Review of FlowBank, New Swiss Bank

[royalflush]

I opened an account today, docs approval took a couple of hours.

I was interested in USD capabilities but there are two issues:

1. USD is a pooled account with Barclays, not dedicated with Flowbank
2. "Please note that we don't accept third-party payments for USD: the beneficiary and the sending party must be the same person."

 

[JackAlabama]

I opened an account today, docs approval took a couple of hours.

I was interested in USD capabilities but there are two issues:

1. USD is a pooled account with Barclays, not dedicated with Flowbank
2. "Please note that we don't accept third-party payments for USD: the beneficiary and the sending party must be the same person."

Swiss banks have some small adverse reaction to USD, and even bigger reaction to US residents and citizens and US relation in general. Many if not most banks there claim to not do any business with.
So in case you need, Id opt for specialized advise.

 

[Martin Everson]

I would go further and say USD currency in general is a risky currency for banks outside of US to work with, and not just Swiss banks, due to penalties involved in any case of money laundering, sanction violation etc.

 

[Silvio]

I would go further and say USD currency in general is a risky currency for banks outside of US to work with, and not just Swiss banks, due to penalties involved in any case of money laundering, sanction violation etc.

As usual totally agree and just to add some more reasoning behind it:

Every USD transaction you do anywhere in the world, goes through the US Fed. If you wire USD from France to Russia, it goes through a US Bank in the USA.

If your transaction is flagged for any reason, the Fed asks your bank to fill hundreds of documents of KYC about you, the transaction, etc.
This causes the bank huge costs in terms of labor, time, and in many cases they will prefer to just close your account rather than deal with it as it makes you a non-profitable customer.

Don't be a non profitable customer. Don't use USD.

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.

 

[JackAlabama]

As usual totally agree and just to add some more reasoning behind it:

Every USD transaction you do anywhere in the world, goes through the US Fed. If you wire USD from France to Russia, it goes through a US Bank in the USA.

If your transaction is flagged for any reason, the Fed asks your bank to fill hundreds of documents of KYC about you, the transaction, etc.
This causes the bank huge costs in terms of labor, time, and in many cases they will prefer to just close your account rather than deal with it as it makes you a non-profitable customer.

Don't be a non profitable customer. Don't use USD.

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.

Yup, use any other currency for wires like euros, pounds, yen whatnot just not usd

 

[Piano]

Here are some references about both: multi-currency account and card:
https://www.flowbank.com/flowbank
1st deposit needs to come from your personal bank account or EMI, I sent from Wise (when they were still working for UAE residents).

I agree with what @Sols wrote. It is not particularly tailored to use as a bank account, but you can definitely receive and send 3rd party transfers including the ones from/to crypto exchanges (which Flowbank confirmed). They just have a simple form for making wire transfer instructions, you can't save the beneficiaries.

whIch crypto exchanges are allowed ?

 

[BlueMist]

whIch crypto exchanges are allowed ?

I asked for Binance and Kraken and they replied saying that's not a problem.

 

[ChiccoooooB]

I opened an account 2 months ago and was positively surprised. Even if the mobile app could be improved with more features on the graphs, and they don't offer banking services, their customer support told me it would start offering cryptocurrencies and debit cards from Q1 2022. I personally really appreciate their educational content which helped me a lot. I hope they'll be able to apply their competitive pricing for all their new offerings.

 

[csp dubai]

hmm sounds a bit like some one working fir the bank , too positive and nice and polite . nice try

 

[Martin Everson]

You smell that too from the new Swiss poster .

 

[Silvio]

Seems that the new bank on the block has some appetite for risk ... allowing 3rd party wires and crypto? what has the world come to?
Where's the catch? Either they are onboarding these people now and will derisk them later or there's something more devious at play.

Or maybe I'm just paranoid and they want to compete against CIM for the higher risk part of the market.

 

[shitcoinbro]

I tried to open an account and they refused me after a month of sending documents

They didn't like my crypto docs apparently

So it is not as easy as people here are thinking

 

[Hegemon]

I tried to open an account and they refused me after a month of sending documents

They didn't like my crypto docs apparently

So it is not as easy as people here are thinking

Bad luck dude. Do you mind sharing if you had proof of purchase of the original coins? I don’t have that to show, so I’m worried they might reject me.

 

[BrettonWoods]

And for EURO inbound transfers to Flow Bank, do you know if they accept third party payments?

Another one, do you know if for EURO Transfer they use a pooled Barclays account as well?

 

[BlueMist]

And for EURO inbound transfers to Flow Bank, do you know if they accept third party payments?

Yes

Another one, do you know if for EURO Transfer they use a pooled Barclays account as well?

No. Dedicated IBAN.

 

[shitcoinbro]

Bad luck dude. Do you mind sharing if you had proof of purchase of the original coins? I don’t have that to show, so I’m worried they might reject me.

They don't ask for it, only for pictures from the exchanges I used

I gave those (reputable ones nothing sketchy) and still rejected

 

[BlueMist]

So why it is so quiet here? Flowbank has done great changes, I logged in just to see if anything has changed and:

1. Completely revamped online interface.
2. It is possible now to use it as a proper bank account. They have added "send money" function, where you can submit "domestic" SEPA payments or international SWIFT transfers.
3. They have removed fees for SEPA transfers, so they are free now.
4. They have added ability to fund your account using Mastercard or Visa debit or credit card. No limits on funding account this way and no fees!
5. It is possible to make joint accounts now.
6. They have launched a Black Friday offer.

Let's hope they will introduce a debit card soon (supporting non EEA residents).

 

[Edge]

So why it is so quiet here? Flowbank has done great changes, I logged in just to see if anything has changed and:

1. Completely revamped online interface.
2. It is possible now to use it as a proper bank account. They have added "send money" function, where you can submit "domestic" SEPA payments or international SWIFT transfers.
3. They have removed fees for SEPA transfers, so they are free now.
4. They have added ability to fund your account using Mastercard or Visa debit or credit card. No limits on funding account this way and no fees!
5. It is possible to make joint accounts now.
6. They have launched a Black Friday offer.

Let's hope they will introduce a debit card soon (supporting non EEA residents).

Sounds good, I'll open an account there and see what's up ..

 

[Sean Restling]

Where do you see their branches, in case I want to deposit in person? Or is it merely online?

 

[Rudis]

Is there any news about Flowbank?

A question for people who already have an account there, has the banking platform started working properly and can payments be accepted and payments made from the account?

And the main question is whether I can keep money there in the account for a longer period, for example if you transfer money to Flowbank in the amount of EUR 10.000, whether for example you can invest only 5.000 and the other 5,000 to remain in the account as a deposit as in every other bank?

Thank you