"International wire transfers are a lot harder to do without actually visiting a branch of the bank I'm with and filling out a bunch of forms, and they take much longer to process too."

That's my personal problem too. Sending money from US to Canada or Canada to the US is a pain. If only they had the same check clearance system, it would solve so much. Same as how having similar phone numbers makes it so much easier.

Heh. jacquesm lives somewhere that doesn't even have checks!

When I needed to get paid by a Dutch company, the easiest solution turned out to be for me to open a new bank account.

Well I think the US is one of the only countries left using checks. Everyone else (Most of Europe) has moved on to direct bank transfers for everything.

> Heh. jacquesm lives somewhere that doesn't even have checks!

I pictured jacquesm needing to use a custom silver DeLorean to drive there and back. Flux capacitor and all.

I can do international wire transfers straight from my bank's online interface - is there a regulatory reason that US and Canadian banks can't offer something similar?

Nope, we have this too. I know Chase & BoA both do it online.