This is getting blown way out of proportion.
A news item get blown out of proportion?! On THIS forum of all places?! I never thought I'd live to see the day...
Yes but at the same time, a high constant fee is a good way to lock "most" people out but keep it legal for you and your pals (provided you are rich or funded by the rich).
For example, from reading these forums I learned the term "dollar denominated account" a few months ago. So I googled around found just one bank (UBS) that offered foreign currency denominated accounts. I thought it might be a good idea to diversify a bit into euros, yuan, etc. Called them up -- not going to happen unless I was going to deposit > 1 million USD. Too much overhead and paperwork...
Ironically, there's a trick that lets you do it in a small way with the company we love-to-hate: Paypal. If someone sends you money you can choose to hold it in the currency it was sent...
Schwab, Fidelity, and HSBC are a few examples of banks that offer multi-denominated accounts in the USA.
All require no minimum or a small minimum (I think HSBC is $5000, fidelity and schwab are $0 minimum).
Great! Thx I should have asked you guys a long time ago...
