July 16, 2010
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Financial Woes
The Eurozone is in the shit. The Pound crumbled like a cookie in the hand of the incredible hulk. The Dollar is volatile. And in Taiwan, there is stupidity inside the banks. Perhaps this is not exclusive to the island, but there is a serious lack of intelligence inside the banking system.
I have been sourcing some LED products for some former clients from my Aeon days, and one of them asked me to make a transfer to one of their Chinese Mainland supplier. As they had already transferred some cash over for an order which was subsequently cancelled, this was no problem for me. Until I reached the bank.
I went inside, and was given the form to fill out. Cool. Then they decided to give me a number in the queue, which meant I had to wait for 3 people to be sorted out. Ok, if this is how they do it, no worries. Finally my number was called, and off I went.
“I’d like to make an international transfer.”
No problem, she says. So far, so good.
I passed her the documents, and she asked if I wanted to transfer US Dollars. As this was the currency I had written down on the form, I was a little taken aback, but again, this is Taiwan, so I should not be too concerned. I replied in the affirmative, with a patient smile on my face.
We can’t do that, she told me, as it is a TWD account.
So I suggested that they take Taiwan Dollars out of my account, exchange them to Dollars, and transfer them that way.
We can’t do that, she told me.
“Ok, then what’s the solution?”
Lots of words in very fast Chinese, even though I asked her to talk SLOWLY, but essentially it was a case of as I have no US Dollar account, I can’t transfer.
Cool – open a US Dollar account.
We can’t do that, she told me.
“Why?”
Because you don’t live here.
“Excuse me???”
Apparently, because I live on the opposite side of Taipei, I am not allowed to open a USD account.
“But the branch for my TWD account is in Neihu, and they don’t mind it.”
We can’t do that. I’m getting seriously bored with this answer.
“I work in Hsintien,” I replied, hoping it would work, and handing her my business card, conveniently omitting the fact that within 48 hours I would no longer be working in Hsintien.
“Oh… well ok then.”
This process took a mere 75 minutes – as she was constantly talking on the phone with someone upstairs who was too much of an idiot to actually come down to explain in person.
Then came all the paperwork, the additional costs, the transfer charges, the initial deposits, the transfer out, and then another long wait.
All in all, just under three hours were spent in the bank, trying to make one transfer. But, mission accomplished, and another “we can’t do that” scenario turned in to a “yes we can” (damn I sound like Obama!) and life is good. I was also seriously considering asking her to close the account as soon as I had made my transfer, but I am pretty sure I knew the answer to that one. What I don’t know is the reason behind it.
