Visiting the bank - what questions to ask?

[abc123]

Hi guys,

I am a novice here and will be visiting some banks in different countries now that the Covid is relaxing up. The trips will be made in form of vacation but with the banks in mind. I am looking at Malta, Czech, Armenia and Turkey. Accounts are to be open in EUR or USD and not in other local currency. My aim is to stash money earned online there and make maybe 2-4 international transfers a year (to and from).
I think I am a good target for the banks as the amounts im looking for will be 100,000$ to 500,000$ to be stashed. I have once learned that don't put all your oranges on the same place so I think that I would split up between 2 or 3 banks (depending on how safe I consider them to be).

I wonder what questions are good to ask to the bank. Many maybe are happy just if the bank approves their application without any questions but for me since I am looking for a longterm relationship my focus will be on my safety (what is reported to my country and when), bank integrity and how safe the funds are.

What questions or background check do you usually ask the bank before deciding if you want to open with them?
Please list some so I don't make any novice mistakes here or have to do follow-up questions.

I will secretly voice-record my meetings with my phone and will update the thread with the Q/A later if there is any interest in it.

 

[Martin Everson]

I am looking at Malta, Czech, Armenia and Turkey. Accounts are to be open in EUR or USD and not in other local currency.

What type of account are you planning on opening a personal or business account. Don't think that banks will jump to open you an account in 2020.

I think I am a good target for the banks as the amounts im looking for will be 100,000$ to 500,000$ to be stashed.

No your not. Retail banks don't like big deposits. You walk into a retail bank abroad and want to place 500k you will be looked at as a money launderer. You will be spending your time convincing them you are legit especially in those poor countries you mentioned.

What questions or background check do you usually ask the bank before deciding if you want to open with them?

You want to read the banks last audited financial report and examine its credit rating to determine its safety and stability. Then check feedback online at sites such as Trustpilot etc. Don't bother ask the person at counter any questions about the bank. You be lucky if they know their full name printed on their badge. They are just simpletons at counter and 9 out 10 times will know nothing about the bank other than how to complete application forms and photocopying proof of address and ID . You be lucky if they don't just redirect you to the website for any questions you may have.

 

[avalanche]

Hi guys,

I am a novice here and will be visiting some banks in different countries now that the Covid is relaxing up. The trips will be made in form of vacation but with the banks in mind. I am looking at Malta, Czech, Armenia and Turkey. Accounts are to be open in EUR or USD and not in other local currency. My aim is to stash money earned online there and make maybe 2-4 international transfers a year (to and from).
I think I am a good target for the banks as the amounts im looking for will be 100,000$ to 500,000$ to be stashed. I have once learned that don't put all your oranges on the same place so I think that I would split up between 2 or 3 banks (depending on how safe I consider them to be).

I wonder what questions are good to ask to the bank. Many maybe are happy just if the bank approves their application without any questions but for me since I am looking for a longterm relationship my focus will be on my safety (what is reported to my country and when), bank integrity and how safe the funds are.

What questions or background check do you usually ask the bank before deciding if you want to open with them?
Please list some so I don't make any novice mistakes here or have to do follow-up questions.

I will secretly voice-record my meetings with my phone and will update the thread with the Q/A later if there is any interest in it.

Ameriabank in Armenia has premium banking for clients with around $1m on their personal account. You get super exclusive treatment in lots of ways. Every premium client has to be approved by the CEO of Ameria.

Maybe you could try talking to someone in the head branch about premium banking option, there might be a chance that they connect you with higher ranks.

 

[avalanche]

What type of account are you planning on opening a personal or business account. Don't think that banks will jump to open you an account in 2020.



No your not. Retail banks don't like big deposits. You walk into a retail bank abroad and want to place 500k you will be looked at as a money launderer. You will be spending your time convincing them you are legit especially in those poor countries you mentioned.



You want to read the banks last audited financial report and examine its credit rating to determine its safety and stability. Then check feedback online at sites such as Trustpilot etc. Don't bother ask the person at counter any questions about the bank. You be lucky if they know their full name printed on their badge. They are just simpletons at counter and 9 out 10 times will know nothing about the bank other than how to complete application forms and photocopying proof of address and ID . You be lucky if they don't just redirect you to the website for any questions you may have.

Armenia might be poor on the outside, but there are some really wealthy people there.. People easily withdraw $100k from their bank account in cash with face "business as usual". No questions asked. It happens frequently in normal branches even of smaller banks. I cannot say the same about US banks.

 

[ikan]

on my safety (what is reported to my country and when), bank integrity...

Do you try to avoid or are you concerned with FACTA or CRS ?

