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Offshore
Bank Accounts.
We
aim to offer our clients a complete range of banking facilities:
ordinary corporate offshore accounts, high yield savings accounts,
private accounts. The requirement for Passport copies and
other I.D documents to open a bank account is a major draw-back
to anyone, private individual or corporate, who wishes to
retain as low a profile as possible in these days of continual
official snooping, not to mention the continual pressure from
the EU and O.E.C.D for increased bank transparency. Of course
to some clients a certain amount of disclosure is acceptable.
In our opinion the majority of clients for whom we arrange
facilities should not have a problem with ID requirements.
The key to a successful offshore account is selecting the
correct location for the facilities, Jersey is not ideal for
a UK resident but it's OK for a Canadian, the Bahamas is not
good for an American but it's OK if you are European and so
on. What we have tried to achieve is to offer a selection
of facilities that offer the most flexible range of options.
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Whatever
your personal reasons for 'going offshore'.
There
are many offshore centres with large numbers of high quality
banks that are only too happy to provide you with discreet
private services. The vast majority are secure, perfectly
respectable and as experienced as your bank at home. Unfortunately
whatever their advantages certain offshore accounts are as
awkward to open as those at home! Our aim is to simplify the
process as much as possible.
As
with anything, setting up offshore facilities and especially
banking requires careful planning and certain areas are by
nature a compromise. The key is in balancing the need for
confidentiality with the need for day to day operational simplicity.
Some clients ask us how confidential their account needs to
be, we can usually determine this based on a few simple questions;
if you are a non tax payer living in 3 or 4 different countries
over the year absolute confidentiality would not usually be
the number one requirement, however, ease of use would be
essential. In this situation an efficient onshore bank in
Europe may the best option or perhaps one of the less secure
(from a privacy aspect) offshore locations may be a good choice
- due to offering an ideal compromise between discretion and
ease of operation. If on the other hand you need to be 100%
sure no one can possibly discover who operates and controls
the account, the solution is an account with zero or minimal
ID requirements at the time of opening. Choice of location
is also vital.
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A
few rules of successful banking.
1.
Avoid a paper trail. If you transfer money directly to your
Offshore Account, or you pay in a personal cheque, your account
is no longer secure! Pay in cheques from an intermediary like
a cheque cashing service or an offshore factoring service
or simply use traveller's cheques or banker's drafts (US -
cashiers checks), which are not connected to you.
2.
Don't phone or fax from a telephone line registered in your
name to your offshore bank. Years later somebody might look
at your phone bills and find out where your account is. Use
pay phones, or foreign calling cards, for faxing use public
faxes in copy shops, airports etc. If you really need to call
from your home or office, which sometimes may be unavoidable
if you receive a lot of credits and make large numbers of
transfers, we have a simple solution, we can arrange to link
a number in a totally different country to your bank or financial
institution. This is how it works, assume your banks number
is + 49 456 54321 what we do is connect a number in another
country and point it to the banks number (+ 49 456 54321),
so instead of dialing the bank you dial for example + 44 700
56 10351, the result is the banks number does not appear anywhere.
The cost is only £95 ($135) with no further charges
ever! As far as faxes are concerned we can set up a secure
fax system, if required, or you can simply use the above option
for fax instead of voice calls.
3.
Don't have statements mailed to your own address. Have mail
held at the bank or sent to an address in another country.
The increase in security this provides is invaluable. We can
set up an offshore mailing address from only £159 or
$225 per year.
4.
Make sure you leave details somewhere 100% secure so the funds
can be located if you should die without warning. Banks love
clients who die because they end up sitting on piles of cash.
Swiss bankers call it windfall profit!
5.
Be discreet. Your partner today could be your enemy tomorrow.
80% of tip offs come from ex business partners or lovers who
want revenge.
6.
Live a low profile. Do not walk around dripping in gold or
drive around in expensive cars!
7.
Don't take risks. It is vital to have a structure that you
can operate and will not become an administrative nightmare.
Try to keep to only a few accounts.
