Having funds secured away OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES in an
International Bank Account is extremely important in times when currency controls and government interference are getting more and more brazen... If you are targeted and ALL YOUR FUNDS are within the United States, it could ALL EASILY BE SEIZED
in a single day....a VERY BAD DAY, leaving you unable to mount a legal defense since you will have NO ACCESS TO YOUR OWN MONEY.
The principal goal of International Asset Protection is to place your assets outside of the jurisdiction of the country's court system where you are resident. With regard to liquid assets, the primary way to accomplish this is by moving funds offshore using
Offshore Bank Accounts held by either a foreign corporation / Limited Limited Company or by establishing a
Bahamas International Asset Protection (Dynasty) Trust.
International diversification is a fundamental protection because it allows you to move a portion of your wealth outside of the United States or your home country.
Most people hold all of their savings in bank or brokerage accounts, that can be quickly frozen by any number of government agencies with nothing more than a phone call. This happens
every single day to innocent, law abiding, people who have never done anything wrong. Banks routinely freeze customers’ accounts
because they find completely normal transactions to be ‘suspicious’. Even the United States Internal Revenue Service freely admits to having seized over $17 million dollars from hundreds of business owners when 91% of them were proven to be completely innocent (
read article).
Opening an International bank account and a brokerage account for your International Company is a key step in the process of diversifying assets outside the jurisdiction of the United States and a key step in securing your future.
Most of our International Incorporation packages include account opening services. We accomplish this, for the most part, without our client (the account signatory) needing to travel. The process can however be daunting, as the “Know Your Client” (KYC) due diligence checks made by the various Institutions and Banking Service Providers are very thorough. You will need to provide detailed information on the purpose of incorporating and the source of funds to be used to capitalize the company (or Trust). Certified Copies of a passport, a drivers’ License, a proof of residential address and a professional or banking reference are also required - and these are all required BEFORE we can begin the incorporation or Trust formation process.
Fortunately, a new generation of FinTech banking service providers has recently entered the market, giving us respite from what had become a horrendous underwriting procedure engaged upon by every offshore bank, wherein every applicant was looked upon as a criminal until proven otherwise. With the arrival of FinTech we are often able to provide scanned and uploaded documents rather than old school “hard copies” notarized and certified and shipped by FedEx around the world several times (before an approval could be given). FinTech has partnered with and given us access to banks that previously would have been inaccessible due to extremely high opening balance requirements. FinTech has given us access to multi-currency bank accounts with IBAN numbers and “local” accounts all over the world, all within an app on a device that we can carry everywhere. Yes, looking at recent developments, we are optimistic for the future!
Because of laws and regulations such as FATCA, opening accounts for U.S. citizens and residents is certainly more challenging than for a European citizen for example, but we are continually researching, testing, and developing our relationships. Our Bank Account Opening Service is included with most of our International Incorporation Packages and our success rate is high, but please note however, that we cannot guarantee that you will be able to open an account as this process is out of our control and conditional upon the Bank's policies and procedures. In the rare circumstance that we are unable to open an account for you, we will refund the account opening fee, but we DO NOT refund the fees paid for the incorporation packages.
Please note that the fee that we charge for account opening services will be clearly indicated in your invoice that will be presented to you prior to you becoming a client. Please also note the the fee charged rarely covers our costs, as the process is extremely time intensive. We offer the service out of necessity and as a service to our clients. Please note that the Banks themselves may also charge an "account opening fee" - this is common when an international company search must be completed or if the bank agrees to open the account remotely (without a personal visit). This fee is usually payable only when the account has been opened and is usually deducted from your initial deposit.
One of the keys to our account opening success is the provision of “Nominee” Director services in our packages, so the Director deals with the banking service provider throughout the entire process until an account approval is given, at which time, the bank will release the new account details, login/passwords etc. only to the account signatories.
The selection of the banking service provider is best left with the Director and will be made after consideration of all factors including the purpose of incorporation, jurisdiction of incorporation, intended use of the account, nationality/residency of account signatories and shareholders and other factors. If you have specific requirements for banking in a certain jurisdiction for example because you want to operate an e-commerce business, this should be discussed with one of our senior consultants PRIOR to incorporation.
Depending on how your trust will be operated, we may establish a Trust bank account. The signatories to the account will be TRUST officers (Directors of the Trustee Company) and you will have no direct access to the account. The Trustee is in control of the trust assets and is under a legal obligation to maintain the trust property in the best possible manner for the benefit of the members of the beneficial class. Depending upon client needs, a brokerage account and even a precious metals storage account may also be opened.
Some clients chose to combine an International Company with a Trust. In this arrangement, the Trust owns the Company, the Company owns a bank account and the signatory to the bank account is the client. Structured in this way the Trust bank account becomes optional. We recommended however to ALWAYS open a Trust account, even if only a small ($5,000-10,000) balance is maintained for several reasons:
- It takes time and effort to establish an account, and it is likely that it may become more difficult (or impossible) in the future.
- If you have an "Asset Protection Emergency", you can transfer funds from the Company to the Trust immediately.
- Diversification - Having assets in multiple locations is never a bad idea.
The Trust bank account opening is included in the first year Trustee Fees, so for many clients opening the account is an easy decision, but there are some Bank fees to consider such as a small account opening fee and then any monthly account maintenance fees.
