[dx034]

The banking industry is very conservative because of regulation. Changing identity over live chat just by answering some security questions seems to be quite vulnerable to fraud.

I can also imagine that changing the customers' address without proof of address could violate KYC/AML rules.

So while I agree that banking in the UK can be a pain (although less than in other countries), I think it's mostly due to legal requirements, not bad intention.

With interest rates that low, retail banking is all about cost cutting. They could save a lot more money if you'd never have to visit a branch, but verifying an identity via chat is not easy.

[dchesterton]

I'm not so sure. My bank would accept an address change over the phone for 'telephone banking' customers, which is no more secure than an in-app chat. Even if they required me to upload proof via the in-app chat, that would still be 100x easier than the process I had to go through with my bank.

Obviously banks have a lot of regulation they have to comply with but I think a lot of it is simply a case of "that's how it's always been" and a lack of competition due to the high barriers to entry.