You don't think savings accounts yield interest out of charity, do you? In most cases they are a way to purchase bonds and alike for people who don't want (or

You don't think savings accounts yield interest out of charity, do you? In most cases they are a way to purchase bonds and alike for people who don't want (or don't know how) to deal with that, and the bank pocketing the difference for their services. If you're sophisticated enough to invest in a foreign country with a goal to actually get real returns and enough capital to make the hassle worthwhile, you'll find a way to do that better than a savings account. But of course there is "market" for exchanging your USD into funny money at predatory rates, letting you experience these juicy 20+% APY, only to realize later that the country makes it illegal to transfer the money out – or you're due some extra fees, and taxes, and surcharges, and more predatory exchange rates – and in the end if you succeed to get your money out and factor in funny money devaluation and USD inflation, you end up barely making more profit than you'd get in a more stable economy. That's assuming said foreign institutions are willing to deal with a US citizen in the first place.