> I absolutely would want the receiving outfit require that I visit my current outfit in person first to authorise such a transfer.
So, about that… The Medallion Signature Guarantee is often obtained from an entity not involved in the transfer. From [0] on my post:
> We do not provide medallion signature guarantees for assets you're transferring out of a Bank of America or Merrill account (guarantees are typically provided by a third party not involved in the transfer or by the firm receiving the assets).
In a way, that's a good thing: By the time you've initiated this transfer, the receiving entity should have done their KYC. And the losing entity probably would not want to take the cost of the liability. Having a third party—one who has had you as a customer for some time—is a good layer of security.
It’s also not unreasonable to expect that an entity you want to take assets out of will, to the first order of approximatiom, be incentivized to make any process involved in that as protracted and difficult to navigate as possible. (This is also, I expect, why the asset transfer process described in TFA is initiated from the receiving side, why mobile number portability is requested via your new mobile network, etc.) So if the recipient doesn’t want to take on the verification burden because they just met you, falling back to a third party rather than the sender makes sense.
So, about that… The Medallion Signature Guarantee is often obtained from an entity not involved in the transfer. From [0] on my post:
> We do not provide medallion signature guarantees for assets you're transferring out of a Bank of America or Merrill account (guarantees are typically provided by a third party not involved in the transfer or by the firm receiving the assets).
In a way, that's a good thing: By the time you've initiated this transfer, the receiving entity should have done their KYC. And the losing entity probably would not want to take the cost of the liability. Having a third party—one who has had you as a customer for some time—is a good layer of security.