Euro Pacific Bank Ltd

[thegazelle]

Since my original message, I have sent a wire out - and it was pretty straight forward - 24 hours later, the money was in Europe. Can save the outgoing info for next time.

I also want to amend my original message as well - I would agree with the others here about the high fees. I have since opened other foreign accounts and am shocked how low some of the incoming fees are. I also found a local domestic bank that sends wires out at a fraction of the cost so saving a bit of money now.

That being said, nothing wrong with EPB for savings, though you don't make any interest.

The brokerage platform - I have had a chance to use it in the past few months and I am revising my original opinion as well. It is actually a bit clunky in terms of how it reports DRIP transactions and withholding taxes.

Some things I hope to see EPB improve on: 1) the interface for transferring between accounts - sending a message to the bank to initiate a transfer seems really backward. Also, it would be nice for them to have just name and password instead of that capcha phrase. Mobile banking would be also welcome.

But in terms of reliability - wires in and out (at least non-US currencies), it is good. Fees aren't great, but no problems thus far. Personal assigned private broker is excellent. I also like their recent messages that introduce different facets of the bank.

 

[suzy]

Thank @thegazelle for you honest and great review

So you would say for depositing money and to trade stocks EPB is good?

 

[thegazelle]

Hi Suzy - correct, EPB would be for parking money and also if you want to trade stocks on any of the major exchanges, you can use their brokerage. They also have other products like gold backed debit card and buying physical gold, etc., but I don't have any exposure to that - I just use the account to park money. In testing the movement of the funds around, it does work well and fast for incoming and outgoing transfers (but the fees are indeed higher than my other banks). But for a transaction only bank, it is about as safe as you can get.

 

[dirtyharry]

any of the major exchanges, you can use their brokerage.

Are all European countries covered in their Trading platform?

 

[icecold]

work well and fast for incoming and outgoing transfers (but the fees are indeed higher than my other banks).

I read $50 for a simple bank transfer

 

[suzy]

Are all European countries covered in their Trading platform?

Not all from what I see. It looks like they have taken the top20 European countries and add their platforms!

 

[suzy]

I read $50 for a simple bank transfer

That pretty much sucks yes!! That said you want to only make larger wire transfers when transferring money from Euro Pacific bank!

 

[Lori Kleinman]

Can I open bank account with bank without bank letter? do you know how I can get account with EPB bank?

 

[drillbill]

If I transfer USD xxx from Bank XYZ to Euro Pacific Bank Ltd or vice versa. Do you think that the correspondent bank of Bank XYZ can reject payment or worst temporary block the fund for compliance reason.

They can do that but why should they. according to my latest research Euro Pacific Bank is working just fine also with other international banks!

 

[clemens]

Which OSP provides account opening service with Euro Pacific Bank?

You don't need anyone to help you. Just click on the banner here on the forum and start the procedure

 

[myhand]

Hi Everyone, I can tell you as a recent new customer how the process was. You need a notorized passport and notorized utility bill. You need an employment reference letter from your employer with details such as your start date, how you are employed, salary, etc. For banks, you need a statement from the last month and then another statement from the past 6 months, showing balances, etc., with your address on it. There are some other paperwork - contracts and how you fund the account, etc. A phone interview will be required and they will focus on your employment and where the funds are coming from. Once it is all done, you will get notified a few days later of your account opening. You can then fund the account via transfer wire - they have all the instructions including SWIFT code, etc. They do use intermediary banks, and right now the USD intermediary bank is in Portugal and not in the greatest shape. I don't hold my funds in USD so I used my local currency and since the currency of my new account matches, I didn't even need an intermediary. The wire went through in under 24 hours. A banker than will make contact with you post-account opening. For brokerage accounts, be aware that they pass along the FATCA compliance fees, and as such, you will get charged $200.00 a year if you own any US securities (if not that $200 rolls to the following year). No interest is paid on savings accounts and the monthly fees are reasonable. Login is easy and customer service is excellent.

Keep in mind the bank is founded by Peter Schiff, a respected economist and founder of Euro Pacific Capital and many economic books. I actually met Peter in 2013 and 2014 in Toronto and he is a very bright guy - knows economic theory well and is a huge proponent of gold and opponent of paper money. Schiff's reputation is on the line with the bank and so it is in the bank's best interest to meet all regulatory guidelines and comply with all AML laws, FATCA, etc.

