So, I am headed to SE Asia later this year and part of the trip is an organised tour in Myanmar/Burma because it's just easier to do that there than go independent.

The tour operator is a specialist firm based in California. So I set out to pay the deposit of $1200 USD by using the foreign transfers part of ASB's Fastnet system. So far, so good.

A couple of days later my wife gets a call that goes something like this:

"Hello, ASB here. We need to talk to you about the money you are trying to send to Myanmar. There is a ban on transfers to Myanmar."

"We aren't sending any money to Myanmar. We're sending money to a company in the USA to pay for a tour that takes place in Myanmar. You can see that from the SWIFT codes my husband used - they are for Wells Fargo in San Francisco."

"But it says Myanmar on the legend."

"It says 'Deposit for Myanmar tour'"

"Oh. Well, we'll be in touch if we need any more information."

Yesterday, an email arrives as follows:

 

"We understand the payment is going to the US but because it involves Myanmar indirectly, we are still required to get an approval to release the payment. There is blanket ban on payments involving Myanmar at the moment.

 

Would it be possible to get a copy of the invoice please so we can attach it to our approval request form?

 

 If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us."


So apparently banks can now decide where I travel to. I rang them and told them to cancel the transfer and refund the money. They did so. So today I redid the transfer to the same recipient but ensured I omitted the word Myanmar.

What's the betting it goes through just fine....?!

Honestly - I have never heard of anything so stupid.