I am an overseas Pakistani private investor of global shares i.e. stock and Real Estate, I do indeed have USD accounts in the country. On that basis what is the easiest method available to me for receipt and remittance of money to and from company account

[ricardoleitesantos]

I regularly intend to send and receive payments to and from company accounts on the basis of private investments. These are not a corporate matter of any sort. Internationally there are no issues with such practises since the monies are taxed at their point of origin I.e. Dividends, rent etc. I in other words bring valued remittances into my native country. Now according to my bank manager which I believe is complete and utter bull since it makes no sense whatsoever, in order to send USD abroad I can only send it to individuals even if the intended recipient is a company let's say for example since they are a household name Emaar. In other words a private citizen cannot pay a company even if he is paying an installment for an apartment 🤣. Instead he should initially transfer the sum to an individual who is to act as a conduit. Why would any individual do such a thing for that would unneccesarily bring him/her in the spotlight of scruitny. In any case are there severe restrictions on sending monies from your dollar account to private interests abroad or is this merely a farce? I would for instance like to send $15,000 to a forex brokerage firm from my USD account, can I not directly just do that from my native country or must I first send that sum to an account abroad and then do so? I do not own a company, these are merely private ventures from my own savings and thus do not have a corporate account and since I am an overseas Pakistani I do not have an NTN since I do not work here.

[samahir]

Coroporate banks like UBL mcb. Can easily handle your transactions. Just give them your passport copy company documents and you are good to go

[ricardoleitesantos]

Hi there, I personally do not own a Corporation and thus do not have a company account. They are merely personal investments across four countries which I manage via the expertise of internationally recognised firms. By company documents if you meant verification of where the payments are headed then yes of course I would be happy to do that. According to my bank manager at an HBL branch they wouldn't let me send meagre amounts abroad to company accounts even though they were for private payments claiming that companies abroad can only be paid off via corporate accounts which is ridiculous. Why on earth would an individual create a corporate account merely to pay mortgage or installments abroad? Does any such State Bank policy exist or is it merely incompetence as I had suspected. For the time being I am being made xawar here.

Thank you for responding rather promptly ba-sad shukr,
Paulo.

[samahir]

Well as far I know about the rules .whatever payment you are going to make . You will need to provide the document for the thing that you are going to make the payment for plus your passport or if you are dual national then residential permit of that country or I'd card of that country .if there is any objection from SBP your bank will let you know . Apart from that there might be additional restrictions from your bank .lets say for example they say that you cannot transact more then 10,000 $ in a day or a month .they differ from bank to bank .

[ricardoleitesantos]

I would have had no trouble whatsoever with that scenario since on a trial basis I was merely sending $10,000 to Istanbul and I was stopped in my tracks prior to my request being heard or actioned. The bank staff made no effort whatsoever in carrying out the process and simply said that it was impossible under Pakistani law for an individual to send payments abroad (to a corporate account). I found that to be farcical, and in my honest opinion it is merely either a self-serving ploy to hold on to what they have or that they are completely and utterly incompetent. Why on earth would an individual have to open a corporate account just to pay off an installment or pay off a company for shares etc? Do you think this may indeed be a sham, I for one do and would like to switch banks if so. The bank I am currently associated with is an HBL branch?

[samahir]

You can check with mcb .i was in istanbul for one year doing a job . I had corporate account in Turkish bank .my father used to send me money through mcb . Never faced any problem .i was there in 2012 . You can contact mcb to see if they still do it .their phone number is 111000622 .

[ricardoleitesantos]

That sounds delicious and makes their conduct sound equally scandalous. Your being a massive help, just to clarify were you operating some form of a business there since you held a corporate account in Istanbul? Lastly was your father remiting from a personal account or another corporate account? The reason for asking is that my bank claims that an individual cannot send to company I.e. Corporate accounts abroad regardless of what the reason may be as a blanket ban. Nonetheless a corporation can send however much it likes.

Therefore to clarify according to them I cannot pay into a company account nor receive money from them (the latter is an utter falsehood since all my payments are from company accounts) and they were gladly receiving them! Once again I only hold personal I.e. Private dollar and Rupee accounts. In order to avoid any confusion I am not in possession of a corporate account and am an overseas Pakistani. All my earnings are from abroad hitherto. Nonetheless I always supply documents since I know exactly where my funds are headed and for what purpose.