One more thing to add is that what I described above is for a personal account. For a company account I imagine that the requirements will involve even more steps (ie. there are partner agreement forms that need to be filled out and reviewed by their compliance department).

Thanks for the great review. I have an account with the bank and happy. Just unhappy with the high wire transfer fee which is killing my profits.

 

[thegazelle]

What I am hoping to see with EPB is eventually have a mobile app, as well as a way to move money from brokerage to bank account without having to send the bank a message asking them to move and forth. For same owner of both accounts, it should be instantaneous.

All that being said, I have had my account for 4 months now and not a single problem. Incoming and outgoing wire is good, except for the fees (which I originally thought was reasonable until I got other accounts which made me realize otherwise). My personal banker is fantastic and I have had 1+ hour conversations with him and he answers all my questions thoroughly. Only downside is how the brokerage platform handles DRIPs and how it handles dividend reinvestments. Going through the log to find how backoffice changed cash amounts from such and such leaves me to figure out how to piece together the transaction. Plus, I do not like the withholding tax on my dividends. At $25.00 a trade, not sure it is really worthwhile.. But you can access every major global exchange and trading is easy - I hope they improve the interface soon.

Overall, no regrets. Great account for parking some extra cash, and access to it is easy and straight forward.

 

[negon]

An mobile app would make it much easier to handle our banking, great idea actually.

 

[andreas]

Overall, no regrets. Great account for parking some extra cash, and access to it is easy and straight forward.

Sounds to me that I need to give it a try, thanks for your valuable input.

 

[pesto]

With the input from the you guys I will try to open an account with EPB it seems to be something that we can work with for safing and for rest we need other services!

 

[JohnLocke]

Since my original message, I have sent a wire out - and it was pretty straight forward - 24 hours later, the money was in Europe. Can save the outgoing info for next time.

This was an IBAN transfer in EUR or USD?

 

[thegazelle]

This was an IBAN transfer in EUR or USD?

Neither. Canadian Dollars

 

[JohnLocke]

Neither. Canadian Dollars

ahh now I understand why it was so fast

 

[hungryit]

Hi Everyone, I can tell you as a recent new customer how the process was. You need a notorized passport and notorized utility bill. You need an employment reference letter from your employer with details such as your start date, how you are employed, salary, etc. For banks, you need a statement from the last month and then another statement from the past 6 months, showing balances, etc., with your address on it. There are some other paperwork - contracts and how you fund the account, etc. A phone interview will be required and they will focus on your employment and where the funds are coming from. Once it is all done, you will get notified a few days later of your account opening. You can then fund the account via transfer wire - they have all the instructions including SWIFT code, etc. They do use intermediary banks, and right now the USD intermediary bank is in Portugal and not in the greatest shape. I don't hold my funds in USD so I used my local currency and since the currency of my new account matches, I didn't even need an intermediary. The wire went through in under 24 hours. A banker than will make contact with you post-account opening. For brokerage accounts, be aware that they pass along the FATCA compliance fees, and as such, you will get charged $200.00 a year if you own any US securities (if not that $200 rolls to the following year). No interest is paid on savings accounts and the monthly fees are reasonable. Login is easy and customer service is excellent.

Keep in mind the bank is founded by Peter Schiff, a respected economist and founder of Euro Pacific Capital and many economic books. I actually met Peter in 2013 and 2014 in Toronto and he is a very bright guy - knows economic theory well and is a huge proponent of gold and opponent of paper money. Schiff's reputation is on the line with the bank and so it is in the bank's best interest to meet all regulatory guidelines and comply with all AML laws, FATCA, etc.

One more thing to add is that what I described above is for a personal account. For a company account I imagine that the requirements will involve even more steps (ie. there are partner agreement forms that need to be filled out and reviewed by their compliance department).

Thank to you I opened account with tme. Got my account details today, thank you

 

[thegazelle]

Awesome to hear. It is actually a pretty decent experience. They are responsive and I have been able to move money in and out no problems. The interface is basic, but functionality-wise, it has been very good. I have other accounts elsewhere where there are restrictions on withdrawal, or that the helpdesk is not responsive, but EPB has been pretty good overall. I plan to put more in shortly, as I consider EPB a good place to park some extra cash.