The first step is opening a bank account. The bank may then block the account. Why would the bank do this?

Option one: the bank did not accept the sources of funds you declared during the KYC procedure.

Option two: the KYC forms were filled out incorrectly. Option three: the bank checked for information about you online or in other sources (LexisNexis, World-Check) and either didn't find any information about you (which the bank treats as a fail) or discovered negative information.

Without receiving an adequate explanation, the bank will block all subsequent transactions, since the missing information will be interpreted as a risk associated with working with you. At this point, there is a global risk of losing the blocked funds if the bank does not accept the explanations and documents regarding the disputed amounts.

In this case, the bank may also apply another measure: limiting spending on the account by setting a daily limit as it sees fit.

Rejected applications to open accounts, blocked accounts, and limited transactions are directly related to confirmation of sources of income, including those that are periodic (for example, dividends) or subject to independent appraisal.

The bank must see the entire chain of the flow of money into assets and back again when they are sold, including the funds used to purchase the assets, or an explanation of payment sources or sources' increased value. It is generally difficult to prove the legitimacy of payments, the chain of acquisitions, or value without restoring the chain of ownership and obtaining the expert opinion of appraisers.

Not all clients of banks are willing to adopt this approach, since it requires a lot of time to study the problem in detail.

In terms of complexity, the opportunity to invest in another country can be compared to opening bank accounts. The only difference is that the corresponding procedures include the need to confirm the investment's ultimate beneficiary, or UBO (Ultimate Beneficial Owner). The ensuring difficulties when opening bank accounts are a step in the process of setting up a company or investment account.

In this process, the beneficiary's business and personal reputation and source of investment funds matters. Every effort is made to ensure that companies do not have nominal owners or capital whose origin is illegal or questionable.

Opening a business or creating an investment mechanism is a complex task in any new country, requiring prepared documents and detailed elaboration of information about yourself and your assets.

We have interesting statistics:

• 31% of family capital is lost during transfer due to the lack of detailed information
• 36% of capital owners are willing to lose from 10% to 50% of their wealth in exchange for a guarantee that assets will be transferred to family members when needed.

If everyone applies these percentages to their own capital, it becomes clear what each family stands to lose in the event of an incomplete transfer of capital and assets from one family member to another. The important thing is that such losses can be avoided if you have a well-thought-out and independently executed plan, which includes preparation of documents required for asset ownership and a stipulated procedure that automatically triggers in relation to the family members indicated in the plan. Issues related to proving the origin of assets and capital are resolved in advance, and the plan itself makes it possible to get around actions that prevent your family from receiving assets, including actions by third parties (consultants, managers, directors, and lawyers), in cases where there is a deviation from plan or obstacles arise in its implementation.

For a bank, your reputation is as important as the source of your funds, but it seems few people attach importance to this fact. The digital world inevitably has a trail of information that can be used to form an opinion about clients' reputation, even if you do not use social networks. Public sources have something about everyone. That includes you.

Banks take advantage of this reality by searching for information online and in specialized databases (LexisNexis, World-Check). The bank's goal is to form an opinion about you as a client. From the bank's perspective, a lack of information is tantamount to a negative digital portrait.

Time must be devoted to this matter in advance, before you contact the bank. Perform an analysis and decide what opinion the bank might have about you. Try to correct any negative aspects, even if you personally don't consider them negative. Everything should be considered from the bank's perspective.

The most common problems associated with relocating are major expenses (purchasing real estate and a business, maintaining your standard of living).

To address these challenges, you need funds in a local bank, which requires passing a KYC procedure and income source verification.

You need to not only select your next country, but also figure out in advance how to prove the legality of the origin of the capital that will be transferred to local banks. Even if a bank opens an account for you, that does not guarantee that funds in it will not be blocked in the future.

Please note that banks monitor any banking transaction over $1,000 or its equivalent. That means it will be impossible to make large one-time or recurring expenses without following these procedures.