Philippines bank account - experiences, AML limits, crypto exchange compatible?

[miner]

Any experiences with Philippines banks about account blocking, asking for sources of money?
Are Philippines banks okay with money from or to crypto currency exchanges?

How much money can you bring in per transaction without getting trouble?

How much money can you bring in per month without getting trouble?

How much money can you bring in per year without getting trouble?

How much money can you spend (wire transfer) per transaction without getting trouble?

Anyone got their account blocked and how difficult / fast was it to get unblocked?

Background: I made money using crypto currency trading. Would like to maybe buy a condominium.

No need to hide anything from my home country or tax man. I hate when banks block my account for days or weeks, asking more and more documents until they are finally satisfied and unblock. I don't like explaining to bank people why I am legally a prior taxpayer or providing evidence how I got the money, how much I have in total and so forth. None of their business.

 

[MarioMico]

Been mailing with securitybank.com.ph - they are very eager to open bank account for any crypto activity. The only requirement is to send them from 5k to 20k peso to start the account. Easy process but I had experience with philipinos and I won't work with them without anyone trusted out there.

 

[mrau]

Been mailing with securitybank.com.ph - they are very eager to open bank account for any crypto activity. The only requirement is to send them from 5k to 20k peso to start the account. Easy process but I had experience with philipinos and I won't work with them without anyone trusted out there.

Hi, Didn't they request your personal visit?

 

[MarioMico]

in security bank no, but I've applied to another philipino bank (sadly I''ve removed the mail thread) where they told me about similar amounts but they wanted me to be on premise or have someone who can do it in my name.

 

[nitehawk]

I am not sure but I pay my PH employees via BTC to coins.ph ranging upto 8k USD per employee per month and they are transferring the money directly to their bank accounts and we never had any issues yet.

 

[OffshoreBVI]

If someone is telling you that you can open a bank account remotely in the Philippines I'd bet that it's a scam. Security bank tends to be more strict than other Philippines banks in my opinion. Even in person most banks won't open an account without an ACR (residency card) card. It takes approximately 4 months of residency to qualify and receive the ACR card. With an introduction you might get a bank to open an account but be advised that they can come up with all kinds of excuses to limit your access. Security Bank has forms and needs signatures for everything. The paperwork they generate is insane by US or European standards. Corporate accounts are even more difficult as most banks only open accounts for Philippine companies or those that have registered and qualified as an offshore company doing business in the Philippines. Bringing money into your bank account will likely not be a problem. Getting it out could be an adventure. BPI is larger and seems more open to foreign bank accounts. RCBC is also more liberal when it comes to account opening but their service is awful. I had a bad experience with them and I refuse to use them any longer. Security bank has been fine so far but nothing happens quickly and if there is any issue expect slow replies. With that being said I wouldn't keep more than 2 - 3 Million Php in any Philippine bank. I just don't trust them.

 

[miner]

Getting it out could be an adventure.

Do you mean out of the bank account locally or out of the Philippines internationally?

What would be the reason for delays getting the money out? Delayed AML questions? Asking "where did the money come from?"

 

[OffshoreBVI]

Philippine banks are not very modern compared to western banks. You can't just login to online banking to initiate an EFT, SEPA, or SWIFT transfer. In most cases you have to go to the branch where you opened the account, present your passbook, and then sign a bunch of forms. They tend to ask questions for any large transactions. As an example, I asked for a Manager's check to pay for a truck and they asked what was it for, recipient, and many more questions. If you make a cash deposit in $US they record every single bill with serial number. To take this further one time I needed to convert Php to $US, I already had the funds in my PHP account. This transaction can only be done in person. They went and got all the serial numbers representing the dollars received and I had to sign for each page of serial numbers. They converted the Php and deposited it to the $US account and then ultimately I had to sign again to transfer the $US to a short term $US time deposit. Keep in mind that this was all an internal transaction and that I wasn't withdrawing anything. I signed at least 10 pages and wasted 2 hours. One time I attempted an online transfer of 500,000 Php from a savings to a current account. The transaction was frozen, it took 5 days to lift it, and to this day I don't have a clue as to why it was flagged. When you open an account they ask lots of questions. Be prepared. As I said in my prior post, at a minimum they want a passport and ACR card. Security bank will ask for your local address and foreign address. They will send letters to both without telling you. I was told months after opening the account that the letters were part of a verification process. If you're just looking for a place to stash some cash offshore it might work for small amounts as you can use a debit card for cash / purchases. It's easy to deposit money into the account using Transferwise with Php deposits crediting in a few days. Swift transfers can take much longer and may cost a lot as the Php is a thinly traded currency. I value Philippines banks the way I do the better EMIs. They're good for moderate transactions but I do not trust them for anything more than $US50,000.