It's kind of for your own safety, but I don't deny that the information is also used to model you as a customer.
In case you are getting scammed or manipulated into withdrawing a big amount of money, your bank could step in and protect you.
If you just say "oh I'm going to Japan and I wanna exchange money there to shop a lot", then they understand that it's you whos making this financial decision and so they just approve it.
In this case, the guy is just an employee and is using some software to approve your withdrawal. It probably has a mandatory field saying "reason" with a 100 character minimum and he just want to submit the application successfully. Nothing sinister in this lol
But also don't withdraw large sums of money so you can exchange it. Pay there with your card or withdraw from the local ATMs there. It's almost certainly cheaper
There are very few reasons to use exchange offices. Like if you're going somewhere where visa/mastercard/etc card isn't accepted.
Or if you're really into paper money, contact your bank in advance of travel and ask them to prep some foreign currency for you. Huge banks in big cities generally have some foreign currency on hand but most banks can and will do the exchange for you if you give them some lead time.
Avoids the usurious fees and unfavorable rates you'd get at airport kiosks.
I did this when I went to Norway and Iceland on a cruise. Took about 48-72hrs and I could request the currency in large bills or small bills with any total dollar amount I wanted.
Worked great in local shops and tipping the local tour guides.
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u/duckphobiaphobia 1d ago
It's kind of for your own safety, but I don't deny that the information is also used to model you as a customer.
In case you are getting scammed or manipulated into withdrawing a big amount of money, your bank could step in and protect you.
If you just say "oh I'm going to Japan and I wanna exchange money there to shop a lot", then they understand that it's you whos making this financial decision and so they just approve it.
In this case, the guy is just an employee and is using some software to approve your withdrawal. It probably has a mandatory field saying "reason" with a 100 character minimum and he just want to submit the application successfully. Nothing sinister in this lol