So long Bankera

[TheCryptoAnt]

pssst

to everybody here having issues with Bankera requesting documents
https://www.photopea.com/
lowkey harassing the CEO / Head of Compliance on Linkedin sometimes works

 

[Konstanz]

void you cannot expect transfer large amount without any questions these days.
Yes, they ask questions, but some companies like wise , they just close account, because they don't have staff to ask questions...
so what is better? Transfer or not transfer at all

 

[void]

void you cannot expect transfer large amount without any questions these days.
Yes, they ask questions, but some companies like wise , they just close account, because they don't have staff to ask questions...
so what is better? Transfer or not transfer at all

I have no problem to provide supporting documentation for any payment (which I offered and provided to bankera) but I will not share unrelated transactions made from my third party accounts and tax returns, especially to a shitty and easily disposable service provider...

I'm no proponent of wise but they are far more professional and much less annoying

 

[pomegranate]

Just wanted to share an experience with Bankera: Tried to open a personal account. Fairly straightforward application. Nothing problematic apart from the fact that the applicant has a "problematic passport". Bankera asked for lots of information. All provided.

Bankera was very slow to answer, always asking for more information. Eventually, after 2 months applicant got rejected due to "company policy". No further explanation was given.

Wasted time and effort on them...

 

[Gediminas]

Just wanted to share an experience with Bankera: Tried to open a personal account. Fairly straightforward application. Nothing problematic apart from the fact that the applicant has a "problematic passport". Bankera asked for lots of information. All provided.

Bankera was very slow to answer, always asking for more information. Eventually, after 2 months applicant got rejected due to "company policy". No further explanation was given.

Wasted time and effort on them...

Hey, let me look into your case. I will send you a message.

 

[ellingtionia]

For SEPA Bankera are ok. 6/10 performance. Customer service are stupid. Email times are dismal.

For SWIFT they are 0/10. Total s**t show.

 

[Gediminas]

For SEPA Bankera are ok. 6/10 performance. Customer service are stupid. Email times are dismal.

For SWIFT they are 0/10. Total **** show.

What was wrong with their SWIFT? Works just fine for me.

 

[ellingtionia]

We've corresponded earlier this year @Gediminas and we arranged a consultancy conversation time over Zoom but you didn't join the call at our appointed time.

For background and to warn everyone...
1. I have a US LLC banking using Mercury which is owned by a BVI Company. I'm the UBO in this structure.
2. I onboarded the BVI Company at Bankera earlier this year using Business+ / 450€ for the privilege
1-2 times per month, we remit from the US LLC Mercury account to the BVI Company Bankera account. This NEVER goes without delay/problems. For the first few transfers, we pre-warned Bankera sending the Mercury remittance advices. This was routing USD through Bankera's USD correspondent FreemarketFX. We would typically have to chase for the USD sum to be credited to our Bankera business account (USD). Then, there was a 1-2 day delay for USD to EUR conversion within Bankera. To then transfer from business EUR to personal EUR in Bankera was another 1-2 days. There was never any certainty about processing times and balances would disappear between accounts.
Around 6-8 weeks ago, their inbound USD correspondent changed to Clearbank who I believe are the virtual bank/IBAN issuer that Bankera sits on top of using the Clearbank API. One specifies UAB Pervesk as the recipient.
In September we made our first USD inbound payment from Mercury to Bankera. This was flagged by Mercury's correspondent. Once supporting documentation was provided, Bankera then asked for an invoice (for our inter-company transfer). We provided this. Ultimately the funds landed and we could enjoy another 4-5 day delay for intra-Bankera USD->EUR and EUR/Business to EUR/Personal transfers.
On 19 October I repeated the same transaction route. I pre-warned Bankera with the remittance advice and an inter-company invoice.
They responded asking 'why does your BVI company not have a website'. I explained that as detailed through the 3 months of onboarding info which they already have, that it is a holding company not an operating company.

Nothing.

I sent a message to their support on 24 October. No reply.
I checked with Mercury to see if it had been held up in their correspondent's compliance. It has not. I have a copy of the MT103.
I reached out to our Bankera Business Relationship Manager on 25 October. They told me they'd been replaced.
I reached out to their replacement. They have advised we are shortly being issued with a vIBAN for SWIFT transfers. It's very unclear from their reply whether this can be used for USD or only EUR transfers. He also advised that our transfer from 19 October has been cancelled and is being returned.
It's still not at the originating bank. His response after a couple of days is that 'the process might take some time'.
Meanwhile, daily messages via the Bankera support portal remain unanswered. Emails to [email protected] remain unanswered. Contact via LinkedIn to co-founder Vytautas Karalevičius and Head of Compliance Gerli Viks remain unanswered.

Other observations....
- a SEPA payment made a couple of days ago to the business account to ensure that the 50€ monthly fee is covered credited same day.
- Bankera tagline: "Banks complicate things, we don't"
For non-SEPA, this organisation is a ****ing joke. Always the same interrogation. "Prove to us you are not a money launderer even after 3+ months of onboarding due diligence and the same transfer methods every month".

