Banking environment

One of my businesses deals in money transmissions, much of which occurs by wire transfer. U.S. banks absolutely hate us because they're under the assumption that a company doing $1-2M in wire transfer volume overseas (as 90% of our business is in EU) must be funding terrorism. We're operating here clearly but the banks stare us down hard. One of our three banks recently suspended our online access due to an unsolicited EFT consisting of stolen funds. We don't even accept EFT.

Tried taking this to EU but the banks there can't understand why a U.S. company would want an overseas account. We must be funding terrorism or something. Application denied.

Tried going to the Caribbean but most countries there use U.S. banks for pretty much everything and won't take a money services business as they're afraid we'll end up funding terrorism and that entire country will have it's assets frozen. I'm not exaggerating, they think this will happen.

My next logical area of research is Colombia, especially considering that I have some legitimate connections there. Thoughts?

By deathnova on Jan 21, 2008, 20:54 in Friendly Talkzone.

deathnova says on Jan 21, 2008, 21:41:

Are you out of your mind? This is a legitimate U.S. corporation and U.S. Treasury FinCEN registered Money Services Business. All of our transactions are lawfully executed and reported per FinCEN requirements.

john_stark says on Jan 21, 2008, 21:46:

What I didn't understand from reading the original post is, what do US companies with a lot of overseas operations do? Surely they must be transferring huge sums of money all the time. The hedge funds and mutual funds that invest overseas as well, they must be transferring large sums of money all the time as well. In this day and age I would think this would be a non-issue.

deathnova says on Jan 21, 2008, 21:49:

JS,

With U.S. banks it is as we fit the criteria for a Money Services Business. Since we're a "quasi bank" in that capacity most U.S. banks and anyone involved with U.S. banks is scared chitless to do business with us. I'm looking for something outside the U.S. that would be more friendly to our type of business and wouldn't break a sweat, require DNA samples, etc.

The EU bank we went to required probably 50 pages of documentation before declining us without justification, only citing that our connection the the EU was unclear basically saying "you're a U.S. company, go deal with U.S. banks."

Any comments about the business banking climate in Colombia? I had also been tossing Panama around as an idea for while but i'm not sure what would work out better.

deathnova says on Jan 21, 2008, 21:52:

The troll convention must be in town.

john_stark says on Jan 21, 2008, 22:03:

Panama has got to be way better than Colombia. They want the business, as far as I can tell, Colombia doesn't. What about the Cayman Islands?

Waterdawg says on Jan 21, 2008, 22:06:

Nevis / St. Kit

Robert Jorge says on Jan 21, 2008, 23:39:

damien jones, your time is counting down. I will be back on tomorrow in the mid afternoon. I predict you will be deleted by then.

--"I believe in making the world safe for our children. But not for our children's children, because I don't think that children should be having sex." - Jack Handy

deathnova says on Jan 22, 2008, 01:26:

Bank of Nevis was one of the ones that told me they were afraid of having their U.S. assets frozen if they accepted our business. It wasn't exactally a no, but they wanted an abnormal amount of reporting.

Bren68 says on Jan 22, 2008, 02:15:

Have you considered a Canadian account. Maybe the laws are similiar to the U.S.A. but less paranoia? But, I guess if your dealing with large amounts of cash, you may just have to put up with some extra paperwork, especially at first.
But I'm sure once you become a regular customer the process will become streamlined.

deathnova says on Jan 22, 2008, 02:22:

I'm likely going to have to just call one of these offshore incorporation companies and use their services. I was hoping to gather enough intelligence on Colombia as to whether or not I could establish there (hey, tax deductions on travel right?) vice an offshore "haven."

lampltr says on Jan 22, 2008, 02:23:

Agree with J.S. Panama is very business friendly, not expensive and would be close by you if needing to be there in person for one reason or another. Another thing they will require certified documents of proof and to meet in person. Belize may be another option but I am not familiar with this location nor the requirements.

Waterdawg says on Jan 22, 2008, 03:17:

Am surprised to here about Nevis ???? might want to check out Dominica .. The problem , as many know is " Big Bro " , or if you prefer Uncle Sam .. Way , way , way out of control .. I wouldn't trust Panama ,period , Lived there ..

robi666 says on Jan 22, 2008, 04:02:

My best bet would be Anguilla. Hell, I was told that they could even accept a bag with 10 million USD without asking anything. It was 5 years ago, now they must be the last narcos paradise...
You're in a sort of Wedstern Union deathnova?

"I am a citizen of the most beautiful nation on earth. A nation whose laws are harsh yet simple, a nation that never cheats, which is immense and without borders, where life is lived in the present."

tejasmarcos says on Jan 22, 2008, 04:29:

dn - can you give us an example of a typical transfer? howmuch? what for? process?

i am just now starting to talk with banks myself here (mde) and i have recently networked to a vice president at bancolombia. i am personally looking for a business line of credit here, but could ask a few other pertinent questions if i had a better idea of the nature (process) of your biz.

my glass is getting shorter on whiskey, ice and water...

Waterdawg says on Jan 22, 2008, 04:58:

Tejas : You beat me to it !

dn - can you give us an example of a typical transfer? howmuch? what for? process?

aztec says on Jan 22, 2008, 05:01:

I assume your operations are 100% transparent?

tejasmarcos says on Jan 22, 2008, 05:28:

this is actually a good area to focus on as there are alot of inefficiencies here for folks transferring in $$ for apartments, cars, etc.

the current process involves intermediary banks and is full of holes, miscommunication & inefficiencies.

my glass is getting shorter on whiskey, ice and water...

peteyw says on Jan 22, 2008, 06:31:

Must echo gringoinbogota. One to two million is 'chump change' in global markets. Somehow your operation (or you or your partners) has raised some red flags and most likely for a reason. Look inwardly and try to be unbiased and ask yourself what or who in your operation is a 'risk factor'.

deathnova says on Jan 22, 2008, 11:58:

No, i'm not trying to establish a Swiss account. The business is a digital currency exchanger. Customers wire funds and we convert the wire into digital money for a fee. Here's the skinny: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_currency_exchanger

Our volumes are generally around $50-100k USD per month, the average transaction being about $1000 - 2000 going as high as $18,000 occasionally.