That has not been my experience, ever. I only had "problems" with my bank once, that was when I was buying parachute equipment from France. The transfer went through, the bank contacted me and said "we have turned off international transfers from your account due to what we believe could be fraud committed by a third party". I contacted them, was told the cause of the "lock", said it was a legitimate transfer, they unlocked the international transfer thingy, really smooth.
I regularly withdraw money from ATMs in excess of 500 USD equiv.
I have not heard of this 2K USD equiv. / month thing either, is that the policy of your bank or is it regulatory? Do you have a source?
The 8000kr per withdraw is for ATMs on the bank buildings. More common is those outside malls/shop, like ICA (http://www.swedbank.se/privat/kort-och-betalningar/kort/om-k...). However, I have seen some who increase those restrictions to half, so its a bit 50/50 if you get 1000 kr or 2000 kr (divide with 6.5 to get US dollar).
In this case, treat a bank like you would a family member; let them know that you will be out of the country for a period of time and they will make a note of it on your account. Whenever any transactions occur it may cause an automatic tripping of a flag on your account, but a human will be able to read the note. This has helped me greatly in the past.
PS: This can also (and should also) be done on your credit card accounts.
I regularly withdraw money from ATMs in excess of 500 USD equiv.
I have not heard of this 2K USD equiv. / month thing either, is that the policy of your bank or is it regulatory? Do you have a source?
EDIT: I live in Sweden