moving to Ukraine-seek bank information & advice

[Lee36]

I am making plans to move to Ukraine after having recently spent 35 days in Kiev & Odessa and met many nice persons. I have more than sufficient lifetime income to support a family there comfortably. It is even tax free in Ukraine. So I am not in need of negative advice. I like and love many things about Ukraine and her people. I know what I am doing. However, I am in need of some recommendations, based on facts, of the best reliable western European banks in Kiev to deposit my money into. I would also like to correspond & exchange information with Americans living over there, and any Ukrainians who wish to be helpful. Although I have some interpreter friends there who I employed, I can always use more connections and friends who live there. I did have a fiancee but that is now over. So I will be seeking my lifetime love there. I am not worried about finding her on my own. But I am always open for correspondence with any lady, especially those in their late twenties to mid thirties. I sometimes may prefer to email responses privately if you do not mind.

[SweetNovember]

Hi Lee and welcome to Ukraine.com
Congratulations on your decision. I hope you will enjoy your time in Ukraine.
Here's a couple of links that can help you to transition from one country to another:
http://www.thepost.kiev.ua/data/toftw.html
http://www.livobereznachurch.kiev.ua/uguide/uguide.htm

For the list of foreign banks see here:
http://www.ukrbiz.net/eng/kbd/yp/4/brief/26/
this might be useful too
http://www.thepost.kiev.ua/main/11323/
Out of all foreign banks I think only RaiffeisenBank offers services to individual clients. Citibank, which is the only American bank here, works with corporate clients.

There is good news for you too. You don't have to change your bank as long as they offer on-line banking. There are plenty of ATM machines vending gryvnyas (and only some dollars) here and many shops take credit cards - so getting cash is no problem at all. You can also transfer some of your money to a local bank to have flexibility on what you want to do with the rest.

Feel free to get in touch if you have more questions. Btw, I don't fall into either of your categories, but I am always happy to help anyways.

Cheers,
SN

[Lee36]

Thanks SN. Those are some great web pages. I did not realize that most foreign banks were the corporate type only. I do not plan to keep my American bank or credit cards, though I had used them when I was there. So I will sill research my bank choices. Is there any place where Americans in Ukraine are on line in a forum? There is a lot of good info at http://www.the post.kiev.ua, but their search engine isn't so hot. I could not bring up many of the archived "tips" over the last two years. Do you know any secret for their searches?

[SweetNovember]

Originally posted by Lee36
I do not plan to keep my American bank or credit cards, though I had used them when I was there. So I will sill research my bank choices.

I keep mine I can't complain. Actually that's why I only know the banking sector only rather remotely. But I'll ask around.

Is there any place where Americans in Ukraine are on line in a forum? [/QUOTE]

If there is, I'm not aware of it. Please let me know if you find one.

There is a lot of good info at http://www.thepost.kiev.ua , but their search engine isn't so hot. I could not bring up many of the archived "tips" over the last two years. Do you know any secret for their searches? [/QUOTE]

The archived tips that have a direct link to them you can bring up. The search engine is a piece of junk, that's true. The only way I know how to work around it is to guess the section or the date of the publication.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful
SN