Bankera has gone totally crazy

[mrau]

I'd love to hear⁠ what's their side of the story to request such IMMENSE amount of sensitive information and⁤ paperwork for a customer:

- From a low risk country fully compliant with FATF
- Submitted EU and home country bank accounts statements, Tax returns and Tax registration.
- In⁣ a >2 years time span only received or sent 2 transfers <2€ to/from an own⁢ account
- Never sent or received from third parties or crypto exchanges
- Stated (in︀ the KYC form) that its maximum expected ANNUAL turnout is <10.000€ (€830/month AT MOST)

I'd be really interesting to know what's their rationale

 

[John Spectre]

Could you‍ name at least ONE financial institution in the world who will openly disclose to public⁠ reason why they act at such way?

They might be too sensitive on you or⁤ even do something not user tolerant. But what you are required from them is beyond⁣ traditional relationship with FI.
And I really don't know why you are so stick to⁢ them.
In the world a lot of EMI who accept non EU residents.
When one︀ or another going from market, drop you as a client, etc it's a for sure︁ not a reason to make a noise. Just apply with another one and be happy.︂

 

[mrau]

What I wrote was rethoric. An utopic hope. Obviously I'm not really expecting Bankera explain⁠ in public why they act so irrationally
Well, It's actually quite the⁣ opposite. The very few that accept non EU residents, 90% are from Puerto Rico and⁢ we all know what it means. They can pull the rug anytime and run away︀ with zero consequences. Then you have the Swiss Dukascopy with ridiculous fees and meager limits︁ and "adventures" like the Lithuanian Swissmoney with dubious reputation....
I don't. As︃ you can see I never really used them (unless you think a €3 tryout is︄ a real use) . I have accounts in others EU institutions (not crypto friendly) and︅ I do quite fine with them. I'm just outraged with the Bankera approach to my︆ case and I'm using the forum for catharsis.

 

[John Spectre]

As a non eu‌ resident I could assure that your assumption is wrong.
I am actively use different EMI‍ from the time of CRS coming to our world and traditional banks closed down doors⁠ for non residents account.
For almost decade I never had a problem with it, holding⁤ around 5 +- active accounts with different FI at same time.

Also I know few⁣ that will verify and open account for non eu clients faster than you write message⁢ here. So permanently complaining to bankera is super counterproductive.
Single problem could arise from your︀ exact country, I don't know, maybe it considered like a trash.

 

[jafo]

From my experience with these bank psychopaths ... I would bet the‍ farm they ALSO have NO idea why they behave in such an irrational manner! I⁠ think it's arrogance, but f*ck them! Let them starve!dev56"""

Won't Swissquote,︁ Interactive Brokers, Mercury, or Klarpay onboard you?
BTW are you looking for personal accounts or︂ corporate accounts?
As you should! 😉
Too many people︄ suffer from (or enjoy?) the Stockholm Syndrome. Props to you for rejecting being subjugated and︅ humiliated!
Without us, banks, EMIs, etc, would be useless! We bring money to them! We︆ take loans from them! The bank/EMIs would NOT exist without customers!
We should NEVER aid,︇ abet, support, tolerate, turn a blind eye to, reward, compensate, or empower toxic behavior or︈ toxic people!
That BS the bank spews about "the government made us do it/we were︉ just following orders/the Nuremberg defense/Befehl ist Befehl" didn't hold up during the Nuremberg trials, and︊ it won't hold up in the future either!
Good on you to call them out︋ on their toxic behavior! 😎

It's excellent you are warning others. I, for one, appreciate it.︌

Thank you very much for sharing your experience! thu&¤#

 

[mrau]

I already‍ previously congratulated you for being such a lucky person.
As I detailed in previous posts,⁠ I also held bank accounts outside my home country for over 10 years and never⁤ been dropped (not even in this case of Bankera in which they did't dropped me⁣ but just refused to increase the verification level)
I would be great you name the countries in which those︁ alternatives are based

Also as mentioned before︃ I don't think so as it's a low risk country, fully compliant with FATF, of︄ course no sanctions and with great diplomatic relationship with the US and the EU.

