Have they been deputized into service or pressed into mandatory service? My understanding is that the Know Your Client (KYC) laws are mandatory, with multi-billion dollar fines for companies who violate them. (HSBC has gotten into trouble with this recently)
I think what the grandparent meant to say with being "deputized to be the financial police" is that the extent of this mandatory service has become so substantial that financial institutions often are left with the feeling that they are performing work (at their own expense) which feels like work that law enforcement should be doing.
It used to be that law enforcement pointed out the bad guys, or even just suspects, to you. Now, you're supposed to identify and report possible bad guys to law enforcement.
There's nothing wrong with that on principle, of course, but in practice, every bank must now train some personnel to detect not only suspicious individuals or transactions, but even suspicious patterns of transactions.
And that's when you start feeling like you've been deputized -- it feels like you are performing a criminil investigation on behalf of others.
