4 ms·
> 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
by 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 agoTaxation(tracking) leaps to mind.
- searchableguy 4y agoAlmost 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 agoIt'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 agoJust 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 agoIt 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.