Client story
How the situation developed
Where they started
Alina moved to Yerevan and opened an account at the first bank she visited - passport, form, an hour of her time. She worked with two European studios and one client in the UAE: mid-sized amounts, regular payments, but of irregular size, as project work usually is.
The first stuck payment
A transfer from a European studio, noticeably larger than the previous ones, went into review. For nine days the bank gave neither explanations nor timelines - the money hung there while Alina had rent to pay. Through support it emerged that the payment had gone to compliance and evidence of its basis was required.
Why this happens
The bank saw the picture from its own side: a young non-resident client, an account opened a month ago, payments from three different countries, fluctuating amounts, and no basis in the payment reference - the field contained a curt services. In compliance logic that is not a designer at work; it is uncertainty that must be checked.
The mistakes that had accumulated
The review revealed three accumulated problems. The contracts with clients existed only in correspondence - verbal arrangements and emails. Alina issued invoices in free form, without numbers or bank details. In the payment reference the clients wrote whatever they liked, from services to nothing at all. Formally the income was lawful and provable, but the bank had not a single document to see it by.
What we did
We did not argue with the bank - we gave it what was missing. We prepared framework contracts with the three clients, an invoice template with numbering and account details, and agreed a correct payment reference with the clients quoting the invoice number. Separately we prepared an explanatory note for the bank: the working model, the client base, the expected frequency and range of amounts, and the client’s tax status in Armenia.
A backup channel
In parallel we opened a second account at another Armenian bank with better digital service. Not because the first is poor, but because depending on a single institution when you work with foreign payments is wrong: any new review would stop life again. The main flow now runs through the first bank, with the backup used for some of the clients.
I thought that once the account was open everything would take care of itself. It turned out I had to explain to the bank every month who pays me and what for. Once there were contracts and proper invoices, the questions stopped - for the last four months payments have arrived the day they were sent.
