It's the rules of full disclosure
The concept of 'politically exposed persons' was introduced in 2012 by the Financial Action Task Force
When making an investment, don't be surprised if you are asked if you're a politically influential person. Accountable institutions such as financial services providers need to know your status, and disclosing it should have no adverse consequences - provided you aren't involved in money laundering. When seeking to increase contributions to his and his wife's Momentum retirement annuities recently, Leon White was asked if he was "politically exposed" and to provide details about the source of his income. Momentum said it needed this information to process his request. White, who is three years from retirement, was offended. "I have been a client since 1986 and if I wasn't so close to retirement, I would cancel my RA with Momentum with immediate effect." Know your client But Marius Kock, Momentum client care manager, said it was industry practice to check the "politically exposed person" status of a client whenever there was a "know your client" opportunity. The concept of "political...
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