I can't deny that it︇ felt really weird to receive such intrusive and disproportionate requests the day after I fulfilled︈ their request (out of nowhere) to re do the same verification process I had done︉ 2 years before.
Yes, I have︊ account in SQ. I haven't tried Klarpay (never have heard of them but it seems︋ they are oriented to digital businesses/companies). As for IB I think they are a only︌ a stock broker with no banking capabilities (and thus don´t provide a unique account number︍ but a pooled one). Mercury just onboard US companies I think (no personal accounts as︎ I'm looking for)

Thanks for you words and support! thu&¤#thu&¤#

 

[clemens]

He does not represent Bankera, but has‌ been able to help exclusively when people have found themselves in difficult situations or have‍ otherwise encountered problems.

 

[John Spectre]

Poland, Spain, UK, Lithuania, Switzerland.
It's if we even forget to‍ some like Wise or Advcash, location of which are changed time to time or shady.⁠
However I don't know why you even need name of countries where they are based.⁤
You as a client have number of requirements, like a crypto tolerance, access to sepa⁣ or swift, issuing payment cards etc.
And EMI is allowed to do one or another⁢ operation or no. Almost no difference which country they use for legal entity, license etc︀

 

[Marshal]

I'm aware of it lol‌

 

[drphantom]

No figuring out what is wrong with Bankera and the payouts and why they don't‌ want to pay anything ?

 

[mrau]

Well, that was not my‍ case. They never blocked my account or any of my meager transactions (less than €2⁠ each).
They just never re-verified my account.
I was in level 3 and been downgraded⁤ to level 2 of verification so the account is really limited (I think €1000 per⁣ year)

 

[Simon4466]

In all honesty, they likely felt you weren't using their service enough and thought about‌ this way to basically bully you into closing your account. They likely pay account fees‍ to their BaaS (banking as a service) provider and KYC fees that are higher as⁠ they advertise on places like this forum 😉. I definitely do think it is a⁤ scummy way to do business if so, but there's little you can do.

 

[cyprusbanker]

and you wonder why⁠ they didn't re verified you ?

 

[mrau]

Well.... if they don't want low turnout customers they should levy a threshold and/or a‍ monthly fee instead of requesting the DNA certificate of my great-great-great grandfather.
Besides, how am⁠ I supposed to increase my transactions volume if as soon as I move €3 they⁤ want me to share a blood test of who I sleep with every night.
Irrational from every point of view.

 

[JohnLocke]

I'm sure you've had a rough time with them, but still, I gotta say, if‌ this whole thread is about you having 3€ in your account and that's causing issues,‍ then I reckon you're wasting your time and should just find a better bank. There's⁠ plenty of them out there.

 

[mrau]

As I explained a few⁤ times before in this thread, obviously my plan was not use bankera with just €3.⁣ Those were part of my two test transfers (1 IN / 1 OUT) to see⁢ how the platform performed.
The intended turnout was about ~€8000 per year (as I stated︀ in their KYC forms).
However, all the obnoxious issues started after moving that insignificant amount︁ and after that it just didn't feel safe to transfer any more money to them.︂

 

[jafo]

OP, @Simon4466 gave you the most plausible answer. Is it wrong for their business? Sure, because people︂ like me will be cautious with them and won't give them much of a chance.︃ Some of us will lay down the law to them BEFORE engaging, making sure that︄ they understand their answers and assurances will end up before a judge and their regulators.︅ Will they heed the warning? Probably not! Dumb people are like that! They are unaware︆ of the dangers they face.

Don't believe me? Some people are just unaware of their︇ own stupidity & absurdities, especially bank monkeys:




😳

 

[Sean Restling]

I have also just been asked to re-verify my account, which sounds a bit weird‌ since I'm a EU citizen, provided all the docs including my TIN over three years‍ ago..

 

[Forester]

Well, it seems like a standard re-KYC that⁠ you can “enjoy” anywhere now...

 

[Sean Restling]

Not necessarily, I think they're milking users for new revenue streams. Almost‍ all my transactions are for personal reasons, which is why I opened a personal account,⁠ now they say in my transaction history they can see transactions that could be business-related⁤ (it might, we're talking 1% in terms of value and transactions really), and ask whether⁣ I want to continue the verification with the personal account or convert into a business⁢ account at €5/month. It's not realy about the €5 but I'm using this to buy︀ groceris, cinema tickets, petrol, pubs.. all non business related, why would I reply I want︁ it to convert this into a business account?