Hello everyone. I have just moved to Bonaire and am loving it already. I am looking for advice on where to start a bank account. I will be most likely be transferring funds internationally with the U.S. so inexpensive wire transfer charges and good exchange rates would be great.

Thank you.

Welcome Nat to BT.. I use MCB and have never had any problems with them. As far as transferring funds to the US, well you could also use checks but of course it'll take much longer than a wire transfer. Also you have on line access to all your funds.
There's a whole list of items you need to bring to the bank to set up an account. So bring along copious quantities of patience.

Whenever I transfer funds to a Bonaire business, it's always to an MCB account. They must know what they're doing.

I've used MCB for the past few years - until recently (last month), the MCB portion of the wire transfer fee has been $10 USD (wires from USA). The last wire they charged $25 USD - obviously I need to follow up so see if this was a mistake or they decided that inflation forced them to raise their prices by 250% .

Come October, I would assume exchange rates with the US will not be an issue...

The $/Fls exchange rates are set & controlled, no matter what bank you use. You may want to find out your US bank's "sister" bank on Bonaire (or when you're here, ask what banking partner the local bank uses in the US ). It's just as important to find out how much your US bank will charge you to receive international wire transfers--in my experience, this is the higher of the two.

For example, I used to bank with Union Planters in FL...which was fine while ABN was ABN (no fees to receive the wire in the US bank). Then ABN (the local branch here) changed to RBTT (Royal Bank of Trinidad & Tobago), and the fees went crazy-$35 charged by Union Planters to receive the wire (this was over 10 yrs ago) sent from Bonaire to the US. Finally I figured out that RBTT uses Wachovia/Wells Fargo (though these partnerships can always change--it was Chase Manhatten for a short time + $25) for US banking, so I moved my US acct to Wachovia. For awhile, Wachovia didn't charge me to receive the wire-now, Wachovia charges me anywhere from $0 to $15 to $25 to receive....I don't know why-I don't ask because I don't want to jinx all the $0 transfers...). RBTT charges $6 for a "normal" transfer (5 biz days) & $21 for "urgent" same day transfers. All of my information is based on a very long-standing commercial & private bank relationship with RBTT; I have no idea if a new private customer would receive the same as I, but at least it's a starting point for info.

Hey thanks for all the good info everyone!

Nat -

I use MCB and have found their on-line banking services to the be the easiest to use and most reliable on-line banking system. I own a business here and virtually all of our banking is done on line.

To set up a bank account you MUST go there IN PERSON and provide the bank with the following items:
- A copy of your passport
- A letter of reference from a US Bank. This can be difficult to get from some US banks, but in only really needs to say "Mr. X has been a customer in good standing with this bank for X number of years. He has maintained his accounts in a proper manner during that time.

After that, you should be able to open a bank account.

Good luck. You can send me a private e-mail if you have more specific questions.

Thanks Bob,

Believe it or not I brought that letter with me thinking I may need it (they required the same thing in Belize where I lived last).

Thanks again for the insight,
Nat

Nat -

The requirements to open a bank account are more or less the same in most countries. They seem to be driven primarily by the US and International anti-money laundering laws.

Let me know how it goes when you try to open your account.

If you want to have online banking make sure to tell them when you open the account, otherwise you might have to make another trip to the bank.

Good Luck.

For anybody interested... I visited MCB yesterday in hopes of opening an account and the three things the accounts manager asked me for were: (1) Passport, (2) Residency Permit, and (3) Proof of Employment (contract or letter from employer). She didn't ask for the bank letter of reference, but seemed pleased that I had it. I didn't have my Residency Permit at the time, but I received that today and hope MCB will have the same requirements when I return tomorrow!!

Cheers.

Very strange Nat..We opened an account at MCB about 2 years ago and they just wanted a Passport & bank letter of reference.

The banks have gotten much "stickier" on items. I recently opened a new dollar business account at MCB, where I've been a client for 18 years. They needed passport, sedula (resident ID card), plus a Chamber of Commerce registration for the company (they already had this one on file, but wanted a new one), another copy of my business license, the approximate amount of transactions per month, the approximate amount of funds going through the account per month, and a few other things which I can't remember now. The whole process took about two weeks from start to finish.

it may just get worse when the switch to the dollar happens. They will have to make up for lost revenue in what they charge to exchange to guilders.