I am presuming they have lost/stolen the funds of this transfer. Why? Because they are not replying to me. This is an absolute nightmare organisation.
@Gediminas - you mention on here frequently that you know people at Bankera, they're working hard, trying hard, etc. Meanwhile, when we engaged initially via email and ended up scheduling a consulting call, you didn't keep the appointment.

There is nothing happening around Bankera or its associates that gives me ANY confidence in this being a reliable or robust organisation. I have likely p*ssed away the funds from this transfer, the onboarding fee and the monthly fees paid so far. I'd love to be proven wrong.
Reputation takes a lifetime to build and a moment to destroy. I don't see how Bankera can regain any trust from my side.

 

[Gediminas]

We've corresponded earlier this year @Gediminas and we arranged a consultancy conversation time over Zoom but you didn't join the call at our appointed time.

For background and to warn everyone...
1. I have a US LLC banking using Mercury which is owned by a BVI Company. I'm the UBO in this structure.
2. I onboarded the BVI Company at Bankera earlier this year using Business+ / 450€ for the privilege
1-2 times per month, we remit from the US LLC Mercury account to the BVI Company Bankera account. This NEVER goes without delay/problems. For the first few transfers, we pre-warned Bankera sending the Mercury remittance advices. This was routing USD through Bankera's USD correspondent FreemarketFX. We would typically have to chase for the USD sum to be credited to our Bankera business account (USD). Then, there was a 1-2 day delay for USD to EUR conversion within Bankera. To then transfer from business EUR to personal EUR in Bankera was another 1-2 days. There was never any certainty about processing times and balances would disappear between accounts.
Around 6-8 weeks ago, their inbound USD correspondent changed to Clearbank who I believe are the virtual bank/IBAN issuer that Bankera sits on top of using the Clearbank API. One specifies UAB Pervesk as the recipient.
In September we made our first USD inbound payment from Mercury to Bankera. This was flagged by Mercury's correspondent. Once supporting documentation was provided, Bankera then asked for an invoice (for our inter-company transfer). We provided this. Ultimately the funds landed and we could enjoy another 4-5 day delay for intra-Bankera USD->EUR and EUR/Business to EUR/Personal transfers.
On 19 October I repeated the same transaction route. I pre-warned Bankera with the remittance advice and an inter-company invoice.
They responded asking 'why does your BVI company not have a website'. I explained that as detailed through the 3 months of onboarding info which they already have, that it is a holding company not an operating company.

Nothing.

I sent a message to their support on 24 October. No reply.
I checked with Mercury to see if it had been held up in their correspondent's compliance. It has not. I have a copy of the MT103.
I reached out to our Bankera Business Relationship Manager on 25 October. They told me they'd been replaced.
I reached out to their replacement. They have advised we are shortly being issued with a vIBAN for SWIFT transfers. It's very unclear from their reply whether this can be used for USD or only EUR transfers. He also advised that our transfer from 19 October has been cancelled and is being returned.
It's still not at the originating bank. His response after a couple of days is that 'the process might take some time'.
Meanwhile, daily messages via the Bankera support portal remain unanswered. Emails to [email protected] remain unanswered. Contact via LinkedIn to co-founder Vytautas Karalevičius and Head of Compliance Gerli Viks remain unanswered.

Other observations....
- a SEPA payment made a couple of days ago to the business account to ensure that the 50€ monthly fee is covered credited same day.
- Bankera tagline: "Banks complicate things, we don't"
For non-SEPA, this organisation is a ****ing joke. Always the same interrogation. "Prove to us you are not a money launderer even after 3+ months of onboarding due diligence and the same transfer methods every month".

I am presuming they have lost/stolen the funds of this transfer. Why? Because they are not replying to me. This is an absolute nightmare organisation.
@Gediminas - you mention on here frequently that you know people at Bankera, they're working hard, trying hard, etc. Meanwhile, when we engaged initially via email and ended up scheduling a consulting call, you didn't keep the appointment.

There is nothing happening around Bankera or its associates that gives me ANY confidence in this being a reliable or robust organisation. I have likely p*ssed away the funds from this transfer, the onboarding fee and the monthly fees paid so far. I'd love to be proven wrong.
Reputation takes a lifetime to build and a moment to destroy. I don't see how Bankera can regain any trust from my side.

Hey, I'm sorry I missed our time for the call, I can't recall now what instance it was. Things like this might happen, so it is perfectly fine to re-arrange it.

Drop me more info by email so I would check the case with them. Nobody is stealing anything, they are highly regulated, and no yolo.

Cheers, Gediminas.

 

[ellingtionia]

Thank you @Gediminas - I’ll drop you an email on Sunday. I would really like Bankera to work well but the experience to date has been the opposite.

 

[Forester]

Hey, I'm sorry I missed our time for the call, I can't recall now what instance it was. Things like this might happen, so it is perfectly fine to re-arrange it.

Drop me more info by email so I would check the case with them. Nobody is stealing anything, they are highly regulated, and no yolo.

Cheers, Gediminas.

