This sounds like my banking experience in my home country. Sadly, because of the crazy AML rules, they could no longer serve me.
I switched to another trading platform... To be honest; the closing was also delayed by me; not understanding "virtual FX positions" and all that $$ cash in a EUR based account... Throw in a number of ordertickets, that were answered after a few days, but always immediately closed. IB asks for an IQ of > 110 and now also for infinite patience... If you can stand this; actual trading will be easy!
The compliance department at IB-EU/UK/IE are *extremely* painfully slow. Something that should take a day can easily take months. They also offer *very* little communication/support. It's effectively: Give us this information. *disappear for 3 months*. Done. I've had to deal with them on more than one occasion and I would say it is such a weak part of IB's operation that I've actually moved assets out of IB to mitigate risk. (They will put a hold on your account until THEY finish their paper-work, and this can easily extend into multiple months).
To continue this farce with IB: Yesterday I got an automatic e-mail saying They will no longer be serving my account because I have not completed the tasks required. They give me two choices: If you would like to still like to migrate your account to one of IBKR's European brokers, please click here and complete all pending tasks. If your decision is final, you will need to close your account by either transferring it to another broker outside of IBKR or closing positions and withdrawing the funds once your transactions have settled. Please be aware that this transfer may take longer than usual. When I log in, I see no tasks to complete, but 8 tasks that read "received - being processed"..... When I call the helpdesk, I assume I ended up in IB's back office in India, they say all is ok....... I guess this is the price we pay for IBs obsession of automating tasks. When something is not going as scheduled, it takes a lot of effort to fix it- if ever.
Pasternak, How did your compliance check eventually conclude? I am moving and concerned the same may happen to me.
Apparently I believe Elon Musk has heard about IB's issues and wants to be the new CEO to make it better.