patio11 himself has mentioned in many podcasts that the sanctions following the Russian invasion of Ukraine may have affected Ukrainian persons or businesses as they include territory currently occupied by Russia (perhaps more so than Russian persons or businesses themselves).
Many western financial institutions simply won't keep track of who holds Nikopol or Enerhodar and will close account held by Ukrainian people or business.
(and when you think about the possibility of the account holder lying, it gets worse)
> Does that apply to US citizens (legally residing in the EU) that routinely get denied bank accounts because the bank don’t want to deal with the IRS ?
Yes, it applies to every legal resident.
> Beyond that, I wonder if you really believe that the EU has no Anti-Money Laudering / Counter Finance Terrorism laws.
Because you don’t believe an EU bank can terminate an account because they’re worried it may trigger an AML/CTF regulation or similar without bothering to really check if it does.
*edit : AML/CTF and similar rules have to be exceptions to basic banking rights.
> Because you don’t believe an EU bank can terminate an account because they’re worried it may trigger an AML/CTF regulation or similar without bothering to really check if it does.
No, I questioned the particular situation given my personal experience with the Ukrainian war for account holders in Europe, the existing banking regulation around the basic account.
For the record, I have an official denial letter from LaPoste. Which, by the way, is very nice on their part: many banks refuse to put that in wringing and without a letter it's hard to exercise your droit au compte with the Bank of France.
Many western financial institutions simply won't keep track of who holds Nikopol or Enerhodar and will close account held by Ukrainian people or business.
(and when you think about the possibility of the account holder lying, it gets worse)