Sorry @Gediminas: I am completely unengaged and neutral person in this case – but if you admit that you missed the time for the call (apparently) without any follow-up and excuse; and then claim “Things like this might happen, so it is perfectly fine to re-arrange it.”, I deeply disagree. FMPOV, it must not happen; if so, it is really unprofessional and untrustworthy. I frankly respect your (apparent) deep knowledge of some financial environments – but abovementioned leads me to a serious doubts . (Please, do not take it personally. It's just a business opinion.)
Otherwise, from what I have read from @ellingtionia, I cannot make any positive opinion about Bankera (well, perhaps except they are giving chance to BVI companies ); but it is of course one-side opinion only and audiatur et altera pars...

 

[GeneralGogol]

So, how long until Bankera shuts down?

This whirlpool of bad feedback must mean that they are either having serious problems, or they don't care at all about their customers. And the fact that they don't even try to open a profile and reply on this forum to counter some of the horrible feedback is a bad sign in and of itself.

Nobody is stealing anything, they are highly regulated, and no yolo.

RIetumu was also highly regulated

 

[Forester]

Thank you @Gediminas - I’ll drop you an email on Sunday. I would really like Bankera to work well but the experience to date has been the opposite.

I somehow overlooked this post of yours, @ellingtionia (or perhaps you posted it while I was writing my reply from 16:56) – if you share the results, it will be greatly appreciated.

(To avoid misunderstanding – I have neither interests in Bankera nor business with Gediminas; I am just curious whether Bankera and/or Gediminas are to be evaluated "*", "*****" or something in between )

 

[Gediminas]

So, how long until Bankera shuts down?

This whirlpool of bad feedback must mean that they are either having serious problems, or they don't care at all about their customers. And the fact that they don't even try to open a profile and reply on this forum to counter some of the horrible feedback is a bad sign in and of itself.



RIetumu was also highly regulated

they are nowhere near going out of the market. Quiet the opposite, they have big plans and work hard towards them. Let's not forget they employ over 200 people, for years.

 

[void]

they are nowhere near going out of the market. Quiet the opposite, they have big plans and work hard towards them. Let's not forget they employ over 200 people, for years.

sorry, not buying this... I wonder what these 200+ employees are doing because all I experienced during those years was amateurism with zero economical substance...
to be fair I have zero experience with company accounts... so maybe there

 

[ellingtionia]

@Gediminas you have mail.

 

[Gediminas]

sorry, not buying this... I wonder what these 200+ employees are doing because all I experienced during those years was amateurism with zero economical substance...
to be fair I have zero experience with company accounts... so maybe there

It's not about you buying it or not. It's about their performance, reports, audits, and other KPIs. And none of my clients who got account are unhappy.

If you did the detailed research about this banking group, you won't have to speculate on fantasies.

P.S. Yes, their customer support sucks at times. But this I can say to every other fintech, because normally it's entry point position.

 

[JohnnyDoe]

sorry, not buying this... I wonder what these 200+ employees are doing because all I experienced during those years was amateurism with zero economical substance...
to be fair I have zero experience with company accounts... so maybe there

Gediminas is an introducer, he makes money for every client he brings to Bankera, so he is not the right person to discuss with.
Somewhere else in this forum was discussed the Bankera’s business model and it makes perfect sense.

 

[Gediminas]

Gediminas is an introducer, he makes money for every client he brings to Bankera, so he is not the right person to discuss with.
Somewhere else in this forum was discussed the Bankera’s business model and it makes perfect sense.

not just an introducer, but an introducer who knows them the most. Because I am deeply connected with them and I know lot from their team - starting from customer support, up to the management.

So take my words as knowledge, and not as a fantasy.

 

[ellingtionia]

From responses to my rejected/missing USD SWIFT transfer, I'm getting the impression that their correspondent is creating difficulties on some currencies and Bankera are at their mercy. This in part explains silence/poor communication from Bankera directly. One needs to clearly understand that Bankera is license-holder that's sitting on top of ClearBank's technology stack and regulation.
We will not be receiving a vIBAN for USD inbound transfers as we were previously advised:

"due to the intermediary's company policy. This means that it will no longer be possible to receive or send money in USD. We send you currencies that are supported by this correspondent: AED AUD CAD CHF CZK DKK EUR GBP PLN. (SWIFT Deposit Instructions). Also, it is very important to pay attention to whether this bank supports the sender's jurisdiction. We will provide you with jurisdictions, which is supported by our intermediary.

Regarding the payment that was rejected by our bank intermediary last week - this payment was rejected because we have some unexpected changes in this case. Payments could no longer arrive according to those instructions where "UAB Pervesk" is kept as the beneficiary/receiver."

What is annoying is at the time of our recent failed transfer, we followed the exact instructions/routing that was published on the Bankera SWIFT deposit instructions page, which at the time was ClearBank.

My conclusion here is that if you are using Bankera for anything other than EUR, ideally intra-SEPA you are at risk of uncertainty.

"This payment was rejected because we have some unexpected changes in this case" is a terrible thing to be told.