Here is very recent experience one of my clients had you may find interesting
Customer - citizen and resident of CIS (former USSR) country. Not russian.
Documents provided: passport, ID, bank statement from home country bank as address proof. Bank statement printed from internet.
It's always a good idea to make appointment for account opening online beforehand
1) Bank of China - Wealth management account (balance > 1000 000 hkd)
Initially application was accepted, almost two hours spent completing very basic questionnaries and such. Bank statement NOT accepted as address proof as it was not mailed to the home address but printed. However, account opening does not require address proof at all, only investment account does. Good enough, they have option of uploading address proof online via internet bank. Things seemed to go smoothly, however after two hours they told that additional approval is neccessary and may take up to 4 weeks. Maybe if the other staff was handling the case they could tell it right away, but you never know
2) Citibank - Citigold account (balance > 1000 000 hkd)
Basic questionnary (work, household income, monthly account turnover, countries of remittance, etc)
Account, including investment account, opened on the spot within 30 minutes, Mastercard debit card provided immediately, PIN can be set up in the branch (no need to wait for PIN in mail)
Manager was very outspoken and even showed excel document describing limitations for customers from different countries. Basically they had no significant limitations for countries we on this forum often consider "red flag", but some of the countries had a remark of "reverse inquiry" by them. That's quite a bizzare thing, when bank can not promote certain products to you, but can not withhold information if you ask yourself.
Very important - if you are holding few passports, you must enter HK with the passport which you are planning to use to open the account as you will be required to provide so-called landing slip given by border control.
Customer - citizen and resident of CIS (former USSR) country. Not russian.
Documents provided: passport, ID, bank statement from home country bank as address proof. Bank statement printed from internet.
It's always a good idea to make appointment for account opening online beforehand
1) Bank of China - Wealth management account (balance > 1000 000 hkd)
Initially application was accepted, almost two hours spent completing very basic questionnaries and such. Bank statement NOT accepted as address proof as it was not mailed to the home address but printed. However, account opening does not require address proof at all, only investment account does. Good enough, they have option of uploading address proof online via internet bank. Things seemed to go smoothly, however after two hours they told that additional approval is neccessary and may take up to 4 weeks. Maybe if the other staff was handling the case they could tell it right away, but you never know
2) Citibank - Citigold account (balance > 1000 000 hkd)
Basic questionnary (work, household income, monthly account turnover, countries of remittance, etc)
Account, including investment account, opened on the spot within 30 minutes, Mastercard debit card provided immediately, PIN can be set up in the branch (no need to wait for PIN in mail)
Manager was very outspoken and even showed excel document describing limitations for customers from different countries. Basically they had no significant limitations for countries we on this forum often consider "red flag", but some of the countries had a remark of "reverse inquiry" by them. That's quite a bizzare thing, when bank can not promote certain products to you, but can not withhold information if you ask yourself.
Very important - if you are holding few passports, you must enter HK with the passport which you are planning to use to open the account as you will be required to provide so-called landing slip given by border control.
. HK maybe different.
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. They even offer a trust as beneficiary to bypass CRS believe it or not. Any wealth management bank offers a version of the "Life insurance Wrapper". The income comes from the underlying investments and fees are often very high with other hidden fees built in.
