Another Recent Example Of Why I Hate Banks & Why Cryptos Are Already The Superior Product.

Recently I announced to myself and the Steemit community a renewed vigour to get myself financially sorted for what I think is a banking crisis that will not only be severe but will also hit soon. You can read about my thoughts on that here and my first steps thereafter here.

Following along that vein I decided to relocate some international funds from a location and situation that I no longer feel comfortable with. The custodian bank in this case is one of the better ones out there. By this I mean that they are respectful and to some extent helpful over email and they are above average in terms of privacy. This comes at a cost however and one of the most harrowing experiences I've had in banking came as a result of dealing with this bank and, more accurately, the SWIFT system and the cancer that is FATCA. Now at this point I'll remind everyone that I am not a US citizen and the experience left me with a healthy distrust (I tried hard not to use the word hatred) of the SWIFT system and the banking architecture that it represents.

I described that experience four months ago here and to be honest it's had lasting effects on me and has shaped my view of alternatives such as Bitcoin for the better. To recap briefly:

I want to share some insider information that I’ve come across over the past week. The following experience fairly starkly illustrates the growing problems rumbling with inter-bank operation and perhaps more importantly in the realm of banking privacy at this point in history.

Like most of the global citizenry, I am not a U.S. person. I did however discover this week that I am now being treated like one. You see, in the course of my business I deal with the transfer of funds internationally via the SWIFT system. These funds move between jurisdictions and it was only Friday gone that a particular sizable international transfer was cleared after – get this – 37 days “in transit”.

Yes, that’s right, over five weeks between the funds leaving the source account in one country and arriving at the target account in the destination country. A few weeks into this debacle I initiated a funds trace to find out what on earth had gone wrong. After some time, I received notification that the funds had “been sighted” but no word on where they were or what the delay was.

What’s more interesting however is how the receiving bank acted when they finally got their hands on the loot. Inward wires are required to be accompanied by a declaration that stipulates where the funds have come from, how they were obtained and other details for anti-money laundering reasons. I was surprised to find that this inward wire was being held by the receiving bank as they were not satisfied with the fund declaration that I had submitted.

... read more

Understandably I've not undertaken another SWIFT transfer since because I can do without 37 days of stress. I simply transfer funds globally using bitcoin and am happy to hear of confirmation within minutes. To get back on topic, last night I was gearing myself up for another SWIFT kick-to-the-face to shuffle some wealth around for protection. The work required was staggering. I could not (as I expected) initiate the trasnfer last night, these things usually take days of emails to remove ambiguity in the paperwork prior to even trying to transfer. I ended up shooting off a number of emails and will have to wait for replies before I can move on. These funds hardly seem "liquid" to me! Many of the forms and questions are not common to SWIFT transfers so you need to learn how to perform one each time.

Some of the problems this time included:

• There's no electronic way to move funds via this international bank. It requires paperwork to be filled out, signed, scanned and emailed
• The paperwork needs to be first requested via email
• The document required to withdraw funds is two pages long
• It requires a "Payment Type" to be stipulated with no definitions of what the types are to select from, only reference to the fact that depending on the type selected, more paperwork is required
• SWIFT bank codes are not standardised. The receiving bank in this case has two as the bank field has a variable number of characters
• The form only provides for one target account number. In Australia, accounts are broken into account numbers and BSBs. The latter is a branch identifier and this, despite the bank's instructions, doesn't match the transfer form nomenclature.
• The form asks for target bank address details in an ambiguous way. Looking up a SWIFT code online provides information about a bank and it's address for SWIFT purposes. This is usually a head office. The form alluded to a branch address however which is very different and represented by the BSB number referenced above. These addresses could be at opposite ends of the country. Very unclear in the form.
• Don't get me started on intermediary banks
• The form was further confusing when it came to the sourcing of funds for payment of the sizable transfer and conversion fees and in terms of the currency conversions required (difficult when dealing with multiple currencies in one transfer).

This is just a very brief list of starting issues born of the attempt to simply fill out one form, a small cog in the machine of completing a SWIFT transfer. I'll make another oath here now. SWIFT never again. It's easier for me to get on a boat and sail to another country to perform banking tasks. I'd be able to see a show on the way!

How Bitcoin isn't seriously mainstream for the individual and the corporate client already is beyond me. It is vastly superior in its simplicity, cost and speed. I certainly hope this effort will place me in a better financial position, I just know there's potentially weeks of pain ahead of me still before this transaction can come to a close.

... and now I wait for the return email with answers to this round of questions. How efficient!

Thanks as always for your readership!