[samahir]

I was responsible for company overseas payments . So instead of opening a US dollar account myself I had permission from company to receive my individual funds from Pakistan . My father had individual account , no corporate account . Maybe they changed the rules now .in 2012 it was like this . But you should definitely check with other banks . Hbl might be just behaving as jerks. So you should definitely check other banks out

[ricardoleitesantos]

Lol they are just being imbeciles and no the policy hasn't changed they have been a nuisance to my family for more than a decade on such matters. However, I was then too young to comment on such personal matters. Now on the other when I was on the receiving end I gave them a piece of my mind. You have been an enormous help. Nonetheless if someone could come forth who partakes in such activities on a more recent basis that would be great

[samahir]

Glad to be of some help to u

[ricardoleitesantos]

If anyone happens to have even an iota of an update, do let me know. Please and thank you.

[ricardoleitesantos]

I would love to know more about this matter as thousands of Pakistanis have invested abroad at least in the UAE if not elsewhere. Personally not a fan of the UAE market but nonetheless I would assume they pay the company directly.

[ricardoleitesantos]

I read somewhere that according to SBP guidelines you are free to use your foreign currency account however, you please so long as proper documentation is provided along the way and banks which fail to do so are doing so contrary to the SBP rulebook. That would mark the conduct of my branch as illegal. Secondly I had always heard wire transfers cost between 15-25 USD from Pakistan which is reasonable. My HBL branch charges a wait $50 fee for that very purpose! Are all banks this extiortionately expensive? I would think not.

[ali15144]

Try making a international bank draft if that is acceptable by the company ur paying. No transfer charges and u just pay for the bank draft fee which is around 10 dollars per draft.

[ricardoleitesantos]

Real Estate related companies never have any trouble with bank drafts and that is an excellent suggestion. In fact it also serves to debunk the theory that an individual cannot pay into foreign company accounts abroad, or so I would think. Unfortunately our citizenry is incredibly passive on such matters and had it not been for me in raising my voice no client had previously stood up. They also fiddle with exchange rates and do not comply with that given officially by the bank. It's a small town branch that makes good use of it's military connections. Considering I do have a foreign currency account would the bank have any reason to object to my request or would you suggest I choose another brank for creating a draft?

[ricardoleitesantos]

More to add to this drama from the company's schedule of charge http://www.hbl.com/Download/Schedule%20of%20Bank%20Charges%20(SOBC)%20effective%20January%2001,%202017.pdf
you can clearly read that for a wire transfer the total charge is 0.25% +500 pkr (swift charges) which equates to 30 USD for a 10,000 USD transfer and definitely not $50 USD which my small town branch charged me. I don't want to make a mountain out of a molehill but if you could kindly go through the document and validate or refute my suspicions please do. Activities at this branch seem scandalous at best and defrauding at worst.

Read p.5 of the document. It states .25% + 500 pkr swift charges then how on earth does my branch make off with $50?

[ali15144]

You could go to another branch, in my case my bank manager told me sir we dont make international bank drafts very often and he referred me to a bigger branch that does on daily baisis. So u can change ur branch or open up a new account in some other bank. Still go and ask them about bank drafts they wont be able to charge much on that because its has a fixed fee. Banks tend to over charge when their calculations of charges isnt centralized. You have to ask them how they calculated it. So make a bank draft and ask them t givee you a swift trail or swift authorization letter. Just in case so if ur real estate firm ask for it. Bank draft processing is done in karachi mostly so they wont be able to charge you more.btw i tried wire transfer aswell and the charges were spot on as they mentioned on their website so yah ur bank could be committing a fraud.

[ricardoleitesantos]

Excellent! Thank you so much for your cooperation. I am a global citizen and I simply do not have time for crap which is why I have to investigative every matter thoroughly as I will be left defrauded of what is rightfully mine if I don't resolve matters whilst I am at a set location.. If you happen to know anything about the legality of transfers to company accounts abroad from personal ones at this moment and time and not as far back as 2012 than please let me know. As per my knowledge no real amendments have been made since 2007-9. Therefore, all that Samahir has asserted should still hold plenty of weight. I truly appreciate both of yours' input. If I may ask Ali jee, have you been using HBL or another bank?

[ricardoleitesantos]

Now coming my the primary question, given the circumstance that you have a valid reason and documents that certify that, should a bank deny you the right to transfer money to a corporate account abroad from your personal foreign currency account, be it a draft or wire transfer? I find this notion to be absolutely ridiculous given the fact that a large property exhibition was held by foreign firms and why on earth would they look towards a country that wouldn't even allow residents to transfer their sums into their accounts for investment purposes. Delegates from Europe, the US, Gulf and Canada were present at the fair. Lastly when you intend upon sending large amounts the best method is to use an forex agency now if this happens to be abroad can I not send any amount into their account? Does the SBP make any such asinine restrictions that I simply hadn't heard of?