HSBC (uk) can't deposit google cheque

[nonstop]

I'm living in Australia for a while but my adsense cheques are being sent to the UK.

I got my friend to take the cheque into my HSBC bank for me.

The bank started flapping when they saw a cheque in USD and said it needed my signature on the back to deposit it. (?)

Can someone please tell me if this is normal HSBC procedure? I've never needed to sign something to deposit money before.

I'm now stuck between either not cashing the cheque and having it sent to Australia just for me to sign the back and send it back again :)

[TNJed]

Just tell your friend to sign it for you.

[ncw164x]

take the cheque into my HSBC bank for me

Not that simple now I am afraid, you have to write on the back of the cheque the same name which the cheque is made payable (same name as the account) and the account holder has to sign it, this came into force a few months ago in the UK with most if not all banks.

[nonstop]

thanks, why have they just started doing this?

[ncw164x]

This as far as I know only relates to a foreign cheque, normal UK bank cheques you do not need to do all of this

You could once endorse the back of a cheque with your signature and pay it into any bank account, that was stopped and you now can only pay a cheque into an account which is the same name as what is on the cheque.

Banking a foreign cheque (US dollars)
On the back of a cheque you have to print the name who the cheque is made payable which has to be the same name as the bank account
sign the back of the cheque with the account holders signature

Must be something to do the money laundering law which was introduced a while back?

A few weeks ago my wife took a cheque to the bank and I had signed it but not wrote the name of the account on the back, they would not let her complete the details, I personally had to go in to bank it.

That's how strict it has become to bank a foreign cheque.

[topr8]

actually it has been around for years, its called 'endorsing' a cheque.

the payee needs to sign the back ... it is not a requirement of uk banks but rather the bank that google uses i believe.

(but ipso facto if the collection bank does not get the cheque endorsed the paying bank is within its rights to not honour it, which is why hsbc insist upon it)

[topr8]

as far as i understand re money laundering, all uk banks are legally obliged to report transactions over a certain amount to the goverment.

... also all balances over a certain value, also all suspicious cash transactions... moral if you are trying to avoid tax, you may be investigated by an even more formidable department.

[blairsp]

as far as i understand re money laundering, all uk banks are legally obliged to report transactions over a certain amount to the goverment.

Money launderign goes far deeper than this and of course the UK Bank's knee jerk reaction to everything complicates matters. HSBC may simply have changed their own internal procedures to satisfy what they believe is the regualtion in respect of foreign cheques and money laundering

[ncw164x]

it is not a requirement of uk banks

Yes it is

[Staffa]

I have been cashing US$ cheques for the past 5 years, drawn on a range of banks in the US, and always had to endorse them at my bank in the UK

[foxtunes]

I bank with HSBC in the uk, and I always have to sign the back of the adsense checks.