<i>There&#x27;s no way in hell the CEO&#x2F;owner of a business would spend 1.5 hour on the phone with an account manager, setting up the account.</i><p>That&#x27;s actually a legal requirement in many countries, including the US--either the CEO or CFO of the company must directly deal with a financial institution when setting up a financial institution account (i.e., bank account--note that Paypal is a registered financial institution in nearly all of the jurisdictions in which it operates).  My clients run into this all the time.  It&#x27;s a hassle, but it&#x27;s one you simply have to accept as the cost of doing business in the big leagues.<p><i>Want PayPal to transfer british pound to an non-british bank-account, then prepare for a world of pain</i><p>Legally, yes.  Because British law has rules about this, and as a financial institution Paypal is required to follow those rules.  Those rules are deliberately onerous because the type of transaction you are describing was once widely used in tax evasion and money laundering schemes.