verify the identity of non-clients in all cash transactions in order to aggregate and report them to our regulator, FINTRAC, when required.”

“Every cash transaction, including a bill/coin exchange or a bill payment, needs to be identified and aggregated against an individual,” CIBC spokesman Caroline Van Hasselt told the Sun.

The laws are meant to prevent people from conducting cash transactions under the radar at banks where they don’t have an account. That type of behaviour “could be an indicator that the individual does not want their activity to be identified,” Van Hasselt said.

Most Canadians have accounts with at least one bank, she added.

FINTRAC — Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada — says banks are required to know who their clients are, and to keep certain records and report certain transactions to them.

“It’s important to note that financial entities put in place their own policies and procedures on how to implement these requirements in their day-to-day operations,” FINTRAC spokesman Renee Bercier said. “Therefore, it is possible for financial entities to have stricter requirements than the ones explicitly outlined (by the laws).”

RBC spokesman Mark Hamill said their tellers are “not required to identify presenters exchanging small amounts of Canadian or U.S. dollar notes or coins.”

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner said it has received no complaints about the situation and therefore could not comment.

THE PCMLTFA RULES

Under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (PCMLTFA), banks are obligated to get a person’s name, address, occupation, and date of birth when producing records about the following, among other items:

— A large cash transaction.

— Account opening records.

— Certain records created in the normal course of business.

— Certain records about transactions of $3,000 or more (upon receipt of amount from an individual for the issuance of traveller’s cheques, money orders, or other similar negotiable instruments).

Source: FINTRAC

maryam.shah@sunmedia.ca