A funny question from my bank

Yesterday I logged on to my bank account and applied for a service. After the second or third page of the application form the website lobbed this question to me:

Are you a senior foreign political figure or a family member or associate of a senior foreign political figure?

What??

Mmmm.. I guess it not something you want to answer in the positive to get the VIP-level service. Now come on .. seriously, what does it mean to be an 'associate' and what qualifies as 'senior'.
The other interesting fact is that I applied a couple of months ago for the very same service, different bank (different account) in person. The service desk lady asked me all the standard questions and most certainly did not ask that one. I guess this is either a) something that a bank employee can tell just by looking at the person or b) my other bank has gone bananas.

If I had to choose, I'll go with a) and that means that the lady selected 'yes' (selecting 'no' will be worse for her) and that means that I'll get a visit from the secret service (or the FBI) any day now.

On a more serious note, after some research I can tell you where this nonsense comes from. It is the implementation of section 312 of Title III of the Patriot Act of 2001 that "requires financial institutions to determine whether any holder of a private banking account is a senior foreign political figure or a family member or close personal associate of such person and to report any known or suspected violation of law conducted through or involving the account". So how do you do that if you are not a private investigator? Simple, just ask the customer.

So I guess who is going to pay me a visit is more likely the department of homeland security.