Do banks in 0% tax countries ask about source of funds?

[11111]

Is getting residency in 0% tax country like Bermuda and opening a bank account to send/cash out untracked crypto earnings saves you from providing proof of source of funds?

 

[Gediminas]

Nope, it won't change a fact that banks will request SOF.

 

[Sols]

If anything, these banks tend to be much smaller and totally reliant on foreign banks as correspondents, without which the offshore bank would be cut off from the financial world. They are likely to be especially inquisitive.

That didn't use to be the case but once correspondent banks started de-risking and kicking out offshore banks, things changed quickly.

 

[11111]

Hmmm
One of the projects I have is selling traffic to websites. For example someone want visitors to his YouTube channel, he comes to my automated system ,no log In, no email and no kyc is required.
He just put the URL he wants traffic to, pay in btc or monero, and traffic is being sent to this URL.
I get the btc or monero payments.
I have history of transactions I received and amount But what will banks think of the fact that while I have legit business model, there is no identified customer at the other end? Just an automated service?

 

[Fred]

If you go with a small island bank with 99% classic offshore shell companies they have to ask all the time for supporting documents because they struggle even without some kind of transactions you mention with the correspondence banking.

If you go with big banks like Emirates NBD or OCBC - both banking 0% tax jurisdictions - they provide you simple retail banking and don't have to ask you for every single transaction.

Like @Martin Everson mentioned already in the past the reality is that HSBC is laundering in 1 day more then EPB in a life time - still EPB asks weeks for supporting documents and HSBC not.

Regarding your venture - if you go with a 0% tax jurisdiction with a real economy and normal retail banks like in Dubai - we can help you with your venture with pretty simple workarounds.

 

[Gediminas]

If you go with big banks like Emirates NBD or OCBC - both banking 0% tax jurisdictions - they provide you simple retail banking and don't have to ask you for every single transaction.

I partially disagree with that.

@11111 don't be surprised when compliance dep will pop up with questions about your transactions. It might happen at the later stage of the relationship with the bank. But it will happen.

The days are long gone when banks had no questions. Due to nowadays regulations, it's just impossible. Banks would not survive. UAE doesn't want to become blacklisted jurisdiction. No questions asked = AML risks.

 

[Martin Everson]

He just put the URL he wants traffic to, pay in btc or monero, and traffic is being sent to this URL.
I get the btc or monero payments.

Is this really what you want to tell the bank is the SOF. You think a normal human being will accept this let alone a regulated bank?

But what will banks think of the fact that while I have legit business model, there is no identified customer at the other end? Just an automated service?

You honestly think a bank will get as far as this line of questioning after you mentioned btc and monero in first part?

No credible bank is going to risk their bank being sanctioned working with a client using an anonymous payment system and anonymous customers in 2021. You are basically Osama Bin Laden to the compliance officer with your setup.

 

[Waldo Roni]

Is this really what you want to tell the bank is the SOF. You think a normal human being will accept this let alone a regulated bank?

I as a human being would've already accepted that. And if I was a bank, I'd have too.

 

[11111]

But its true
Automated system with 0 headache to the client
Put URL
Pay
Get traffic

All earnings are declared.

Are there laws that force KYCs?

 

[Sols]

What you're doing is a violation of the terms and conditions of YouTube and other social media platform. This puts you at risk of litigation or otherwise being shut down, which puts your entire business at risk. This in turn makes you a high-risk client for the bank.

No bank is going to tolerate the setup as described. You will need to re-structure it in a way that keeps the bank away from the illegal/dodgy stuff.

 

[newNomad]

I'd love to see some practical answers to this also, practical in sense "do this, setup this, answer their probe like that" instead everything seems to revolve around "simple workarounds" but remains a mistery how
Is it just a matter of collecting some fishy customer data? He can just ask customers to fill in the online form, the customers are likely going to fill out with fake data and ok, is this a simple solution?

 

[gmbh]

I partially disagree with that.

@11111 don't be surprised when compliance dep will pop up with questions about your transactions. It might happen at the later stage of the relationship with the bank. But it will happen.

The days are long gone when banks had no questions. Due to nowadays regulations, it's just impossible. Banks would not survive. UAE doesn't want to become blacklisted jurisdiction. No questions asked = AML risks.

Would you please specify what details and what kind of proof they want to know about the transactions?

 

[Waldo Roni]

What you're doing is a violation of the terms and conditions of YouTube and other social media platform. This puts you at risk of litigation or otherwise being shut down, which puts your entire business at risk. This in turn makes you a high-risk client for the bank.

What's illegal about it?

 

[Sols]

What's illegal about it?

I didn't say it was illegal to sell views/followers on social media. But it is a violation of the terms of service which makes a business at risk of lawsuits or being shut down/shut out (tanking the business), which is why banks and payment processors don't like working with businesses like that.

If you run a high-risk business (whether it's just dodgy, or straight up illegal), you need to structure it in a way that works for the financial institutions whose services you wish to use.

 

[Waldo Roni]

I didn't say it was illegal to sell views/followers on social media. But it is a violation of the terms of service which makes a business at risk of lawsuits or being shut down/shut out (tanking the business), which is why banks and payment processors don't like working with businesses like that.

If you run a high-risk business (whether it's just dodgy, or straight up illegal), you need to structure it in a way that works for the financial institutions whose services you wish to use.

What's illegal about it?

 

[BlueMist]

I partially disagree with that.

@11111 don't be surprised when compliance dep will pop up with questions about your transactions. It might happen at the later stage of the relationship with the bank. But it will happen.

The days are long gone when banks had no questions. Due to nowadays regulations, it's just impossible. Banks would not survive. UAE doesn't want to become blacklisted jurisdiction. No questions asked = AML risks.

Based on my personal experience with Citi AE, a bank transfer from Cyprus company & bank to personal Citi account for the amount a bit below €500.000 came without any questions asked this year. Obviously I have all documentation in place but it triggered no alert on a fairly new (with almost no activity) bank account. I had a similar experience with DBS SG.

I guess they don't care for peanuts amounts like this.

 

[Saho]

What's illegal about it?

I think you're having a hard time. Nobody said it's fully illegal, but does YouTube like to see people selling views? No, definitely not. It doesn't make it illegal, but YouTube could try to harm your business and this will probably be bad for you as a seller. The guy above is receiving BTC and Monero. Therefore I'd say that his project is more or less anonymous. There is probably never an investigation, but YouTube could still sue you. This doesn't necessarily harm your business, but it could hit the buyers as YouTube starts suspending or stopping to pay or whatever. There's lots of legally built sites for buying views with PayPal and credit card payment option. I wouldn't say it's totally safe to sell views, but it shouldn't be a business full of risks. Obviously, still hard to get bank accounts to support that.

Is this really what you want to tell the bank is the SOF. You think a normal human being will accept this let alone a regulated bank?




You honestly think a bank will get as far as this line of questioning after you mentioned btc and monero in first part?

No credible bank is going to risk their bank being sanctioned working with a client using an anonymous payment system and anonymous customers in 2021. You are basically Osama Bin Laden to the compliance officer with your setup.

What about VPN providers? Or mail providers with stronger encryption than usual? Most of them have complex business setups or use multiple countries, but there's also providers like Protonmail with crypto payment option. But I've still seen a lot of other pro-privacy mail providers with no crypto payment option. It's a risk thing I guess.

 

[Waldo Roni]

I think you're having a hard time. Nobody said it's fully illegal, but does YouTube like to see people selling views? No, definitely not. It doesn't make it illegal,

I think you're having a hard time. Where have I said "fully illegal"?

 

[Fred]

Based on my personal experience with Citi AE, a bank transfer from Cyprus company & bank to personal Citi account for the amount a bit below €500.000 came without any questions asked this year. Obviously I have all documentation in place but it triggered no alert on a fairly new (with almost no activity) bank account. I had a similar experience with DBS SG.

I guess they don't care for peanuts amounts like this.

That's what I'm talking about.

Of course they have to ask questions but not for the peanuts amounts in the 6 figures - that's why I always mention the sums you transfer have to fit the economy of the country. Honestly what can you really do with 6 figures in Dubai or Singapore when it comes to properties from signature developers - nothing.

Compare this with Banks in Belize, Dominica and Vanuatu and they ask you for tons of documents simply because the jurisdiction itself is a red flag because everything above 5.000-10.000 EUR doesn't fit into the profile of the economy in Belize, Dominica and Vanuatu.

 

[Gediminas]

Of course they have to ask questions but not for the peanuts amounts in the 6 figures - that's why I always mention the sums you transfer have to fit the economy of the country.

This is just blind faith. Trust me, they are fighting in this game and it will become harder and harder to be a so-called ghost in the UAE banking system. And once you get questions asked, better be prepared.

P.S. I suppose you know about new goAML implementations? Why do you think they are implementing new rules? Do you really think they don't care?

https://www.economy.gov.ae/english/Media-Section/News/Pages/NewsDetails.aspx?ItemID=960

Compare this with Banks in Belize, Dominica and Vanuatu and they ask you for tons of documents simply because the jurisdiction itself is a red flag because everything above 5.000-10.000 EUR doesn't fit into the profile of the economy in Belize, Dominica and Vanuatu.

For example, in Vanuatu, the regulations do not allow offshore banks to open accounts for Vanuatu residents, so this comparison is useless.