I thought I'd post this here since it may impact other ex-pat Australian amex customers.
I've just had a fun conversation with Amex Australia. To set the scene, I'm a Kiwi who is employed in Australia and is assigned to the Singapore office of my MNC employer. My salary is paid in Australia, and I have a bank account, Amex Australia card, etc. The address on my Amex account is that of my residence in Singapore, since I no longer have a house in Melbourne.
In April I applied for a supplementary card for my mother, who lives in New Zealand. Amex requested additional ID - a certified passport copy - which was supplied to them after some delay due to her needing to renew her passport. After some elapsed months I chased them up today to find out what the story is, and I was told that due to Amex's policy change effective August 26th, in line with the Australian Anti-money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Finance act that they can no longer issue cards to anyone with an overseas address, and for this reason they will not issue my mother a supplementary card (unless I can prove she lives in Australia - which she doesn't).
I've had a quick skim of the legislation involved and while I am not a lawyer, I can't see anything which restricts Amex from doing this - so it's their policy.
I queried whether this impacts me as an existing cardholder, and was told that in terms of card renewals etc it doesn't, but if I were to apply for a new Amex card or change my card type, I would be refused.
It seems like a shortsighted policy that will impact a significant number of expat workers who maintain an Australian Amex account. I'm tempted to write a letter to them to see if I can get this rather boneheaded decision changed as it makes no sense for my particular situation.
I'm now about to ask CBA if they will issue her a card instead - although I'm not holding my breath.
I've just had a fun conversation with Amex Australia. To set the scene, I'm a Kiwi who is employed in Australia and is assigned to the Singapore office of my MNC employer. My salary is paid in Australia, and I have a bank account, Amex Australia card, etc. The address on my Amex account is that of my residence in Singapore, since I no longer have a house in Melbourne.
In April I applied for a supplementary card for my mother, who lives in New Zealand. Amex requested additional ID - a certified passport copy - which was supplied to them after some delay due to her needing to renew her passport. After some elapsed months I chased them up today to find out what the story is, and I was told that due to Amex's policy change effective August 26th, in line with the Australian Anti-money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Finance act that they can no longer issue cards to anyone with an overseas address, and for this reason they will not issue my mother a supplementary card (unless I can prove she lives in Australia - which she doesn't).
I've had a quick skim of the legislation involved and while I am not a lawyer, I can't see anything which restricts Amex from doing this - so it's their policy.
I queried whether this impacts me as an existing cardholder, and was told that in terms of card renewals etc it doesn't, but if I were to apply for a new Amex card or change my card type, I would be refused.
It seems like a shortsighted policy that will impact a significant number of expat workers who maintain an Australian Amex account. I'm tempted to write a letter to them to see if I can get this rather boneheaded decision changed as it makes no sense for my particular situation.
I'm now about to ask CBA if they will issue her a card instead - although I'm not holding my breath.