Couple say they were racially profiled by RBC after bank account was blocked without explanation

William McMillan and his wife Svetlana Chernienko claim he was racially profiled at an RBC bank West of Montreal. He says it happened on December 9 when trying to obtain services on his account.

McMillan alleges the branch manager blocked his account without explanation and he hasn’t had access to it since.

“It was more of a dismissive shutdown and she went back to her office and there was not even an explanation of why the money was on hold. I had to find that out on my own,” explained McMillan, claims he was racially profiled.

“Going through the process they’re accepting, they’re accepting until we get to the bigger bill. The teller went to get the manager. The manager then came in and did not ask me any additional questions as far as where the money came from or what am I doing and said well I’m going to have to look into this before it gets accepted.”

McMillan says he was trying to pay bills for his mother through their joint account – which he is the primary holder of. He also has power of attorney for her – as does his wife.

McMillan planned to use money from the sale of a property that day for those bills.

His notary had wire transferred the proceeds to that joint account.

The couple says – without even asking for documentation – he was flagged.

McMillan returned to the bank twice after the first encounter – with his mother and his wife.

“It’s when I came on Friday that she told me, well where did all this money come from?” said Chernienko.

“They stated that they wanted to protect the client which didn’t make sense because as I’m now representing my mom and we’re both at the branch, okay, so who are you protecting exactly if you have both owners of the accounts? The primary and secondary are there who are you protecting exactly?” McMillan told CityNews.

“She refused to resolve it even when I came there I was there he came there twice, she refused to resolve it refused to give me the legal departments number, who apparently had the file. She didn’t want me to call my attorney, from there it just kept escalating and it just got worse,” explained Chernienko.

“You know it’s racial profiling when you’ve gone through it several times. You know what it looks like. So they don’t listen anymore, it stops, it’s now you are a criminal you’re doing something fraudulent that’s all they want to hear. They don’t want to hear anything else,” she added.

“Both opportunities the branch manager didn’t bring me into the office to have a private conversation with me. Had me out in the open in front of everyone else.” explained McMillan.

“RBC has a policy about respecting client privacy, they have it. It’s on their website, their privacy policy. But she didn’t even give us privacy. She broke that policy by allowing everyone in the bank and the branch to know what’s going on with our personal financials.” added Chernienko.

A few days later, the couple received a call claiming to be a representative of the bank saying there was an anti-money laundering hold on the account.

But the bank’s customer service said his account had a hold at the branch managerial level – without a cause indicated.

CityNews called the branch directly and did not hear back from the manager.

In a statement to citynews RBC says it “respects the privacy and confidentiality of our client relationships, and we do not comment on client-specific situations. We continue to work with our client in this instance.

“While we can’t speak to this particular situation, diversity & inclusion are core values at rbc and we are committed to making our workplaces, culture and communities both inclusive and welcoming for all. Discrimination – in any form – is against everything we stand for and is not tolerated,” the statement continued.

“I would like to clarify that RBC does not communicate on private client matters through social media, including Instagram.”

Although RBC says it doesn’t communicate on private client matters through social media, including Instagram. The couple was contacted by RBC through an Instagram direct message – but say since then – they haven’t heard back and still don’t have access to the account.