Bank refuses to transfer money, where do I report on them?

Hello everyone!

If a bank in Taiwan refuses to help me transfer my money from my bank account to another bank account in my home country saying that “I need to have their bank card in my home country” and also asking me “where did I get this money from”, “how did I earn it?” Do they have a right to ask me all these questions and refusing to send my money if I don’t want to answer (because it is not their f***ng business where did I get my money from) Where do I report on that bank?

Money laundering laws are very strict in Taiwan. You have to prove the source of the income. And it needs to be salary.

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Why would it need to be salary? I’ve transferred lots of money to and from Taiwan that wasn’t salary.

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If you are walking to a bank with a large sum of cash, that will raise red flags, hence the questions.

Yes, they do asked these question and if you are running company you must provided some documents, such as invoices and the amount should tally from the amount going out and coming in to your bank account.

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They ask you for proof of provenance. YMMV but I know they’ve asked me and there’s actually a square on the form to tick for salary.

Yes they do, the information is needed for the good old gov’ment both here in Taiwan and likely also at the receiving country, the bank themselves likely couldn’t give a toss where the money came from and why you’re sending it.

The first bit about having their bank card in your home country seems irregular (maybe lost in translation?), but the rest is totally normal for money laundering regulations, and I don’t think you’ll get anywhere by telling them it’s none of their business. I doubt you have anything to report here, because the bank was most likely just following the government rules.

How did you earn it, and roughly how large is the amount? I don’t care what you’re getting up to either way, but if it’s legally derived income (or you have a legal source of income in Taiwan), wouldn’t it be okay to just tick the “salary” box?

If you have no legal source of income here and want to transfer a large amount, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s an issue. (Unless you can justify it by ATM withdrawals from your home country, but then I guess it wouldn’t make sense for you to be transferring money back.)

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You can say anything though. It was a gift even works in my experience.

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I assume this is a smaller bank. You may consider to ask them to transfer transfer to another bank.

1999 is the number to call to complain about anything in Taipei. Even if you’re not in Taipei, they’ll give you the phone number you need.

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The bank card thing in another country is bullshit. I remember a bank tried this shit a few years back (hsbc?). Even closed local accounts. Banks in taiwan are shitty. Its no secret. I would report them on the card issue. But as everyone said, money laundering and fraud in taiwan are really big problems, and they have lots of rules to “try” and curb it. So you wont get far with that reporting. If anything you would most likely be unknowingly reporting yourself haha.

The bank is asking questions because they are required to ask those questions.

Could be Taiwan government law or international law or some other International agreement by which they are part of.

Maybe they are trying to help you fill out the required form and you’re misunderstanding their questions. They might be verbally asking you questions only to figure out the correct answer to the requirements that they have to meet in order to provide this service to you and meet your requirements.

The OP never said how much money is involved. If it’s only a small amount of money, like say 1000 USD, then it’s a bit weird. But if he’s talking about major money, as in more than 10,000 USD, the bank is required to ask those questions because of money laundering regulations.

It’s ok if it’s a local with unreported to the tax authorities cash in a bag, they don’t question that. I often see business owners with a sack of cash and no questions asked.

To the OP, you as a foreigner will get questioned. I’d just say whatever just to get them off your back.

Businesses still give them either thier id or stamp, so they are on record for the money. Then its the tax authorities problem. this part is actually quite logical. Once you know the bank, they often know your ID and memorize it, hence the you not seeing them giving their ID everytime. Its how it always has worked. Maybe not ideal, but in this case its likely not the hunt for foreigners some think it is. Even for us, when we do stuff through company its easier than through personal. Presumably because with acompany its assumed you will be bringing in cash based on sales and trades.

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I need to transfer around 4500usd

Thanks :slight_smile:

Do you have a bank card for your bank at home? Sometimes it might be easier to simply withdraw the money from an ATM machine.

Or do a wire transfer through your bank…

That amount shouldn’t be a problem. It would help if you have your paycheck going into that account though. I’ve transferred almost 10k USD a number of times and it didn’t raise eyebrows since they know exactly how much money I make and where I work, even if I walk in with a wad of cash instead of transferring directly from my account