Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I thought I would clear some confusion about this and get some information directly from one of our account representatives so this morning, I walked to the “private banking” floor and talked to one of the “relationship managers”. He told me that in order to open an account for a foreign national in our bank, he will need at a minimum:
-The passport.
-Two reference letters from banking institutions from the country of origin.
Checks could be sent to the person in the account c/o {in care of} the Banking institution so that they could be deposited into the account.
The same thing could be said about opening a corporate account. The difference is that the letters of reference should be in the name of the company, and you should bring the {articles of incorporation, organization documents & bylaws of the company. "pretty much what is standard on your country"}.
I confirmed the documentation needed with a friend at another bank, so I am 95% that you can open it with the passport and the two reference letters in most banks.
My recommendation if you are going to do this: Do not open it at a small bank or a very big bank. Look for one between a billion and ten billion in assets. Preferably one that does some international business so that they are used to wires and dealing with foreigners.
Hope this helps.
P.S: I am not trolling for business or anything... This is not my area of work, just trying to be helpful.