Yes, this law has come into affect recently, and i never had these problems before. Even traders from close US allies like Pakistan, Indea, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait,... ...their account processing gets too lengthy because going through lot of formalities I just got 2 PM from Middleeastern ET members yesterday, having similar problems
I come to know it's more of a personal choice/matter, if brokers decide to open your account, Even you meet all the criteria needed. But still very larger firms don't want to take risk for having minor customers like me, so i have to settle with smaller firms because lake of business they need to have my business
<<Thus, my best guess is that a senior CSR exec at the brokerage simply determined that they couldn't reach a certain comfort level with determining who you are and where your money is coming from. >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hi, how is it going? what you said above is the exact case. and these larger firms don't have to take risk for minor customers like me. In spite of not lot of traders from these countries to affect their revenue anyway But after applying thrice, i'm sure they don't even need to be convinced. So, i give it up.
===== Remember being friends with a Pakastani man in the military; because I thought he was Indian & grew up bowhunting with part -Indian named Ronnie in school. Yes , Ronnie, part Indian ,excelled in archery!!! Believe it or not, Now we notice some griping about to much business with Indians. Nanatrader, you think American Banks are wrong to discriminate with much more paperwork required , higher interest rate or simply refuse a loan on a rental residence[investor property]??? Especially since they would wisely lower interest rate if you actually lived in exact home, in thier home nation. Rather than a Semitic bank /broker conspiracy or infidel conspiracy; sounds like they think you are out of thier marketing area.
My guess is that this has little to nothing to do with the Patriot Act or an Arabic surname, and everything to do with longstanding US trade sanctions against Iran and a couple of CS reps who don't quite understand the regs or their company's policies. You would probably have the same problems if you were Cuban or North Korean. http://www.treas.gov/offices/eotffc/ofac/sanctions/t11iran.pdf
The answer is that they dont need to take you as a customer and can refuse your business based upon exactly what they told you. If you dont like their response then attempt to sue them: get a lawyer. My prediction is that you will get nowhere but its your money and if you want to throw it away then more power to you. Stop complaining and find a workaround solution : just dont violate and country laws or expect - in the current environment - to be prosecuted if you get caught .
There is a national list of "banned" counties where you cannot open accounts for those citizens. I think it would be on the www.ida.ca web site or somewhere similar