TomAtAlki said:
Even with a Premier HSBC account (very expensive) you cannot transfer between the US and AR. AR is one of the few countries that HSBC cannot transfer $ to.
This is not exactly true.
Here is the deal: HSBC Premier has a system called Global View where the customer can instantaneously transfer funds online between different HSBC personal accounts in different countries. The Global View system does NOT include accounts in Argentina. And the reason for this is that it is impossible to do any kind of instantaneous transfer into Argentina because the central bank monitors every transaction and requires special documentation before the funds are released. So there is absolutely no instantaneous international transfer system with any bank.
However, you can wire funds to an Argentine bank account (3 days or less) if you also provide the special documentation to your Argentine bank. HSBC (Premier or non-Premier) does allow customers to make online wire transfers. So you can log on to your HSBC (USA, UK, Canada, France, etc) account, and then initiate a wire transfer to your HSBC Argentina account. Then you go to your local HSBC Argentina branch and give them the special central bank forms all completed perfectly. The branch forwards the forms to the central bank, and usually the next day the funds are in your HSBC Argentina account available for use.
As for all these statements about US banks operating in Argentina or not, here is the deal on that: There are NO foreign banks operating directly in any country in the world period. All banks in a particular country are legal entities incorporated and chartered in that country. They may be owned in full or in part by a foreign entity, but they are distinct legal entities from their foreign parent. So the idea that just because a person is a customer with Citibank in the USA, then they are somehow also a customer with Citibank in another country of the world is laughable. Citibank and HSBC have made a lot of efforts to make it seem that all of their local subsidiaries are connected to another, but this not true in any legal or regulatory sense. If you think I am wrong, try to get a loan from a Citibank Japan branch without opening an account or being a resident there. Since you are a customer with Citibank USA, they should grant you the loan, no?? To save yourself the trouble and the flight to Tokyo, take my word for it that the banks are not legally connected despite having the same sign out front.
