Thanks for taking it seriously. Iām actually trying to understand these distinctions.
Iām sorry youāve had these kinds of aggressive responses. It wasnāt my intention to be skeptical, just to understand how weāre all getting information.
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Ahh OK, thanks!
My sources are a banker at Bison and 2 at BIG, plus my lawyers (reiterated 3 days ago in their office when we were talking about how busy Bison was with new applicants), plus reading all of the forum posts for the last year. A few of the people on this forum clearly know what theyāre talking about and the consensus of everyone Iāve ever talked toābacked up by several detailed posts describing woeful missteps and lessons learnedāis that Millennium is not FATCA compliant for depository accounts and will not knowingly open those accounts for US persons. They are FATCA compliant for regular banking and will open current accounts for American customers who go through the required bureaucratic rituals.
Good luck with the process!
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@brw, I even explored if the Millennium BCP Private Bank allows US investors, as one of the posters (who claimed to be from BCP) on the board suggested in the thread above. I connected over email with the private bank and the regular bank and they both confirmed that they do not support brokerage accounts for US customers. BiG or Bison are the only options for US citizens - non US folks have many more options including BCP. Someone did suggest that Banco Atlantico is also an option for US citizens, but I have not explored that fully to know either way.
Also, I have heard BiG also gives you a Multibanco card which is necessary if you plan to live in Portugal (though you can also have a separate bank account for that if you like), but I have heard it may be harder to work with them vs Bison. Which would be saying something as I have found things kind of slow already at Bison. More hereā¦
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I have been told that Atlantico is also eligible by the fund company with whom we intend to invest? In fact, Iāve been told that at this late date before the minimum increases that Bison wonāt even be able to process application for opening an account so not even worth trying?
Bison is not accepting direct applications for the rest of the year. They have hundreds of new applications pending and they are exceptionally busy. It is still possible to open a Bison account through the 11th by other means, but if Banco Atlantico works for you then that seems like a sensible solution.
Thanks. I see that Atlantico may be more expensive than BiG so I wonder if itās too late to have my attorney switch to it? I donāt see much experience with Atlantico on this forum so Iām not sure?
Hard to say, you may want to follow up with your lawyer and BIG for guidance.
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Hi everyone, I realize thereās no activity in this thread since 2 years but I actually have the same need to choose a bank and I wonder if anyone has any recommendation. (Iām not a US citizen btw)
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Iāve been with Atlantico for several years, they hold my checking account as well as my investment in the GV funds. Iāve found them to be super helpful and responsive. As a GV person youāll be considered a āpremium clientā there which means youāll be assigned a private banker, and you can do anything you need to by emailing or calling them. You will never have to do any self-service stuff at all (unless you want to). Theyāve had no problem handling large amounts of cash going back and forth across the Atlantic. Really nothing but praise for them.
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