Hello, I have an interesting story for independent traders.
I am currently setting up an activity in Switzerland( Futures, IIP program of CME ) and I needed to create an account at a swiss bank before getting the proper business immatriculation( I don't know how you call it in the US ). For some reason, I wanted to create an account at Credit Suisse.
I call and a nice girl starts to tell me what documents I need to bring, what type of wire I need to do to get the account on time...and we convene on a meeting at one CS agency in Lausanne, but just before the end of the discussion, she asked :
"Oh and yes... By the way, what's your activity?
- I buy and sell commodities. I am a member of the Chicago Exchange.
- Uh...Well...Uh ...I am concerned we won't be able to create an account for you.
- What?...Why?
- We have pretty strict guidelines at CS about which type of activities we want to support which we don't.
- Uh... Come on. You even have an entire page for Commodity traders on your website.
-Let me check with my boss...One minute"
She comes back 5 minutes later and confirms.
I was quite bummed in fact. I am used to it when I am in France. One day someone from the administration, who must be working 20 hours max per week, told me speculation wasn't a job and that I couldn't be affiliated to them, but I was super stoked on this answer 'cause it enabled me to be affiliated to a much cheaper organism...LOL... Sometimes it's great to deal with complete morons.
Here with a proper institution like CS, my feelings are more mixed. I don't know what scared them the most, "Chicago" and the US, or commodities speculation. I guess it is the later and hypocrisy is running very high here when you think that a good part of the wealth of the Swiss came from their hub status for commodity traders. I am also sure CS never ever traded commodities...LOL
Whatever, I found an other bank of course so case closed, but I still feel pissed about this permanent scapegoating.
Thoughts?
I am currently setting up an activity in Switzerland( Futures, IIP program of CME ) and I needed to create an account at a swiss bank before getting the proper business immatriculation( I don't know how you call it in the US ). For some reason, I wanted to create an account at Credit Suisse.
I call and a nice girl starts to tell me what documents I need to bring, what type of wire I need to do to get the account on time...and we convene on a meeting at one CS agency in Lausanne, but just before the end of the discussion, she asked :
"Oh and yes... By the way, what's your activity?
- I buy and sell commodities. I am a member of the Chicago Exchange.
- Uh...Well...Uh ...I am concerned we won't be able to create an account for you.
- What?...Why?
- We have pretty strict guidelines at CS about which type of activities we want to support which we don't.
- Uh... Come on. You even have an entire page for Commodity traders on your website.
-Let me check with my boss...One minute"
She comes back 5 minutes later and confirms.
I was quite bummed in fact. I am used to it when I am in France. One day someone from the administration, who must be working 20 hours max per week, told me speculation wasn't a job and that I couldn't be affiliated to them, but I was super stoked on this answer 'cause it enabled me to be affiliated to a much cheaper organism...LOL... Sometimes it's great to deal with complete morons.
Here with a proper institution like CS, my feelings are more mixed. I don't know what scared them the most, "Chicago" and the US, or commodities speculation. I guess it is the later and hypocrisy is running very high here when you think that a good part of the wealth of the Swiss came from their hub status for commodity traders. I am also sure CS never ever traded commodities...LOL
Whatever, I found an other bank of course so case closed, but I still feel pissed about this permanent scapegoating.
Thoughts?
:eek: