Picking a bank
July 11, 2005For this you need to pick a bank. Many more or less reputable lawfirms can help you here, but I think it is probably worth your while to do it without your lawyers if all you want is a personal account. Many lawyers work with one bank only and this bank might not be the right bank for you.
When chosing a bank, it’s well worthwhile talking to as many expats as you can. Some banks are very slow and conservative in their processes. These may be good if you want stability, but they might also raise your blood pressure.
- I have had good experiences with Credicorp which is a smallish local bank which is quite innovative and I believe stable.
- HSBC Panama (Google didn’t really help me here, walk into a branch) has got universally great reviews by expats. Supposedly you also benefit if you already have accounts with HSBC in another country.
- Banco General is a bit more conservative and a lot bigger, but as the large banks go is fairly good.
- Banco Continental is popular with many expats as several lawyers have deals going with them. I can not however recommend them as almost everyone I know who are clients have had problems due to slowness, stuffy procedure and unwillingness to be flexible.
- Banistmo has a bit of this same reputation. Although I have had good experiences with staff and management on the Calle 50 branch.
- Caja de Ahorros is the government owned savings institution that is very popular with low income Panamanians. However if you as a foreigner want to open an account with them, the amount of references and documentation you have to bring with you would make you want to jump off a convenient sky scraper somewhere on Avenida Balboa.
There are of course many others, please feel free to add your own experiences below.
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