Why The Paris Attacks Will Make It Harder to Open a Bank Account

The horrible attacks in Paris last week was tragic. I saw the photos of victims spotlighted. Just normal people going about their daily life, suddenly stopped short.

The people who did this have a lot of hate.

We have seen how they will stop at nothing to get things done.

So today, we’re sharing about how those tragic events will lead to it being even harder for people to open business bank accounts in Hong Kong. Anywhere else in the world for that matter.

I thought that this would be an obvious outcome people would understand. But mentioning my thought of future bank account difficulties to people in my network, they didn’t know why it would get harder to get a bank account.

Thus, inspiration to write today’s post.

So let’s dive in.

Would you consider terrorist organizations businesses? I would think so. Anything that is an organized group of more than 1 person is technically a business. Even nonprofits are businesses, they are just not keeping the profits in the company.

So let’s now accept the fact that it’s a business.

So, now that a terrorist organization is a business, what is one of the first things a business needs? Money. Cashflow. To pay for the overhead. The office, the travel, the payroll, and other expenses. They get funding from other people filled with hate or trying to influence the world in their own intent.

So, now we have this organization and they have funding from their supporters and other income streams.

Where do they put this money?

Yup, they need a bank!

Sure, they may prefer to hold the money in cash under their mattress in their cave. But they need a bank account to accept wire transfers from their supporting entities. They also need the bank account to send money out. To buy airplane tickets, hotel rooms, and other expenses.

Sure, they may want to pay in cash for a lot of these things. Maybe they do.

But in today’s society, there still is the need for a bank to hold money. Then to receive incoming wire transfers, and to send money out to other people and buy things online.

Maybe they are reading some of our blog posts on this site to learn how to improve their chances of getting a bank account! Freaky to think that, but they are using the internet and the tools that we all have to operate their business.

I don’t think an intelligent terrorist organization would go into a bank and say:

No, they go into a bank and try to be a legitimate business just like anyone else.

Then, once they get the bank account, maybe even they do engage in some legitimate business. But the main purpose of what they are doing is to operate their illegal operation.

I can assume they may also not just keep one business and one bank account for this. They have a wide network of banks and businesses around the world to flow money around. In their network they have “legitimate” businesses willing to help them get money transferred in and out of certain countries.

I’m sure once the news broke and the headlines flew around about the Paris Attacks, the backers of the project said “job well done”. Maybe in their contract with the grunts on the ground they gave them certain bonus of payment based on amount of deaths or other milestones. It is sick to think about, but you need to think of it from their perspective.

These payments for the jobs and the bonuses, etc – paid from bank accounts.

But sad fact, it was a big sum of money. It is a big project and lot of risks and overhead. Maybe it requires a lot of small payments around the globe.
Though, those who did the deed didn’t just do it because of their religion and their beliefs. They did it for the money.

Then the public response is outrage. The news, the public, the government. It is a horrible day full of weeping and mourning the dead.

Governments around the world work together to prevent this from happening again.

How can they prevent it?

Ideas come up like:

It makes sense, the government’s job is to keep law and order in its land.

The governments want to make sure banks are not allowing these terrorists to use their services to fund these crimes. How can the governments do that?

And what happens if the governments or government agencies find out that the banks allowed terrorists or other evil people to use their banks? Banks will get massive fines.

The agencies declare it is the job of the bank to not allow these kinds of people and groups to get bank accounts there.

So, now how does this affect you again? Well, as we have demonstrated, terrorists need bank accounts just like you need them.

They go into a bank and open an account just the same. They provide their identification and business information.

It’s the bankers job to determine if something doesn’t add up.

You now need to prove more and more that you are a legitimate business, and won’t use this bank for illegal activity.

Sure, maybe you’re not a terrorist. But maybe you will be willing to do some sales of drugs on the side to keep the business operating during the tough times. Or maybe other illegal activities.

The bank needs to feel safe and secure you are a legitimate business.

If they are wrong, and you do end of being a shady business – they stand to get fined a lot of money.

So with the Paris attacks and other horrible acts of terrorism, agencies around the world will want to make financial institutions more strict. How did this horrible tragedy happen? How to stop it from happening again?

I’m expecting there to be more inquiries in the future about certain bank wires we send more. More time delays. More reasons for why we are sending out the money, more details about the person or business we are sending the money too.

We need to keep all this in mind as business owners, and expect our jobs to get a bit more difficult too.

I think you know my side of the future predictions. How about you?

Think regulators will get more and more strict? How far will it go? I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback in the comments below.