Foreign Foreign bank account: Factors that affect choice of country
Everybody hopes that the current international tensions will be resolved at some point. As things stand for now, however, the world has become much less secure than it was before. A growing number of people in different parts of the world are becoming concerned about their personal safety as well as the security of their possessions. Those who have valuable assets to lose look for various asset diversification and protection opportunities. One of such opportunities is setting up a bank account in a foreign country (or a couple of bank accounts in a couple of foreign countries). Offshore industry experts report that the service has become extremely popular recently.
At the same time, there is another tendency and it is a reversed one in a certain sense. Various sanctions and countersanctions as well as informational attacks and counterattacks make national governments reconsider the conditions of providing banking services to foreign customers. In keeping with the recent tendencies in the area of financial regulation, the authorities of many countries are tightening the screws on their banks forcing them to implement even tougher due diligence procedures when it comes to taking a foreign customer onboard. Banks still need money, however, which means that they still need customers who can bring the money. Thus, foreign banking opportunities remain available but setting up an offshore bank account has lately become a more challenging task. Below we discuss the main factors that affect the choice of the foreign country where you would like to open a bank account thus diversifying and protecting our financial assets.
Prospective customer’s nationality
The country where you come from will largely determine the number of foreign banking opportunities that are available to you. People from Russia and Belarus will have a limited choice of opportunities if they want to bank in the western hemisphere at the moment. When the military conflict in Ukraine is over, the situation may change but it is too early to say how favorable it is going to become. At the same time, banks in several former Soviet Republics will be prepared to take Russian and Belorussian customers onboard. Armenia or Georgia, for example, offer high-quality banking services and they do not require that a prospective customer make a large deposit when opening a bank account in one of these countries. Without doubt, most banks in Eastern European countries welcome foreign customers living to the west of them.
The political tensions between the U.S.A. and China also seem to be growing and prospective bank customers from the latter country are having hard times trying to open bank accounts in the former country. This is where things stand at present. In fact, millions of Chinese people live in the U.S.A. and the two countries have been trading with each other actively for decades and decades. Again, we will have to see how much the situation is going to change when the current military conflict in Europe is over. At the same time, there are attractive opportunities that citizens of China can find in some other Asian countries. Singapore and Hong Kong, for instance, are well known for their advanced banking sectors and the Chinese are welcome to open bank accounts there.
In their turn, Americans will face difficulties if they choose offshore jurisdictions for banking purposes. In accordance with the FATCA, banks in all countries of the world have to report their American clients’ financial operations to the IRS. For an offshore bank, this means that much more processing and paperwork is involved in providing services to a customer from the U.S.A. The US administration, on the other hand, has never expressed the desire to compensate foreign banks for the additional costs that the US legislation has imposed on them. At the same time, many Americans make use of the opportunity to set up bank accounts in Costa Rica. The banking system of the country is fully integrated with the US banking system but the FATCA requirements do not apply in Costa Rica for some reason.
Remote bank account opening opportunities
Much will also depend on whether you would like to open a bank account online or you are prepared to pay a personal visit to the foreign country of your choice. Many countries provide remote account opening opportunities but not all of them. You can set up a foreign bank account in Panama, for example, from the comfort of your home. Please note that you will have to seek some professional assistance in all likelihood if you would like to open a bank account remotely. On the other hand, Serbia offers highly attractive banking conditions but you will have to visit the country if you want to open a bank account there. Theoretically, you could issue a Power of Attorney in the name of a Serbian lawyer who would set up a bank account in the country for you. A personal visit to Serbia, however, is going to increase your chances for success.
Intended uses of your foreign bank account
One more factor that is going to affect your choice of the foreign country where you would like to bank is the main reason why you are setting up a foreign bank account. If your central goal is to protect your assets, you may consider purchasing precious metals and putting them in a bank vault. Here’s a suggestion that may be of interest to you: you can open a gold account (that is, purchase some gold bullions) in the Cook Islands and your gold will be kept in a secure vault in New Zealand.
If you would like to grow your wealth by participating in various international investment projects, you can consider banking in Switzerland or Liechtenstein, for example. Bankers in these countries are famous for their asset management skills and an investment account with a Swiss bank can bring you a stable passive income.
Finally, if you have an offshore-registered company, you will be well advised to apply for services to an offshore bank. Preferably, the bank should be located in the offshore country where your company is registered.
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