4 ms·

> Lesson learned, don't trust _ONE_ bank with your savings/banking needs! This is generally a good advice, as a bank typically has your money and lose nothing

> Lesson learned, don't trust _ONE_ bank with your savings/banking needs! This is generally a good advice, as a bank typically has your money and lose nothing being slow or painful. On moving to foreign countries while keeping banking access, it's such a world of hurt. Some banks will straight stop your account and flag it the minute they understand you've been out of the country for any specific length of time (from 1 full month to 6 months depending on the bank). Many banks will just not allow a foreign resident to keep an account. Citibank in Japan has the funniest rule: you have to receive in person a letter sent to your residency address every month if you intend to keep your account alive. Failing to do so for whatever reason automatically locks the account and you have to come to them to prove you still meet their requirements.

zinekeller 4y ago
> Citibank in Japan has the funniest rule: you have to receive in person a letter sent to your residency address every month if you intend to keep your account alive. Failing to do so for whatever reason automatically locks the account and you have to come to them to prove you still meet their requirements. While this is annoying and is excessive to what's required in law (it must be done at least yearly, and most banks do not try to annoy foreign residents more than what's legally required), Japan does require all Japanese-domiciled bank that they verify that the owner is either a Japanese national or a long-term resident in Japan. In fact, most Asian countries do have a "must be a citizen or resident" or even the much more stricter "must be a resident" requirement. At least it's not India, according to Mastercard and Visa India even prohibits foreign long-term residents from maintaining an account in their country of nationality (and therefore we must always certify that upon our knowledge we do not send cards, even debit, to India).
- csunbird 4y ago
  > India even prohibits foreign long-term residents from maintaining an account in their country of nationality That is very, very excessive... Do you know what the official reasoning is for that?
  - b112 4y ago
    Taxation(tracking) leaps to mind.
    - searchableguy 4y ago
      Almost all banks are required to comply with tracking and sharing tax information due to OECD agreement at country level for tax reporting standardization. It's the default regardless of the country unless you are sanctioned. It's a factor but only a single one among multiple others.
  - zinekeller 4y ago
    It's technically not a prohibition, but because the Reserve Bank of India regulates banks and requires a license to deal with anything banking, even if you already have an existing relationship (with other jurisdictions it only penalises marketing into their country which is understandable) with the account holder RBI could just sue us for operating without a licence, and RBI tends to just sue even if you think it's stupid. The resident is never penalised here (unless you have very large stash offshore), it's the bank. Also, since that some may just scratch their head, here is the relevant provision from MasterCard (https://www.mastercard.us/content/dam/public/mastercardcom/na/global-site/documents/mastercard-rules.pdf#_OPENTOPIC_TOC_PROCESSING_d118e83634 https://www.mastercard.us/content/dam/public/mastercardcom/n...).
  - sidewndr46 4y ago
    Just google "India" and "black money". I'm not from there, but it feels like the boogeyman of Indian politics. It seems the government is able to perpetuate some idea that India has simply unimaginable wealth, but that it was all stolen by a select few and if only they could get it back everything would be OK.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - searchableguy 4y ago
    It is not prohibited for an individual to maintain a foreign bank account in India but capital controls (FEMA) applies and banks providing services to Indian residents might need to comply with regulatory framework. It's the same in most countries. The regulatory burden may be different but banking presence is required in the country if you are serving domestic market at scale. Indian residents can open HSBC expat account domiciled on the jersey island as an example.
edandersen 4y ago
Citibank still operate retail accounts in Japan? I thought they sold their retail business to SMBC and its now operated as Prestia almost a decade ago, alongside when HSBC pulled out of retail.
- makeitdouble 4y ago
  You're probably right, I wasn't a Citibank customer so didn't follow what they were doing these last years.
reaperducer 4y ago
Citibank left Japan almost a decade ago. You're dealing with Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/citi-agrees-sell-japan-retail-093947283.html https://finance.yahoo.com/news/citi-agrees-sell-japan-retail...
EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK 4y ago
I moved abroad 5 years ago. All my 7 US bank accounts + 2 credit card issuers have my old address as physical, and VirtualMail as mailing address. No problems so far. New cards are sent to mailing address, and virtualmail forwards them to wherever I am.
- b112 4y ago
  I'm guessing your old address has friendlies there? Otherwise, how would you get new cards, and mail bouncing can trigger issues. (In Canada at least, mail can be set for "no forwarding", so the post office won't redirect in said cases.)
  - shkkmo 4y ago
    VirtualMail is a mail forwarding service. It's like using a PO box for your mail. You still generally need to have a physical address on file with the bank, but you can have all your cards, statements, and other mail from the bank go to the VirtualMail forwarding address and then tell VirtualMail where to send stuff.
ekianjo 4y ago
citibank does not operate in Japan anymore. And this claim is utterly false. Former citibank client here.
- makeitdouble 4y ago
  My bad, I never went with Citibank for that reason and forgot they went under. That's the explaination I got when I discussed opening an account there. To note I wasn't a permanent resident, which might have set different conditions. Went with Mitsubishi, and they were just fine.