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How
your secret account could be located.
A number of
routes tend to be employed to trace offshore assets, but the
ones below are the most likely:
A
number of routes tend to be employed to trace offshore assets,
but the ones below are the most likely:
·
If you are under suspicion the tax authorities might check
with local travel agents for evidence of visits to destinations
such as Jersey, Gibraltar, Cayman Islands, The Bahamas, Isle
of Man and other known banking and tax havens. Trips to these
locations especially if you travel on your own for just 2
or 3 days, might give investigators a place to start looking
for your assets. One major plus these days is that if you
travel inside the EU, or to Switzerland or the Channel Islands
your passport is not normally stamped at entry.
·
Examining telephone (home, business and hotel), fax and mobile
(cellular) phone records to identify undisclosed business
connections and contacts.
·
Examining bank and credit card statements to determine whom
you do business with, where you travel and what you buy..
·
Your dustbin (US. -Trashcan) can yield bits of statements,
invoices, correspondence and other relevant material useful
in building a profile. We recommend a cross cut shredder.
What you throw away says a lot about you.
·
Compiling a list of parties that you have a relationship with
(business or otherwise) by recording the return addresses
on your incoming mail. This technique can disclose friends,
associates and partners. If you must receive important mail
at your residence or business address, be sure to ask your
correspondents not to put a return address on the mail.
·
Looking into banking transactions. All cash deposits of £10.000
or more ($14.000) must in many countries be reported to the
government. In the US transactions over $3000 are reported
by your bank to the federal government, whether made by cash,
cheque or electronic transfer. If you want to be discreet
keep under the reporting limits.
·
Checking private courier's logs (Federal Express, Airborne
Express, UPS, DHL etc.) for delivery of special or important
letters and packages.
·
Examining telex records of your company or business to locate
areas of foreign activity that are unusual or uncharacteristic
in your line of business.
.
Keep you eyes open for adverse legislation that could affect
the jurisdiction where you hold your account.
.
Always be on the lookout for better options than the accounts
you currently hold. New facilities come up all the time they
will often work well either in conjunction with existing accounts
or as an entirely separate facility. Always examine whether
new arrangements provide more benefits than you have with
the current bank.
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Corporate Account Opening Procedures.
When
we assist you to open a bank account you do not usually need
to visit the bank, except in the case of Switzerland. One
point worth taking into consideration is that a close working
relationship with the manager of the branch tends to help
ensure smooth running, especially if the turnover is high
or very variable. Try to keep them informed of what is happening
and you will avoid difficult questions.
The
majority of banks require certified or notarised copies of
a company's certificate of incorporation, by-laws and a directors'
resolution to open the bank account. Other banks require a
certificate of good standing some will tend to ask for documents
to be notarised and apostilled in a company's place of incorporation,
this can normally be arranged via the registered agent.
The
set up time to arrange an account with a major bank may take
anything from 1 to 8 weeks, but we can give you a pretty good
indication of timescales at the outset. The delays are normally
due to the time it takes the bank to check documentation and
confirm references. The most common cause of a hold up in
opening bank accounts is the production of inadequate or incorrectly
worded references. Some banks require the signature of the
signatory confirmed by the bank issuing the reference; another
problem is that many banks are slow to respond to inquiries.
All banks will require evidence of beneficial ownership of
the company, these items are certified passport copies, ID
Card along with the appropriate board resolutions.
Banks
are subject to guidelines and regulations that vary greatly
from country to country, but are generally designed to ensure
that the proceeds of crime do not get into the banking system.
For this reason banks in some jurisdiction will need considerable
information concerning each beneficial owner, director, account
signatory and all persons able to influence control on a company,
before processing an application to open a corporate bank
account:
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The
requirements vary but can include some or all of the following.
.
A character reference addressed to the required bank from
another bank. The reference should state that the person has
been known to the referee for a period and is considered trustworthy,
respectable and suitable for operating a bank account. Most
banks will accept a to whom it may concern letter this protects
your confidentiality because the banks do not actually speak.
.
