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Tower Bank - Bussiness account

#6
Towerbank is decent. Hard to comment on your chances of success. It depends on what your business does and what kind of services you need.

But if you're accepted, working with them is largely fine. You'll run into occasional language barrier issues and they ask a lot of questions for wire transfers, which is the case for any Panamanian bank since it's still viewed as a high risk territory.
 
#7
JackAlabama said:
i stay far away from panama banks (as a long time resident). I know this bank before it become "crypto" and had a few other encounters. Experience on my own was horrendous or worse ;)
Click to expand...
So what banks do you use as resident, if not Panamanian? Also, for real estate transactions in Panama, is a foreign bank better than a local one then?
Have you dealt with MMG? Their onboarding process seems excrutiating too
Sols said:
Towerbank is decent. Hard to comment on your chances of success. It depends on what your business does and what kind of services you need.

But if you're accepted, working with them is largely fine. You'll run into occasional language barrier issues and they ask a lot of questions for wire transfers, which is the case for any Panamanian bank since it's still viewed as a high risk territory.
Click to expand...
They position themselves as cryptofriendly and promise a conversion of USDT at okayish rate. Hence I looked at them.

Also, maybe it is a naive question: but i thought there are fewer questions if you are already operating in a high risk territory? Like, reputed countries may care more about reputation, but if you are already deemed dirty / high risk, would you not at least compensate that by being more no-nonsense?
 
#8
OKboomer said:
Also, maybe it is a naive question: but i thought there are fewer questions if you are already operating in a high risk territory? Like, reputed countries may care more about reputation, but if you are already deemed dirty / high risk, would you not at least compensate that by being more no-nonsense?
Click to expand...
It's the opposite.

Let's take two examples.

Example 1: A German company with an account with ING in Luxembourg sending 2 million USD to pay a supplier in UK with a bank account in UK. No one raises an eyebrow. The correspondent banks in New York just let it pass through. All involved countries are low-risk. It's probably just a routine payment. Billions flow between the countries every day.

Example 2: A Panamanian company with a bank account in Panama sends 10,000 USD to a company in Belize with a bank account in Seychelles. All involved countries are considered high risk. All eyes are on the transaction. This transaction is at high risk of being fraudulent, tax evasion, money laundering, bribe, et cetera. The bank in Panama asks the payer for purpose of the transaction. If they release it, the correspondent in New York might follow up with more questions. If they also release it, the transaction might be held by the recipient's bank correspondent. Now the recipient is asked to explain/justify the transaction.

If you transact in USD, EUR, and such currencies, your money passes through US/EU/other and is subject to checks by banks there. A bank in Panama has practically no financial sovereignty since USD is de facto currency of Panama. (The balboa/PAB is just USD dressed up in conquistador cosplay.)
 
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#9
OKboomer said:
So what banks do you use as resident, if not Panamanian? Also, for real estate transactions in Panama, is a foreign bank better than a local one then?
Click to expand...
I have a few other residencies and dont spent (much) time in Pa anyway. The usual banks mentioned here but mostly stablecoins and bitcoin.

use usd cash or stablecoin/bitcoin. Better to make such deals final and let the banks rest in peace.
OKboomer said:
Have you dealt with MMG? Their onboarding process seems excrutiating too
Click to expand...
no.
OKboomer said:
They position themselves as cryptofriendly and promise a conversion of USDT at okayish rate. Hence I looked at them.

Also, maybe it is a naive question: but i thought there are fewer questions if you are already operating in a high risk territory? Like, reputed countries may care more about reputation, but if you are already deemed dirty / high risk, would you not at least compensate that by being more no-nonsense?
Click to expand...
one would think but its the contrary. Its outrageous. The stricter the country the looser the banks. ;)
 
#10
JackAlabama said:
use usd cash or stablecoin/bitcoin. Better to make such deals final and let the banks rest in peace.
Click to expand...
of course i dream of the day banks die out of redundancy (without crypto turning into an even more totalitarian version of finance in the meantime...)
but regarding stablecoins/bitcoin, are you suggesting you can use that to buy real estate in panama?
we researched quite extensively and talked to many different sellers (both private and banks) and none of them accepted stables or btc for transactions.
where/how do you find deals that accept crypto in panama?
 
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#11
OKboomer said:
but regarding stablecoins/bitcoin, are you suggesting you can use that to buy real estate in panama?
we researched quite extensively and talked to many different sellers (both private and banks) and none of them accepted stables or btc for transactions.
where/how do you find deals that accept crypto in panama?
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, that has also been my experience. It’s not as easy to pay for things with crypto as it’s sometimes made out to be. I’ve managed to do it in some cases in certain countries, but very rarely, and unfortunately, it’s nowhere near easy enough to sustain everyday life without cash or a credit card.
 
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#12
OKboomer said:
of course i dream of the day banks die out of redundancy (without crypto turning into an even more totalitarian version of finance in the meantime...)
but regarding stablecoins/bitcoin, are you suggesting you can use that to buy real estate in panama?
we researched quite extensively and talked to many different sellers (both private and banks) and none of them accepted stables or btc for transactions.
where/how do you find deals that accept crypto in panama?
Click to expand...
well i talk pre-covid, was very easy to do back in these days, agents were abound. banks there are not ideal to talk to and are best avoided as gringo.
Maybe they tried to clean up that swamp in the meantime, so maybe its less likely today.
But Id not buy tho there, its a bad market.
 
#17
Clank said:
You can contact them on the website and they will open the account. You don't need any special contact.
Click to expand...
I tried this the person's English was so terrible that made it very difficult furthermore emails were sent in a mix of Spanish and English as 1 email would be English then the next Spanish depending on the person sending the email.

So I would prefer to work with a representative so I can make this smoother.
 
#19
SilverNeo said:
I tried this the person's English was so terrible that made it very difficult furthermore emails were sent in a mix of Spanish and English as 1 email would be English then the next Spanish depending on the person sending the email.

So I would prefer to work with a representative so I can make this smoother.
Click to expand...
serious,why not use ChatGPT to translate and write your e-mails, if they agree to open the account by communicating by e-mail you can be fine doing it this way!
 
#20
Houdini said:
serious,why not use ChatGPT to translate and write your e-mails, if they agree to open the account by communicating by e-mail you can be fine doing it this way!
Click to expand...
Yea will take this approach I prefer Grok over chat GPT but the same thing
 
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