 

[Silvio]

Sounds like a bad plan, I don't know based why you chose these 4 countries but if I were you I would reconsider

Malta - extremely hard to open accounts as a non-resident
Czech - some banks may be open but expect problems later, the major banks closed many non-resident accounts years ago. Depositing 100k will definitely raise alarm bells
Armenia - probably you should be able to open but why on earth would you put so much money in a poor country without deposit insurance
Turkey - you really want to put your hard earned money in Turkey?

If you're worried about bank reporting you to your country: banks in Malta and CZ will report you via CRS. Turkey signed CRS too but if they actually report you is not clear - eventually they will.
Armenia won't report you, for now

If you care about safety, go for EU banks and don't put more than 100K EUR in each bank. You'll then be covered by EU deposit insurance and it doesn't even matter if it's a s**t bank or not.
You'll need to slowly test the waters, you can't just wire 100K to a new bank account and expect not raising an alarm.

Or just go to Singapore, for 300k+ the major banks will all accept you and you'll never have to worry about bank integrity. They will still report you via CRS though. The days of banks "not reporting you" are gone

 

[Tax Cow]

I will secretly voice-record my meetings with my phone and will update the thread with the Q/A later if there is any interest in it.

Prob. won't be too interesting. Typical questions about the origin of funds; where you live and if you have any connection to the U.S. What is your connection to the country of our bank - We've all gone through those.

Post one if you sit down with any position of 3-letters with a colorful background

/
Regarding questions to ask: If they don't see a way to profit from your relationship, there's not much hope. With that said, your idle 500K of negative-yielding EUR, or USD after non-res compliance costs are taken into consideration, is probably a hot potato anywhere but for the banks in frontier markets. Ask questions, and show interest in asset management, mutual funds, etc. Or specifically pick a high-fee bank and ignore these considerations.

Armenia and Turkey worth a try. High streets in Malta and CZ not so much without any connection to the country.

 

[Martin Everson]

Ask questions, and show interest in asset management, mutual funds, etc.

This works everytime I can testify to that.

 

[abc123]

Thanks for replies,
And good points raised, it gave me a little spin here making me to rethink some things over.
It is true, why should any bank want to touch my money if I am not interested in letting them manage them in assets... They can not make any money with having them stashed.

So.. I will ask them about their asset management. Perhaps even sign up for 3-6 months or so for a smaller amount and a very safe position and cancelling it later. I think this way they might be interested in accepting the a larger deposit transferred without asking too many questions while after withdrawing me out from the management they will still be happy for me to stay there. They will see they have my funds there and maybe some sales-rep will call me and try to convince me to invest again.

Is the EU deposit insurance covered per account or per passport holder in a bank?
Meaning, is it possible to open two accounts and keep below 100K on both to be covered in full?

I was thinking of opening on my name and not as a company.

Depending then on the type of reply I get, the follow-up question would be.
Will my account be subject of AEOI and what is exactly included in the AEOI report?
If the amounts are in asset management or some other investment, would you include such details also?


I have heard many good things about Turkish banks from Turkish friends. Nobody has lost their money however they opened their accounts with their Turkish passport. The banks happily accepts transfers and dont ask any questions. They tend to ignore to report back to your home country however that might be because they opened them with their Turkish passports.
Turkey is also a Nato member for what its worth.

Armenia is one of the countries that for years ahead will not do AEOI. Also it's fairly easy to travel to. A good checkup on the banks needs to be done. Ameria bank is one of the banks considered. Any other recommendation here?
I notice that HSBC has branches in Armenia also, shouldn't those be pretty safe as well?

In Malta I was thinking about VallettaPay. I've heard they accept customers more easy than other banks there.

 

[avalanche]

Thanks for replies,
And good points raised, it gave me a little spin here making me to rethink some things over.
It is true, why should any bank want to touch my money if I am not interested in letting them manage them in assets... They can not make any money with having them stashed.

So.. I will ask them about their asset management. Perhaps even sign up for 3-6 months or so for a smaller amount and a very safe position and cancelling it later. I think this way they might be interested in accepting the a larger deposit transferred without asking too many questions while after withdrawing me out from the management they will still be happy for me to stay there. They will see they have my funds there and maybe some sales-rep will call me and try to convince me to invest again.

Is the EU deposit insurance covered per account or per passport holder in a bank?
Meaning, is it possible to open two accounts and keep below 100K on both to be covered in full?

I was thinking of opening on my name and not as a company.

Depending then on the type of reply I get, the follow-up question would be.
Will my account be subject of AEOI and what is exactly included in the AEOI report?
If the amounts are in asset management or some other investment, would you include such details also?


