Buenos dias from Panama!
Today I thought I would tell you about what is required to open an account at any bank in Panama. The reason I can say “any bank” stems from Panama’s government being consistent from bank to bank in its requirements and in checking with our Panama City attorney and a number of ex-pats where the information provided to us was quite similar in nature.
Now I realize that this topic is very dry so I’m not saying a lot up to this point in case you don’t find the topic interesting, want to start looking at the photos I’ve provided below or simply want to opt out at this time.
We went into a Boquete bank today and found out the requirements to open a chequing and savings account. One of the great things about Panama, in my opinion, is that you will notice a guard at every bank who immediately waves a metal-detection wand over you and asks you to open any purse or bag or whatever you may be holding in order to view its contents for the safety of all.
We asked the bank teller to see the manager and we were introduced to a very nice young lady who spoke little English. Just for the record, I didn’t hold that against her and both of us warmed up to her instantly while using our smart phone Google translators to communicate with her. Having progressed a tiny bit towards our goal after ten minutes had elapsed, she indicated the only English-speaking employee in the bank was out of the building having lunch so we decided as a group to wait for him to arrive.
While we were waiting, our bank manager moved to her laptop and proceeded to write what she wanted to say in Spanish and then translated the requirements into English. Once the English-speaking employee came back from lunch, we were introduced to him and he provided some much-needed interpretation of how things work in both Panama and in Canada.
Besides wanting proper identification which included our passports and driver licenses , the main requirement areas for myself included two letters of reference from Canada, a proof of pension letter and my most recent income tax return. They also wanted to know what you did for a living and the purpose for opening the account.
All in all, I didn’t feel these requests were over the top and once I round-up my letters and income tax return, I’ll cheerfully stroll into the bank and open my accounts.
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Bye for now from Panama, Don
Mountains surround Boquete.
Church bells ring regularly in town.
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