Terabank Georgia

[permabear]

I have accounts with the usual suspects in Georgia (TBC, BoG, VTB) and whilst they don't hold a king's ransom, I'd still like to diversify deposits further.

What are people's experience with Terabank? They're quite heavy on advertising in Tbilisi yet after a deeper dive into them, I was surprised to see they're absolutely tiny and scrape a B+ rating from Fitch. The constant name changes over a short period of time are also noted...

Some of their correspondent banks (even for USD) are also somewhat suspect, I count 4 Russian outfits. Does this mean Terabank are smart in not relying on one bank or is this indicative of the big boy USD correspondent banks not wanting to touch Terabank with a bargepole? Some other Georgian banks use Citi.

I can't quite get my head around this bank, owned by Abu Dhabi under various guises yet extremely small (even for Georgia) and having these bizarre correspondent bank relationships.

If the bank ran into trouble I suspect Abu Dhabi would just cut them loose opposed to saving the day? Unless of course a sizable chunk of the deposits belong to Emiratis...

 

[Martin Everson]

Yeah your not only one who looked at that bank and thought why these Sheikhs own this bank in Georgia. I think they made their investment back in 2007 and in the same year the UAE established the Poti Free Industrial Zone in Georgia. Think it was all part of strategic investments UAE made in the country to counteracts Iran's influence in the country in what was once part of the Persian empire. But who knows what malign activity goes on with UAE and that bank. When I was living there I avoided the bank simply due to ownership concerns. I would say trust your instincts.

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[uplana]

If they have been established in 2007 and they are still active without remarks why not use them now ?

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[EliasIT]

uplana said:
If they have been established in 2007 and they are still active without remarks why not use them now ?
Click to expand...

ask the same, can't find anything bad about them???

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[backpacker]

EliasIT said:
ask the same, can't find anything bad about them???
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Check their financial statements over the past five years and you will understand the reason for the rating.
Furthermore, be aware that nobody cares when they go bust. The opposite is the case: The "Big-3" will applaud because they permanently complain that Georgia has too many banks.
Btw., there is a strong connection between Terabank and the Biltmore Hotel on Rustaveli due to identical ownership structure.

 

[JohnnyDoe]

Nightmare experience with TeraBank. They closed my Georgia company account and they refuse to send the balance outside Georgia; they only allow cash pickup or transfer to the same company with a local bank.

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[csp dubai]

i agree slook i like quite strange bank , why they closed your account?

 

[JohnnyDoe]

csp dubai said:
i agree slook i like quite strange bank , why they closed your account?
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For no real reason. I had it for 3 years.

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[permabear]

Sounds like Terabank have correspondent bank problems or it's a trap and once you set foot inside their branch to collect the cash you'll be whisked away to a secret gulag.

 

[Martin Everson]

permabear said:
Sounds like Terabank have correspondent bank problems or it's a trap and once you set foot inside their branch to collect the cash you'll be whisked away to a secret gulag.
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lol

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[fredouille1973]

question is will you open, a walk around in georgia recently returned that most of the banks don't open outside the first 2 ones you listed and still not so easy
vtb didn't tried or don't remember

 

[lory]

permabear said:
Sounds like Terabank have correspondent bank problems or it's a trap and once you set foot inside their branch to collect the cash you'll be whisked away to a secret gulag.
Click to expand...

okay, not far from the real world.

 

[JohnnyDoe]

Update from TeraBank: they dropped a message saying that they executed my balance transfer to my personal account in another country. Just like that, out of the blue. Nice Christmas gift. I waited for this for 8 months.
I have no idea why they decided to finally send the money. Nothing changed since my first request 8 months ago.
So it seems that I no longer risk to be deported to a gulag.

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[JohnnyDoe]

I have another corporate account with TeraBank, and I had to start a legal action against the bank as they refused to let me withdraw the money.

Today the Court issued its ruling: it ordered the bank to transfer money on my company's account with another bank outside Georgia. On top of that, the Court charged the bank with penalties of 0,5% of the claimed amount per day, from 04 September 2022 till transferring of the full amount. hap¤#"

permabear said:
Sounds like Terabank have correspondent bank problems
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We discovered in court that this is just an excuse they use for refusing to transfer the money. They do have correspondent accounts and they are fully functional. The judge was not happy that the bank tried to mislead the court with false claims.

Last edited: May 19, 2023
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[Paul Tudor Jones]

JohnnyDoe said:
Today the Court issued its ruling: it ordered the bank to transfer money on my company's account with another bank outside Georgia. On top of that, the Court charged the bank with penalties of 0,5% of the claimed amount per day, from 04 September 2022 till transferring of the full amount. hap¤#"
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A court that sided with a FOREIGN client and not with a LOCAL bank? Incredible. Sounds like Georgia has a better legal system than most countries.

 

[JohnnyDoe]

Paul Tudor Jones said:
A court that sided with a FOREIGN client and not with a LOCAL bank? Incredible. Sounds like Georgia has a better legal system than most countries.
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The bank's position was unreasonable. Before going to court we asked the Central Bank to intervene, but the central monkeys replied that it's not their business and that a bank has the right to refuse a payment (in my case, this meant to keep the client's money).
Moral of the story: stay away from Georgian banks.

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[EliasIT]

Georgia banks may be good for some while for others it may not work. I had no troubles with them back in time when used them daily.

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[avalanche]

JohnnyDoe said:
I have another corporate account with TeraBank, and I had to start a legal action against the bank as they refused to let me withdraw the money.

Today the Court issued its ruling: it ordered the bank to transfer money on my company's account with another bank outside Georgia. On top of that, the Court charged the bank with penalties of 0,5% of the claimed amount per day, from 04 September 2022 till transferring of the full amount. hap¤#"


We discovered in court that this is just an excuse they use for refusing to transfer the money. They do have correspondent accounts and they are fully functional. The judge was not happy that the bank tried to mislead the court with false claims.
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I'm wondering why would they even cause such trouble to you.. Like what is their motivation to refuse sending money abroad

 

[JohnnyDoe]

avalanche said:
I'm wondering why would they even cause such trouble to you.. Like what is their motivation to refuse sending money abroad
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Simple: they want to keep the money. Or they don't have it.

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[csp dubai]

georgia is looking good but at the end in a contry of gipsy, what is unbelieveble the central bank said is not their own business is loook like uk FSA, THEY ALWAYS REPLY IS NOT THEIR BUSINESS