8 JUNE 2002, Page 31

Couttsian inquisition

From Anne Moynihan Sir: I was delighted to read your article by Christopher Fildes (City & Suburban, 1 June). Coutts has indeed joined the foray. I have banked with them for more years than I care to remember.

This year I was beleaguered by forms inquiring after every detail of my financial life, accounts held in other banks, possible property ownership, securities; details of every aspect of my private life were under scrutiny. I felt weak and indeed criminal in attempting to complete the forms. Acute anxiety and sleepless nights followed. It must be a joke, I reassured myself, but no — the forms kept arriving. Big Brother is alive and well and living in England.

Anne Moynihan

Lambesc, France