Notarised or certified passport copies.
.
Original telephone or utility bills evidencing residential
address.
.
A description of a company's intended activities including
area of operation, turnover etc.
.
An initial deposit, to fund the new bank account, this tends
to vary depending on the bank.
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Control
Of accounts.
The
opening of a bank account is often vital to our clients, although
the requirements tend to vary. All major banks try to provide
a high level of service and with many banks now offering online
computer access the administration of the account is easier
for both parties and also more secure. For various reasons
some clients prefer to fax instructions and this is perfectly
safe if the bank operates a coded system of passwords to ensure
confidentiality and security.
Some
clients for a variety of reasons decide to use nominees to
sign on the account, this ensures that client instructions
(subject to verification) are dealt with immediately. We have
a firm of lawyers who provide a secure intermediary between
clients and the bank, they can set up a variety of nominee
services to enhance confidentiality, and will receive instructions
which are then forwarded immediately to the bank for further
processing, they will also issue cheques and drafts on your
behalf.
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CONFIDENTIALITY.
Many
clients consider confidentially absolutely paramount to protect
their assets from litigation, malicious competitors or any
other potential disasters that can arise. In fact many clients
set up an offshore structure with privacy as the primary goal.
We appreciate and understand our clients concerns, it is important
to take into consideration that in most European countries
it is generally accepted that the relationship between a banker
and a client is confidential and should not be disclosed without
a court order. Of course all European banks are subject to
European Union directives on such matters as money laundering,
tax evasion and exchange of information some other countries
have exchange of information and mutual legal assistance arrangement
tied in with double taxation treaties and other international
agreements. The UK is subject to European Union directives,
as well as an excessive level of scrutiny by the regulatory
authorities, this is even worse in the Channel Islands and
Isle of Man where many honest long term clients have felt
obliged to seek alternative arrangements. The Turks and Caicos
and the BVI is still satisfactory. Switzerland and Luxembourg
remain popular banking jurisdictions in Europe whilst Anguilla,
Antigua, Barbados, Costa Rica, Dominica, Hungary, Latvia,
Liechtensteinand Uruguay all continue to provide high levels
of confidentiality.
The
main service we offer is to locate the correct account for
your needs, regardless of whether you need a personal or corporate
account. Our experience in setting up bank accounts for both
individuals and companies, in often unfamiliar jurisdictions,
is second to none. We will advise and assist with language
problems and the setting up complementary services such as
credit cards or Internet banking.
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Internet
banking and cryptography control.
Some
governments forbid the use of strong cryptography on their
territory. Most offshore banks use military-grade encryption
to ensure the security of transactions. Some banks will refuse
to set up Internet access if you live in countries where strong
encryption is prohibited, but you can still manage your account
through phone, fax or mail or via a friend in another Jurisdiction
where encryption is not banned.
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Identity
of the depositor.
With
a few exceptions the banks need to know precisely the identity
of the depositors and (if different) the economic owner of
the money. They will need two full photocopies of your passport
and the authentication of your signature (unless you go to
the bank personally), before they can open the account.
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Origin
of the funds.
Banks
will ask the economic origin of the money you will remit to
your bank account. They will often wish to understand your
occupation. Why? Because once the account is opened if the
account officer sees a particularly unusual transaction and
suspects something illegal he can trigger an investigation.
Common sense suggests we remove this risk by looking at the
situation in advance for any likely areas that could cause
problems.
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Safety
of your deposits.
We
only work with major banks with excellent balance sheets and
a stable history of operation. Furthermore, we have absolutely
no access to the accounts we arrange. We won't even know what
balance you have because of banking secrecy laws. Our responsibility
ends with the opening of the account and all relations thereafter
are between you and the bank. We explicitly refuse any responsibility
after we have opened the account. You will deal exclusively
with your account officer at the bank thereafter.
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Payment
of our fees.
We
charge a one-time fee to open the accounts listed in the account
descriptions. This fee includes all the work that we carry
out until the account is opened. If the account can't be opened
for any reason, we will refund you in full.
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