zinekeller 4y ago

> Citibank in Japan has the funniest rule: you have to receive in person a letter sent to your residency address every month if you intend to keep your account alive. Failing to do so for whatever reason automatically locks the account and you have to come to them to prove you still meet their requirements. While this is annoying and is excessive to what's required in law (it must be done at least yearly, and most banks do not try to annoy foreign residents more than what's legally required), Japan does require all Japanese-domiciled bank that they verify that the owner is either a Japanese national or a long-term resident in Japan. In fact, most Asian countries do have a "must be a citizen or resident" or even the much more stricter "must be a resident" requirement. At least it's not India, according to Mastercard and Visa India even prohibits foreign long-term residents from maintaining an account in their country of nationality (and therefore we must always certify that upon our knowledge we do not send cards, even debit, to India).

csunbird 4y ago
> India even prohibits foreign long-term residents from maintaining an account in their country of nationality That is very, very excessive... Do you know what the official reasoning is for that?
- b112 4y ago
  Taxation(tracking) leaps to mind.
  - searchableguy 4y ago
    Almost all banks are required to comply with tracking and sharing tax information due to OECD agreement at country level for tax reporting standardization. It's the default regardless of the country unless you are sanctioned. It's a factor but only a single one among multiple others.
- zinekeller 4y ago
  It's technically not a prohibition, but because the Reserve Bank of India regulates banks and requires a license to deal with anything banking, even if you already have an existing relationship (with other jurisdictions it only penalises marketing into their country which is understandable) with the account holder RBI could just sue us for operating without a licence, and RBI tends to just sue even if you think it's stupid. The resident is never penalised here (unless you have very large stash offshore), it's the bank. Also, since that some may just scratch their head, here is the relevant provision from MasterCard (https://www.mastercard.us/content/dam/public/mastercardcom/na/global-site/documents/mastercard-rules.pdf#_OPENTOPIC_TOC_PROCESSING_d118e83634 https://www.mastercard.us/content/dam/public/mastercardcom/n...).
- sidewndr46 4y ago
  Just google "India" and "black money". I'm not from there, but it feels like the boogeyman of Indian politics. It seems the government is able to perpetuate some idea that India has simply unimaginable wealth, but that it was all stolen by a select few and if only they could get it back everything would be OK.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- searchableguy 4y ago
  It is not prohibited for an individual to maintain a foreign bank account in India but capital controls (FEMA) applies and banks providing services to Indian residents might need to comply with regulatory framework. It's the same in most countries. The regulatory burden may be different but banking presence is required in the country if you are serving domestic market at scale. Indian residents can open HSBC expat account domiciled on the jersey island as an example.

edandersen 4y ago

Citibank still operate retail accounts in Japan? I thought they sold their retail business to SMBC and its now operated as Prestia almost a decade ago, alongside when HSBC pulled out of retail.

makeitdouble 4y ago
You're probably right, I wasn't a Citibank customer so didn't follow what they were doing these last years.

reaperducer 4y ago

Citibank left Japan almost a decade ago. You're dealing with Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/citi-agrees-sell-japan-retail-093947283.html https://finance.yahoo.com/news/citi-agrees-sell-japan-retail...

EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK 4y ago

I moved abroad 5 years ago. All my 7 US bank accounts + 2 credit card issuers have my old address as physical, and VirtualMail as mailing address. No problems so far. New cards are sent to mailing address, and virtualmail forwards them to wherever I am.

b112 4y ago
I'm guessing your old address has friendlies there? Otherwise, how would you get new cards, and mail bouncing can trigger issues. (In Canada at least, mail can be set for "no forwarding", so the post office won't redirect in said cases.)
- shkkmo 4y ago
  VirtualMail is a mail forwarding service. It's like using a PO box for your mail. You still generally need to have a physical address on file with the bank, but you can have all your cards, statements, and other mail from the bank go to the VirtualMail forwarding address and then tell VirtualMail where to send stuff.

ekianjo 4y ago

citibank does not operate in Japan anymore. And this claim is utterly false. Former citibank client here.

makeitdouble 4y ago
My bad, I never went with Citibank for that reason and forgot they went under. That's the explaination I got when I discussed opening an account there. To note I wasn't a permanent resident, which might have set different conditions. Went with Mitsubishi, and they were just fine.