Hittfeld, what means online and dev. country ? But yes I've opened a bunch of accounts as a NRA over the years, on personal name and for corporations, and in the last 18 months have had expériences in 2 of the countries you mention. Account opening for both corporate and personal accounts are getting more difficult, moreso for the corporate accounts, and more banks now ask to show it is not for tax evasion purposes even for personal accounts but it still works. Many brokers have restrictions when it comes to non residents, but not all, IB is still welcoming them afaik. Not sure what you mean by not a savings account either, saving accounts in several countries is what non resident individuals get, but one can still wire money online, get a debit and credit card, and buy financial products through them, in some case you also get a fax indemnity, usually through premium/private Banking.
Yes it used to be possible with most of these countries, but opening full (checking) bank accounts is getting troublesome since Dodd-Frank, KYC ... etc legislation in the US and most developed countries. Almost impossible in the US or Netherlands..... , troublesome in the UK (all NRAs are assigned to a central virtual branch at Barclays), SGP, CH and other countries. IB: As a NRA you can`t open an account with IBUS, only IBUK which has different guarantees. And don`t forget: It`s not about the opening, its all about the closing: Safe Withdrawl!!
luisHK. would you mind to indicate which country is your tax base, which you`re trading from and which vehicle you use? Thanks
Yes obviously, when keeping money somewhere, there's always stress at the prospect of having troubles withdrawing it, but unfortunately even when parked in a bank right next to home it is not necessarily easy. I've had accounts with IB US, UK as well as HK since IB transfered an account there, and IB is awesome when it comes to withdrawals - a matter of a few minutes when wiring USD out to a preused account, while it might take a phone call to a new non USD denominated account.
Well you can possibly guess, but it's definetely not a country you would be interested living in. Besides I'm moving more and more money to personal accounts, even for trading, as i really find corporate set ups getting bothersome, and it doesn't have tax implications where I live. Corporate bank accounts are more convenient to use though, not so to set up.
No, IB US account was opened years back, for a corporate account, my personal account is indeed at IB UK, also several years old.
The last time I've opened an account was a couple of days ago with Barclays and just before that with BNP Paribas. Both required my passport, tax ID and a utility bill / bank statement as a proof of address. Both are non resident accounts. I also have accounts in the US as NRA, the process was the same, passport, proof of address. Brokerage accounts are usually quicker and less hassle free. US banks and brokers sometimes reluctant to open accounts for NRAs but there is a trick which lets you open an account with 90% of the US financial institutions. I can open an account with TOS as a NRA Same with IB US. Personally I have never found Singapore or Hong Kong tricky. The account opening was done in less than an hour in both countries. Switzerland was harder for me though, they requested the most documents. The hardest is probably the UK where it's close to impossible to open an account as a NRA but if you push them a bit and you offer a considerable initial deposit then the doors are wide open.