All You Need to know About Offshore Banking

By Irene Mmari

Offshore banking happens when transactions are made with a banking institution located in a foreign jurisdiction or country. For those who are savvy in the working of the business and financial institutions would probably find this to be the best approach to secure their financial future in cases of local political turmoil or foreseen possibilities of a future legal lawsuit, which can threaten their financial standing if all investments were made in the country of origin.

The term offshore originated from the habit of the UK residents to open their accounts in the offshore islands of the British Channel, which were tax havens for them. These places were offshore from the British mainland, and the word offshore later becomes a definition to describe any kind of banking transactions that were done this way. The islands became hot favorites for all countries to start banking with them due to the tax advantages and their regulations.

The governments of popular offshore banking destinations are often quite liberal in their rules and so this kind of banking is not strictly regulated. There are more ways to open accounts in offshore banking and more ways to manage them. Offshore banking is responsible for the circulation of 2 trillion dollars around the planet every single day. There's a vast difference between now and the time when the few offshore accounts that existed were considered to be options for covering up for drug money and other illegal kinds of money.

The offshore bank also has the whole range of services that a domestic bank can provide. It allows for both kinds of account, checking or savings, either in a personal or corporate format. You can also make use of the host of other features they provide such as ATM cards, debit cards, credit cards (all internationally accepted) and avail of loans and mortgages and money transfers. People are keeping their accounts strictly confidential by using numbers for the accounts instead of their names.

You can avail of other perks such as custody and wealth management by some of these offshore banks. Some of these banks will provide for money management and foreign exchanges and also trustee services and corporate administration services. Commercial banking and private banking are the two types of offshore banks. If you want more banking features that are better for your money, you should opt for commercial banking. Personal banking, while expensive, provides a set of personalized features that clients can use.

Since offshore banks are not obliged to divulge any kind of information - personal or business - one of the best advantages of having such an account is privacy. However, if some criminal involvement is proved on your part, your offshore bank will reveal such details to your government or tax departments. That means if they are unaware about it, they cannot get at your offshore banking account.

Your money grows without any taxation. People who bank offshore save a lot on their tax. But the savings cannot be termed as total because when you are bringing the money into your country, you may be liable to several forms of taxation. Another benefit of offshore banking is asset protection. You are protecting yourself from invasive forms of bureaucracy, lawsuits and even protecting your assets from seizure by holding and managing offshore accounts. - 20759

No comments:

Post a Comment