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Alternative to Transferwise for Panama Company

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Pedrod2

New member
May 11, 2020
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#1
Hi everyone,

Unfortunately Transferwise don't accept new company applications from Panama companies anymore.

Anyone knows an alternative?

Ideally, here's what I'd need:
- Bank account details in EUR
- Bank account details in USD
- Debit card

Thanks in advance!

Basically, I'm interested in any service which would allow to receive a transfer from a european client, without going through the nightmarish scenario of a multiple bank swift transfer, which is lengthy and costly.
 
#3
Pedrod2 said:
Hi everyone,

Unfortunately Transferwise don't accept new company applications from Panama companies anymore.

Anyone knows an alternative?

Ideally, here's what I'd need:
- Bank account details in EUR
- Bank account details in USD
- Debit card

Thanks in advance!

Basically, I'm interested in any service which would allow to receive a transfer from a european client, without going through the nightmarish scenario of a multiple bank swift transfer, which is lengthy and costly.
Click to expand...

You can start with trying to open a Bankera account which gives you an EUR account within SEPA. So you can receive from your European clients at a very low cost, and later transfer it elsewhere.

I prefer not to speculate which bank will give you an USD account but why not try in Panama itself for a start?

Anyways it's unlikely that you'll find an unified solution, so better break it in smaller parts.
 
#4
@JustAnotherNomad
That's a good question. According to my lawyer, what's important is the original source of the funds. Since the clients are outside Panama, even if I pay myself with the Panamean company, it's considered as income from abroad and not taxed.

I'm curious which other countries you would recommend to incorporate in? Incorporating in Europe and sending the money to Panama, I wonder if local governments would frown upon that? Especially if they see that I own both companies?


@Outlander
Great suggestion. I'm going to take a look at bankera, looks like they charge 50€/month to get a bank account? Sounds high, since I don't recall paying for a bank account.
But I guess if there's no alternative I'll probaby consider that.
Thanks.
 
#5
For the USD bank account, I have one in Panama, however looks like national banks need intermediary banks to receive money internationally.

In other words, it looks like this:

Client sending a USD payment through his bank -> Intermediary Bank -> Panama Bank

Apparently it's quite costly, on a forum someone said that for sending a transfer that way could cost $2500 to send a $2000bank transfer, because of the fees of all the banks involved.
 
#6
I have been using banks from there for a couple of years, last time I sent were 5k and it cost me around $120 with fees and taxes (from US to Panama) so yeah, Panama banks are not always the best to wire money (it also depends on which bank you are using)
 
#7
Pedrod2 said:
that for sending a transfer that way could cost $2500 to send a $2000bank transfer
Click to expand...
Wonder what bank that would be :rolleyes:

eadeveloper said:
I have been using banks from there for a couple of years, last time I sent were 5k and it cost me around $120
Click to expand...
That is expensive but still, you have a bank. What bank are you using for your Panama company?
 
#8
@Admin Banco General in Panama for corporate and Banistmo for personal private banking. May move everything to Banistmo eventually.

Panama banks are all the same, high fees for everything, clunky UI and bug-ridden online banking, and you better have an account manager or known customer service rep on Whatsapp to fix the issues you'll encounter.

The one thing is that none of them will ever "run away" with your money. It's not even a thing there. It may be a banana republic but there's very high barriers to entry in all industries and financial institutions are conservatively run (politics is a whole nother story though.)

Pedrod2 said:
Apparently it's quite costly, on a forum someone said that for sending a transfer that way could cost $2500 to send a $2000bank transfer, because of the fees of all the banks involved.
Click to expand...
There is no Panama bank that charges you 500 bucks for a 2k transfer lol. You do have high fixed fees though, like $5-10 for each foreign ATM withdrawal, $50-70 for received SWIFT transfers, or $25-50 for outbound transfers.
 
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#9
Admin said:
What bank are you using for your Panama company?
Click to expand...
Credicorp Bank, they open accounts online depending on your business.

Also I agree with @ordoseclorum, banking system there is bad if we are used to EMIs and first world banks but the banking system is also highly regulated as I understand.

The bad part is that the insurance is low, for example last year Allbank was closed by the government (liquidity issues and it was tied with Venezuela government) but because in that account (personal account) I had less than 10k (10k is the total insurance they have) they transferred my money to another account I have there in the country without issues.
 
#11
@Admin I'm using Banistmo, for both private and corp banking. And you can't wire to them directly, they have a PDF that explains to which intermediary bank you need to wire the money first, and then that intermediary bank sends the money to Banistmo, so including the sender's bank that's 3 banks, and 3x the fees.

Last time I called Banistmo, they couldn't even tell me anything about how much the fees of the intermediary bank are going to be.
 
#14
Looks like Panama companies and banking is more for the high end class not for the small man any longer!
 
#16
exprtadvisrdev said:
Credicorp Bank, they open accounts online depending on your business.

Also I agree with @ordoseclorum, banking system there is bad if we are used to EMIs and first world banks but the banking system is also highly regulated as I understand.

The bad part is that the insurance is low, for example last year Allbank was closed by the government (liquidity issues and it was tied with Venezuela government) but because in that account (personal account) I had less than 10k (10k is the total insurance they have) they transferred my money to another account I have there in the country without issues.
Click to expand...
Hi,
Are you still using credicorpbank? How has your experience been with them? Are inbound and outbound transfers processed quickly?

I'm thinking of opening a corporate account there.
 
#17
Pedrod2 said:
@Admin I'm using Banistmo, for both private and corp banking. And you can't wire to them directly, they have a PDF that explains to which intermediary bank you need to wire the money first, and then that intermediary bank sends the money to Banistmo, so including the sender's bank that's 3 banks, and 3x the fees.

Last time I called Banistmo, they couldn't even tell me anything about how much the fees of the intermediary bank are going to be.
Click to expand...
Banesco is way better they have an USA bank they use as intermediary so no fees are charged because of that (just the original fee that was around 50 USD) and the support is awesome, you can contact them through WhatsApp and everything is fixed in the same day
 
#18
I know this is an old thread but I have a very similar problem. Panama banks are a nightmare to deal with for a new company with no track record. Most of my business will be done in Europe and Brazil. Anyone have the best way to just get a European bank account or iban so I can accept payments. I don’t actually need a Panamanian bank just any bank account. What is the best way to go about this for a foreign entity?
 
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