Yesterday I was in the Santander bank with a client opening a bank account. The reason we finished up there involves the incompetence of another bank, Banesto, of which you can hear more about here "Why There Is No Hope For Some Spanish Banks". Anyway something really funny happened. Or rather it is funny if you know anything about Spain.
Amongst the 22 different pages that my clients had to sign, that is 22 each, one talked about the money laundering rules. So you have to sign up to make sure that you are not bringing money in from drug running, prostitution and a long etcetera. However, one question is superb because it tells you so much about the expectations of Spain about their public servants. The translation is as follows.
"Do you hold public office in another country?"
At first this seems a simple question but it tells us so much more. Expectations of public servants, ie politicians, are so low in Spain that they are "expected" to be corrupt and to be involved in money laundering and corruption. This expectation is therefore passed on to foreign politicians wanting to have a non resident bank account in Spain. Stunning lack of expectations in that question I think.
What other questions should be on the money laundering form then?
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