Okay, but let's assume this in the context of Greece. I understand that everything sorta "works" semi-smoothly when everything is fine. I too have managed to mo

Okay, but let's assume this in the context of Greece. I understand that everything sorta "works" semi-smoothly when everything is fine. I too have managed to move money over borders, between accounts, etc. But in the context of the Greek situation? I.e. Imagine someone wanting to come in now (or at the start of the crisis?) in order to open up a new "foreign" bank and offer it to Greek individuals? Because the regulation is so intertwined, and this mess of the loans and ECB, means that no one dare do that. They'd have to jump through mountains of regulation, come up with some sort of initial capital to fund the bank (with no idea whether they could have legal access to it again), and on top of that all, give the new Greek depositors any sort of guarantee. A tall order, to say the least. Another point, sorta tangential. You can also barely have an "informal" bank by virtue of transferring money to a foreign bank. Have a look at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawala https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawala I haven't confirmed, but I'd bet that almost every single country in the world defines that sort of transfer as illegal. Or additionally: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_exchange_controls https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_exchange_controls