An 18-year-old teenager who was looking to open a bank account of his own as part of his National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) application was left flabbergasted upon being rejected by two separate banks.
To make matters worse, he was told the reason for the rejection was because he had been blacklisted since he was nine years old, further adding on to the situation’s absurdity.
M’sian teen unable to open bank account due to being blacklisted
Recounting the sequence of events at a press conference on Tuesday (Apr 22), the teen named Zhou Deli (transliteration) said went to Hong Leong Bank to open an account in March.
After submitting his documents, a bank officer informed Zhou that the system showed he had been blacklisted under the “Tipping Offensive” list since 2016.
I was shocked because I was only 9 at the time and had never owned a bank account or had any dealings with financial institutions.
“I then went to Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) Penang branch on March 11 to investigate, where the Central Credit Reference Information System (CCRIS) showed that my financial record was clean,” he said.
Tried with different bank but failed
Zhou said he tried opening an account at Maybank, where the application process went smoothly.
Unfortunately, it didn’t last long as he later received a call from the bank manager that afternoon, informing him that his application had been rejected due to the “Tipping Offensive” blacklist appearing in their system.
When pressed for an explanation, the manager simply told Zhou he will no longer be able to open an account at any bank nationwide.
“I contacted the DAP Penang headquarters for help and they advised me to file a police report, contact BNM, or hire a lawyer.
“A police report was lodged at the Bayan Baru police station on Mar 13 and I went to BNM again on Mar 17, where a security officer advised me to go to court or check my status via the CTOS credit reporting service.
“I also went to the Penang High Court to verify and checked my CTOS report through the Touch ‘n Go eWallet app, where no irregularities were found. Yet, the problem still remains unresolved,” he lamented.
“Tipping Offensive” reserved for serious financial crimes
Penang Gerakan public complaints bureau chief Andrew Ooi, who was present at the press conference, said the “Tipping Offensive” list typically involves serious financial crimes such as money laundering, terrorism financing, or suspicious transaction alerts.
However, he questioned how such crimes could be committed by a nine-year-old and called upon BNM to provided a formal explanation.
Ooi added that he will accompany Zhou in filing another report with BNM if he fails to open a bank account for the third time.
Zhou’s father also expressed incredulity over the matter, saying that he and his wife, who both have personal bank accounts, have never been involved in any criminal activity.
“If we really did something wrong, why would we come out and ask for help in this manner? That would be akin to us slapping ourselves in the face.
“I’m already busy with work, but yet I have to spend additional time running around trying to solve my son’s problem,” he said.
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