Switzerland? Remote open savings bank account, mid 6 figures

[Martin Everson]

Why "avoid the Baltics like the plague"? I have had an account with LHV bank in Estonia for several years and had a very good experience

LHV is a victim of simply being in laundromat Eastern Europe sadly. They finally got a USD correspondence account last year but operates it with restrictions. Took them 4 years to get one .

https://www.lhv.ee/en/news/2020/21
I would say avoid banking in all of Baltics period as its just one Russian laundromat.

 

[StuartG]

I didn't say avoid the Baltics like the plague, please quote correctly: I said avoid Latvia like the plague and in general avoid the baltics except few select EMIs\banks. Great to hear about your experience with LHV, I doubt you could have opened that same account today without proven ties to Estonia.

Apologies for misquoting you!
e-residence of Estonia is very easy and opens many doors!

 

[StuartG]

LHV is a victim of simply being in laundromat Eastern Europe sadly. They finally got a USD correspondence account last year but operates it with restrictions. Took them 4 years to get one .

https://www.lhv.ee/en/news/2020/21
I would say avoid banking in all of Baltics period as its just one Russian laundromat.

I don't use LHV for dollars but their accounts do have direct links to Wise transfers. They are fine for Euro transactions

 

[olegek82]

In addition to what's mentioned, SEBA (https://www.seba.swiss/) would also work and cater to remote account opening.

Depending on well into six figures you are, you can try contacting other banks in Switzerland. The lowest bar to entry is around 250-500,000 CHF with some of the cantonal bank and other, smaller private banks. I've heard of people with under a million being accepted as Julius Bär, UBS, and Credit Suisse even if they usually want at least a million. As long as you have 500,000 CHF or thereabout and as long as your risk profile is low enough, they'll listen to you.

who open account in SEBA ? i already wait 5 weeks and every time ask new documents

 

[JackAlabama]

who open account in SEBA ? i already wait 5 weeks and every time ask new documents

That is how switzerland banks the non-residents/non-citizens these days

 

[Hopster]

CIM Bank remote opening online account now open!
As promised, here's a brief synopsis -
Time to open: 4 weeks plus. Could have been a bit shorter with quicker replies
Contact method: 98% email
Number of emails sent between us: 52
Information required: everything, and I mean everything...!
Number of documents sent: over 40
My case: potentially more complex than average, so you may not require quite as many documents
Telephone interview: yes, 30 minutes to verify personal details and a few whys and hows
Other phone calls: A few, yes, made by me to make life a little easier at times just to find out exactly what the bank wanted from me
Verification process: A secure, online document verification process where a third party professional reviews your passport(s) via online video
Digital signatures required: several livesign documents
Number of people dealt with: one primary (who will be the Relationship Manager moving forward) and a couple of others in RM's absence
Friendliness of staff: super friendly and very professional
Worth it: absolutely
Would I recommend it: absolutely, if you are 100% legit
Ease of banking: early days yet
Surprise: provenance of every transaction required, incoming and outgoing!!
Scrutiny factor: off the scale...

 

[Martin Everson]

That's insane . We are talking CIM Bank a bottom of the range (small AUM) Swiss bank. But glad your happy with the opening. Not sure what docs they asked you for as that would be very telling but sadly compliance in general has gone out of control frankly.

P.S All that effort then 6 weeks from now they close your account without reason because internal policies have changed . Keep us updated if you reach the 1 year mark.

 

[olegek82]

yes, surprise provenance of every transaction required, me ask for 10k for 3k no ask , all incoming

 

[uplana]

yes, surprise provenance of every transaction required, me ask for 10k for 3k no ask , all incoming

What exactly do you have to provide them? invoices, bank statements ?

 

[avalanche]

You consult about offshore banking and recommend Latvian known laundromats to people? WTF dude

To op I would say avoid any bank in Latvia like the plague and in general avoid the Baltics (except a few select EMIs here and there and even they should be used ONLY for transit and not for storing 6-fig savings)

Keep in mind, they may have issues within their operations.

There was a case when client called CIM Banque account manager and she mistaken him for another client without any identification procedure.

She even disclosed the name of another client. If this person was with malicious intent, he could have easily gotten some private information over the phone without any ID procedure. That made me doubt this bank as something serious or reliable.

 

[Martin Everson]

There was a case when client called CIM Banque account manager and she mistaken him for another client without any identification procedure.

She even disclosed the name of another client. If this person was with malicious intent, he could have easily gotten some private information over the phone without any ID procedure. That made me doubt this bank as something serious or reliable.

That's a serious blunder if that happened .

 

[Silvio]

Keep in mind, they may have issues within their operations.

There was a case when client called CIM Banque account manager and she mistaken him for another client without any identification procedure.

She even disclosed the name of another client. If this person was with malicious intent, he could have easily gotten some private information over the phone without any ID procedure. That made me doubt this bank as something serious or reliable.

Happened to me already at a huge bank (think one of the biggest banks in the world), the account manager started talking to me thinking I'm someone else.

 

[troubled soul]

How smart or big bank/system we created, There will be chance of "Human error"
No matter how big country/bank ??

 

[Mark Rucken]

Happened to me already at a huge bank (think one of the biggest banks in the world), the account manager started talking to me thinking I'm someone else.

Happened to me as well, also in a major European bank. They sent a random email addressed to some Czech dude, later they recalled it.

On topic, CIM is actually not that bad. Once you manage to open that account things go rather smooth. Sending them a simple invoice or pro-forma simple agreement does not bother me in year 2021.

 

[olegek82]

What exactly do you have to provide them? invoices, bank statements ?

Source of funds

Keep in mind, they may have issues within their operations.

There was a case when client called CIM Banque account manager and she mistaken him for another client without any identification procedure.

She even disclosed the name of another client. If this person was with malicious intent, he could have easily gotten some private information over the phone without any ID procedure. That made me doubt this bank as something serious or reliable.

And all login and password via email, activation code and serial number for digipass too

 

[Sean Restling]

CIM Bank remote opening online account now open!
As promised, here's a brief synopsis -
Time to open: 4 weeks plus. Could have been a bit shorter with quicker replies
Contact method: 98% email
Number of emails sent between us: 52
Information required: everything, and I mean everything...!
Number of documents sent: over 40
My case: potentially more complex than average, so you may not require quite as many documents
Telephone interview: yes, 30 minutes to verify personal details and a few whys and hows
Other phone calls: A few, yes, made by me to make life a little easier at times just to find out exactly what the bank wanted from me
Verification process: A secure, online document verification process where a third party professional reviews your passport(s) via online video
Digital signatures required: several livesign documents
Number of people dealt with: one primary (who will be the Relationship Manager moving forward) and a couple of others in RM's absence
Friendliness of staff: super friendly and very professional
Worth it: absolutely
Would I recommend it: absolutely, if you are 100% legit
Ease of banking: early days yet
Surprise: provenance of every transaction required, incoming and outgoing!!
Scrutiny factor: off the scale...

How long did you wait roughly from sending the application with ID and proof of residence to first contact? I've sent the application over a month ago.

 

[suzy]

call or send more tickets. You need to approach them more active. Now there are holiday time you expect longer waiting.