Offshore Bank Accounts, Open Offshore Bank Account, Offshore Banking

Offshore banking often provides the same services as most of the normal banks do. Moreover many large banks also provide offshore banking services as well.

There are several tips that depositor (offshore account owner) should take into consideration before opening an account:

1. Depositor should find out whether offshore banking jurisdiction follows bank secrecy policy. Bank secrecy is in fact one of the main benefits that offshore banking offers though offshore bank accounts and in practice all tax havens provide such benefits, however the degree to which anonymity is ensured varies from one jurisdiction to another, therefore it is worth deepening into the legislation of the country to determine to what extent bank secrecy is ensured;

2. Depositor should specify what services does offshore banking center offers. Can he/she receive a credit card? In what currencies can he/she open an account? What about foreign exchange operation, offshore investment opportunities, letter of credit provision, time deposits, checking, online banking and etc? Before actually making a decision of opening an offshore bank account one should have a clear idea about advantages and disadvantages of a specific bank and financial sector in general. It may happen so that a you may start with opening just account and later decide to use other offshore services  as well. It may turn out that other services are not available in this offshore banking jurisdiction and moving to other jurisdiction may be quite costly;

3. Don’t forget to check out the taxation policy for the jurisdiction you choose. Although many offshore banking centers have low or no taxes, there are cases when this is not the case. In other words not all offshore banking centers are tax havens and not all tax havens are offshore banking centers;

Although different banks in different offshore banking jurisdictions require different documents for opening offshore bank accounts, most of them typically ask for the following documents:

For a Personal Account:

1. Filled out bank application form;

2. Signature sample;

3. Notarized copy of passport with client’s original signature or any other acceptable identification;

4. Original bank reference for each signatory of the account;

5. Document confirming client’s address;

Bank application form varies from bank to bank. Some require it to be signed in front of the public notary, while some in front of bank officer, some do not have any of these requirements.

For Corporate Offshore Bank Account:

1. Memorandum and Articles of Association (original or certified copy);

2. Certificate of Incorporation (original or certified copy);

3. Board resolution to open account (original or certified copy);

Tagged as: Bank Account