Let me tell you, I've opened my fair share of bank accounts, in the U.S. and abroad. So I was confident that we had all the necessary documents - tax ID number, corporate articles of incorporation, photo IDs, proof of address, etc. Plus, we had a check to fund the account on the spot. Sounds good, right? Well, not exactly.

The "Banking Relationship" Associate that we met with was cordial - he seemed like a respectable guy. He told us that Citibank wanted to help us with our business needs. But, that was before our conversation got underway.

Attacked By Questions
Of course, I wasn't shocked when he asked the nature of our business - a bank needs to know if we're bakers, painters or real estate agents. But when we told him that we were private wealth consultants, it threw him for a loop. We explained that the firm's primary objective is to create international financial wealth plans for individuals...and that's when the questions started. Here's a quick run down:

Would the firm be registered with the SEC? Do you give investment advice? If you don't, who does? How many clients will the firm accept? What did we mean when we said "international?" Did we have a business plan statement that the Citibank Compliance Department could review? How about client contracts - the Compliance Department needs to review those as well. Also, can you furnish invoices between you and your clients - preferably at least three - that will show us the source of the money? 

Of course, this was just the tip of the bureaucratic iceberg. He wanted to know if international wires would be sent to and from the account. "It's a possibility," we told him. He let us know that international wires are a "red flag," which we immediately questioned.

With many years of international financial experience between my partner and I, we assured Mr. Associate that we knew all about the "Know Your Customer" rules, but we thought this was going a bit too far. But, there was more.