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This is Patrick Munro talking about the issue, can an American open a German checking or
savings account. Of course, as an American, we have rights within the United States. If
we choose to go outside of the United States and get involved in financial instruments,
we have to be mindful of the rules of that country. For instance in Germany, if you were
to set up a checking or savings account, much like in the United States you'd have to go
through all the protocol with the German financial institution to find out where you live, what's
the nature of your business at the bank, how much of deposits they would expect from you,
and where they would send the statements to; all of the usual things. Usually a passport
is required, because you are an international citizen. You can also trigger some government
alerts. We have the homeland security here in our country. But of course, in Europe,
they have the INTERPOL. And they're always mindful of foreigners opening up accounts
on their soil, because you could be either a terrorist or a drug dealer or something
like that. But if your interests are a little more mundane, and you just happen to have
relatives and you travel oftentimes to Germany, be prepared to show your ID, have a story
as to why you're opening up the account, and usually the financial institution will cooperate
with you. Be aware that the money that you'll be trading with in Germany is euros, as opposed
to dollars. And if you put U.S. dollars into a euro-based account, the numbers will be
quite different. Euro is much stronger than our dollar. So it requires more dollars to
build up a substantial bank balance. This is financial adviser Patrick Munro talking
about setting up an account in Germany if you're an American, and what needs to be done
about that.