Three days after I opened my bank account, I got a phone call from Standard Chartered Bank. I had put my U.S. address on the W-9 form I completed for American tax purposes. The bank needed me to redo the form, but with my Maun address. To help me out with this, they sent, not one, but two bank employees out to the Research Institute – a good 25 minute drive from town – to bring me the form.
Now this is astonishing customer service by any standard. Wow! An hour after the phone call, they knocked on my office door. It took me 30 seconds to fill out the new W-9 and they were on their way.
That night, I received all the expected confirmations for my new account. The ATM card gets mailed to my postal address and is activated when I take it to the bank. No phone activation like we do at home.