We use a third party questionnaire at account opening for our BSA program. One of the questions on the questionnaire is regarding the use of an interpreter. The questionnaire wants the name and SSN of the interpreter (or name and EIN if a business).

Does anyone have any insight as to why this would be asked? I am not sure what benefit is derived from collecting and retaining this information.

Clueless here.

It seems like a bad idea from a fairness standpoint. Also, is the question limited to foreign language interpreters, or would it apply to sign language interpreters?

It doesn't differentiate based on language/sign language.

Ask the vendor why the question is asked. Overly cautious or regulatory interpretation.

If it's the same vendor that we use for our BSA questionnaire, that particular question can be disabled from the questionnaire so it doesn't display.

perhaps it is asked from the standpoint of the interpreter will now have all the account information of the person opening the account? so three weeks after opening it is cleaned out...