I have heard many good things about Turkish banks from Turkish friends. Nobody has lost their money however they opened their accounts with their Turkish passport. The banks happily accepts transfers and dont ask any questions. They tend to ignore to report back to your home country however that might be because they opened them with their Turkish passports.
Turkey is also a Nato member for what its worth.

Armenia is one of the countries that for years ahead will not do AEOI. Also it's fairly easy to travel to. A good checkup on the banks needs to be done. Ameria bank is one of the banks considered. Any other recommendation here?
I notice that HSBC has branches in Armenia also, shouldn't those be pretty safe as well?

In Malta I was thinking about VallettaPay. I've heard they accept customers more easy than other banks there.

In Armenia you can also check Inecobank. If you do business, these guys have far better customer service than Ameriabank.

 

[Davis123]

FATCA is something you can't avoid. CRS is dependent on countries. I remember a few years ago a bank in Comoros was advertising FATCA free banking openly. US govt suspended its USD transactions. Loyal bank and other banks got hit too.

 

[Martin Everson]

Is the EU deposit insurance covered per account or per passport holder in a bank?
Meaning, is it possible to open two accounts and keep below 100K on both to be covered in full?

Per a customer

Ameria bank is one of the banks considered. Any other recommendation here?

You can try Credit Agricole Bank

In Malta I was thinking about VallettaPay. I've heard they accept customers more easy than other banks there.

Do you mean ValettaPay in Czech republic?

 

[avalanche]

Per a customer



You can try Credit Agricole Bank



Do you mean ValettaPay in Czech republic?

Agricole worth checking? What they offer?

 

[ikan]

You can try Credit Agricole Bank

I will never go to Credit Agricole Armenia. They use same softaware from their french headquater complying CRS.
Nobody can garanty you : CRS plug in is NOT installed in their systems in Armenia, and you beeing reported by default/mystake/error/uncomplete file with or without TIN number.
•••••••• TOO RISKY ••••••
Same for HSBC Armenia

Credit Agricole Branch belonging to one Non CRS country in "Africa" do report autmoatically...

 

[ikan]

I have heard many good things about Turkish banks from Turkish friends. Nobody has lost their money however they opened their accounts with their Turkish passport. The banks happily accepts transfers and dont ask any questions. They tend to ignore to report back to your home country however that might be because they opened them with their Turkish passports.
Turkey is also a Nato member for what its worth.

Real estate and Turish Lira are so cheap => buy 250 ke real estate (down town Istambul, or by the sea).
Get new Turkish Citizenship and turkish pasport with that investment.
Then do banking in Turky with your turkish passport, feel safe and give s**t hole to CRS.
On top you do Airbnb or long term rental with your real estate.....

 

[Granwasa]

OP, about Armenian banks I would recommend you:

• Ameriabank. The biggest in the country.
• Inecobank. Great mobile banking.
• Converse Bank. Great costumer support.
• Araratbank

With all of them, you can be sure to not be reported under CRS. They have no EU branches or any participation from European banks.

 

[abc123]

Real estate and Turish Lira are so cheap => buy 250 ke real estate (down town Istambul, or by the sea).
Get new Turkish Citizenship and turkish pasport with that investment.
Then do banking in Turky with your turkish passport, feel safe and give s**t hole to CRS.
On top you do Airbnb or long term rental with your real estate.....

This is the point I don't get really. Care to explain what I am missing here? Sorry if I sound new.

If let's say you open with your new Turkish passport, why wouldn't the Turkish government want to squeeze taxes from you and ask you the same type of questions like most of the EU banks does? I mean what's the difference really. Of course you think that since I don't live there I am safe... but are your funds also safe from being taxed?
Maybe the Turkish tax office finds out you have money in the bank and want to ask you questions since you are now a citizen there and not a foreigner and therefor you should obey the same law and rules as rest of Turkish citizens?

What would the difference be compared to above setup in Turkey by getting lets say a Danish passport, open bank-account in Denmark and deposit the money there (from overseas) and you say it's my hard earned money from my other country plus I don't live here... leave me alone. I doubt they would.


To me both sounds the same really. The optimal way to not be taxed in the country where your funds are is to open an account as a foreigner, then the funds should not be subject of tax there since you don't live there either and you are not a citizen either. However now with the risk of being reported to your home country, hence why we want offshore non-reporting banking.

 

[Martin Everson]

Agricole worth checking? What they offer?

You get brand recognition, fixed deposits etc. I don't bank there however so can't give any personal recommendation unfortunately.