Previously, all applicants had to show a passport or driving licence.Several of the banks accept identification cards from major employers, provided they contain a photo and signature Some will accept letters of introduction from employers. An applicant might open an account with the Halifax just with an existing cheque guarantee card and a television licence reminder.And Lloyds TSB will accept as proof of ID an orange badge for disabled drivers. Lloyds TSB has also since 1999 operated a telephone helpline for staff to help them decide which documentation should be accepted when processing new account applications.Citibank and Tesco will both only accept business from a person who already has another bank account, but this reflects marketing strategies and which customers they are targeting rather than just money laundering regulations.There is a surprising variation in the attitudes of banks. Don’t bother, for instance, going to the Abbey National to open an account if you are a foreign national who has just moved here. Only people with a year’s residence will be accepted.Abbey National were very open in accepting that whatever the rules, the reality still depends on the staff who operate them – and staff may continue to insist on driving licence and passport even when corporate policy says otherwise.

“Staff are personally responsible in each case, not the business,” says Abbey’s spokesman. “If they have taken down details incorrectly they can be made personally responsible for this. This can make staff twitchy and mean they keep to key documents.”So if you go to a bank which turns you down for not having the necessary documentation, you have two choices. The accompanying chart provides a good guide to which banks are more likely to be amenable.

Remember, though, that the bank official rejecting you may simply be over-cautious. If you are awkward and demand to speak to a more senior person there is a reasonable chance of opening that account after all.But it would be easier if some of the banks took a more sensible attitude and gave clearer advice to their staff.. If you have been investing in with-profits bonds, have an endowment mortgage or are looking to start drawing a pension, this year may prove to be a lean one. Life insurance companies that provide with-profits policies such as these are widely tipped to announce cuts in the bonuses they pay out this year. This means that savings and investments will grow more slowly in the next twelve months and that endowments policies and pensions will not reach their projected targets in the short term. If you have been investing in with-profits bonds, have an endowment mortgage or are looking to start drawing a pension, this year may prove to be a lean one. Life insurance companies that provide with-profits policies such as these are widely tipped to announce cuts in the bonuses they pay out this year.

This means that savings and investments will grow more slowly in the next twelve months and that endowments policies and pensions will not reach their projected targets in the short term.
Many life companies are likely to feel the strain. These include Axa, Sun Life, Clerical Medical, Norwich Union, Legal and General, Friends’ Provident, Scottish Life, Scottish Mutual, Scottish Widows and Standard Life.With-profits funds are known for providing steady medium to high growth over a period of time, as opposed to the possible big gains or big losses of the stock market. They are predominantly equity-based but they shelter investors from the vagaries of share movements by using the profits of good years to even out, or ’smooth’, the troughs of poor years.In the 80s and most of the 90s, with-profits funds generally provided healthy returns, but last year financial observers started to sound warning bells about the funds’ ability to continue to finance these returns. Some observers are also accusing the insurance companies of being too secretive about their funds’ performance, thereby keeping investors in the dark about future profits or losses. Clerical Medical, Scottish Widows and Friends Provident, for example, have all refused to publish the amount of their funds’ growth that is being used to bump up the shortfall in the bonuses.Malcolm Tarling of the Association of British Insurers insists the current poor performance across the industry does not reflect on the companies’ competence. “We’re living in a low interest rate, low inflation time,” he says, “and that means the returns are lower. It’s not the insurers’ fault, it’s the general economic situation.

We can’t expect higher returns in a time like this.”Anna Bowes of Chase de Vere agrees, and adds that the current low returns should not put investors off with-profits bonds. These are investments favoured by cautious investors who would like a better return than building societies offer but do not want to see their money disappear if the stock market hits a rocky patch. “You have to remember that for such low-risk investments the returns are astonishingly high,” she explains. “But with the current economic climate they will naturally be lower at the moment. Equities have been falling over the last year and that has also made companies dip into their reserves to keep the returns up. But thinking long term, these bonds are still a very good investment and it’s worth hanging in there.”Certainly in the last couple of decades with-profits funds have generally performed quite well and the bonds have also produced good returns for investors. For example, if you had invested £25,000 in Liverpool Victoria’s Single Premium Investment Plan – the best-performing bond for the last two years – when it started five years ago, you would have seen your investment grow to £44,120 this year.Of course some funds will be more vulnerable than others to the economic climate.