The EU writes down the questions every bank has to ask you

EU gets banks ready for the new digital ID, with stricter checks for everyone.

Last week, AMLA, the EU's new anti money laundering authority, announced the questions every bank in the EU will have to ask its customers, new and old, even the fintechs that open an account in five minutes.

The same rules make the EU digital identity wallet a standard way to prove who you are online. It's an app on your phone that holds your national ID. Every EU country has to offer one by December this year.

Until now each country wrote its own version of the checks, which is why one fintech opens your account with a selfie and the bank down the road wants a meeting, three documents and a letter explaining your money.

What the new rules force banks to ask

• Full names, your full address down to the postcode, and your place of birth exactly as it's printed on your ID.
• If you open an account online, you'll prove who you are with an electronic ID or the EU digital identity wallet.
• If they think you're higher risk, they'll ask you to prove where your money comes from.
• For the first time, the rules list what they can accept as proof, like tax returns, payslips, company accounts, property deeds and inheritance papers.

New customers will get these questions when they open an account. Existing customers will get them when their bank updates their file.

Is Europe making it harder for honest businesses to bank here, or is this the price of safety?