[Osmf-talk] OSMF looking for a bank account

[Clive Blackledge]

I work for PayPal's operations department. I have to preface this email
with these comments are my own and not of my employer, etc.

The problem (as you've already run into) is regulations around money
laundering with "unfriendly" groups. There is also fraud avoidance mixed in
as well, which doesn't make funds transfer to Russia any easier.
Altogether, small international organizations (like OSMF) have similar
transaction profiles to unfriendly orgs.

The issue is trying to find a bank willing to vouch for your authenticity
and that the org isn't a shell for something nefarious. No large bank is
willing to put their neck out for the small guys without prohibitive fees.
I'd like to think PayPal is one of the more forgiving corporations that aid
with cross-border transactions, but the twitchy comment is completely
accurate.

HSBC learned that any bank that works with US dollars is subject to US law,
even if they are based internationally. A $1.9 billion dollar fine made
sure they remember that.

Unless OSMF becomes a bigger organization that commands tens of millions in
assets, there will be little reprieve. On the PayPal side I can ask in our
internal forums how we can make it easier. Dan Schulman (PayPal's current
CEO) is very interested in making things better for small businesses,
especially those doing international trade. Send me an email directly with
the account email used for OSM's PayPal account and I'll see if we can make
a good enablement story if you're interested in continuing to use PayPal.

-Clive


On Fri, Aug 19, 2016 at 1:39 PM, Frederik Ramm <frederik at remote.org> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
>    the OSMF currently banks with Barclays Bank in the UK, and we also
> have a PayPal account.
>
> We continue to have issues with both these accounts which sometimes seem
> to stem from money laundering regulations, but mostly from how banks
> implement these.
>
> I'd like for the OSMF to open up a secondary bank account in Euros,
> ideally with a bank that is willing and able to carry accounts in all of
> our major currencies EUR/GPB/USD so that if the EUR account works well
> we can maybe move all our banking there.
>
> The biggest issue for us at the moment is that
>
> (1) whenever we want to grant access to our bank account to a new
> person, that person has to physically show up at a Barclays branch and
> identify themselves with suitable paperwork (and sometimes Barclays in
> England don't agree with the non-England branch about exactly what
> paperwork is required). This makes the process of transferring treasurer
> obligations to a new board member unnecessarily difficult and expensive.
>
> (2) whenever there is any new member on the board, that board member has
> to fill out a "personal information" form and send to Barclays even if
> that board member doesn't access the bank account; Barclays will
> otherwise threaten to freeze our account.
>
> In addition, the total amount of bank charges we pay is relatively high
> (transfers to the Eurozone cost £5 and bank transfers to e.g. Canada
> cost £25; incoming monies also incur a fee).
>
> (Paypal isn't much better, and also very twitchy when it comes to
> locking our account - one time I tried to make a transfer to Russia and
> the account was promptly locked and they wanted me to submit a document
> that proves I really live at our company address before unlocking the
> account...)
>
> I'm wondering: There must be a better way for an international volunteer
> organisation to bank? Not everyone is wealthy enough to hire an
> accountant and let them do all the bank interactions. Frequently
> changing board members can't be *so* unusual really?
>
> We've talked to two banks in Germany and one in Switzerland and neither
> had anything easier to offer. (I have a suspicion they might have had an
> offer if we were 100 times our actual size...)
>
> Does anyone have a recommendation of which bank I could try and talk to?
> Ideally one in a country where you don't have to fear for your money, too
> ;)
>
> Bye
> Frederik
>
> --
> Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frederik at remote.org  ##  N49°00'09" E008°23'33"
>
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