Does anybody know if foreigners can deposit in Argentina banks, for example the ICBC branch in Argentina, and create an account eligible for interest?
If yes, how do I do that?
Argentina has actually just
slapped FX restrictions on overseas investors because they've got too much money coming in. You can't buy ARS banknotes, but you can still buy the local-currency bonds.
Aside from that, I can't see any reason why a foreigner couldn't buy ARS (yes that is the actual currency code, and it was the source of non-stop jokes from my emerging-markets brokers, usually something along the lines of "mate can you show me your ARS? I'm looking for some ARS this morning, I haven't seen any ARS since yesterday..." etc etc etc ha ha ha). If you can find a way to open an Argentine bank account, you should be good to go (or, much easier, just call up your friendly local relationship banker and say "I want to buy Argentine local-currency bonds please", which gives you the same outcome without the headaches of an Argentine bank account).
But WHY ON EARTH would you want to? I'm guessing you heard that
Argentine interest rates are something like 38%, and you thought "oh gee that means I can make 35% a year with no risk!". Nothing in this life is risk-free. Those 35% interest rates come with a high risk of currency depreciation - if you make 35% interest, but Argentina's peso depreciates by 50% against the Singapore dollar, you've still lost more than 30% of your money, even though all you did was stick it in the bank.
