And this refusal to follow existing rules and practices of how businesses are generally run, opens up an opportunity for all kinds of shady, borderline grifters. Sorry, I meant disruptive start-ups. But hey, it's not my money after all.
You just need to have billions moving around every month, with very high fees, to make it worth the time to take on that risk.
> So rampant was the practice, prosecutors said, that on some days drug traffickers deposited hundreds of thousands of dollars at HSBC Mexico accounts. To speed things along, the criminals even designed “specially shaped boxes” that fit the size of teller windows at HSBC branches, according to the documents.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hsbc-probe-idUSBRE8BA05M2...
Now that's financial innovation!
AML/KYC/etc. has utterly destroyed the ability to do anything that isn't "industry standard" and super boring. Do anything whatsoever just a tiny bit interesting and you will find your banking access cut off or severely restricted.
After dealing with that mess, I can absolutely see why founders avoid it. They are there to build a business, not dick around with compliance officers all day.