Last week, I went to a branch to open XtraSaver account. As usual, their personal banking consultant asked me if I wanted to open their Supersalary account. I said no and told him I just wanted XtraSaver account. Then he tried to open an account for me, and suddenly he had to see his manager for some verification. About three minutes later, he told me that the burmese are disallowed to open an account. Well, they were not supposed to tell me this, and they had a right to disapprove my application without giving any reason. But it was good to hear their reason for the reject.

I just left the bank, and checked online website to see if they have any written information about this. I couldn’t find it and I sent them an email inquiring about account opening, stating my nationality and residential status.

A few days later, a girl called me and asked me to open an account at Six Battery Road. I was surprised, and she arranged me an appointment with the staff at the branch.

It was my fault I didn’t check thoroughly with her, and I blamed myself for trusting Standard Chartered Bank again. This time, I wasn’t told the reason, and I was only told due to some policies. It might the same reason. I’m not interested in their policies. All I know is Standard Chartered Bank just wasted my time and resources. The bank doesn’t seem to have connections/communication between their departments. Although I wasn’t allow to open the saving/checking account, he asked me if I was interested in Fixed Deposits. Huh. I’m done with that bank. I also should warn the nationality of Myanmar should not be wasting time going to the bank and open an account.

I understand that the burmese people can be rejected by any US or Europe financial institutions due to sanctions. If this is the case, my enquiry should be returned with negative reply so that I wouldn’t waste my time going to the standard chartered bank.