Traveling to an offshore bank, which is often required, is a reason some of you don’t have an offshore bank.
Let’s make it easier.
Don’t Forget Fintech
The cheap and lazy option is still fintech apps, which can be quite viable.
We have done a dedicated episode on these Fintech apps, and everyone should listen to it.
Fintech apps have provided access to offshore banking by proxy, and has also given lots of people exposure to USD and other western currencies. They should not be slept on.
Just be mindful of what your favored app is backed by.
But for some, you may want an actual bank, and I certainly wouldn’t blame you.
Actual Banks
There are options out there for just about everyone reading this, and in good banking jurisdictions.
I have spoken about MyLatinLife and his services, and he has intros to offshore banks in Latin America, so we will focus on those in this blog post.
You will have higher-end options out there like Gibraltar, Jersey, Isle of Man, Barbados, Caymans, even Switzerland when it comes to remote openings. But those are for very high-end clients.
For the rest of us, there are many other places you can go too, just be very careful. Vet your middlemen a lot, because there are lots of fly-by-night sites out there, just like there have been for the past 25 years in this industry.
Be a bit wary of people promising Belize for example.
Belize
As far as jurisdictions and banks go, Belize used to be an easy option for some, then it got a reputation for having poor service and functionality, but now it’s getting a bit better.
My lawyer has given me an option for a particular Belize bank should I need it, but for right now I don’t. Cool option to have though I suppose.
For some people from some countries however, it may be your only option.
Some are better than others obviously, and when you are doing your research, make sure you know which correspondent banks your bank has access to.
Without this, you may not be able to get money in/out to/from your main bank.
Belize is coming out of a pretty bad reputation worldwide, and even though the situation is getting better, they may not have the suite of correspondent banks you’re looking for.
All said though, Belize used to be a bad option, and now it’s less bad. A lot of medium sized companies actually bank there for example. Just do your homework.
Uruguay
What do you know about the Uruguay banking system?
It’s top tier. Seriously.
Those who know, know. This has been the Singapore of South America in terms of banking.
And if you’re non-US, there is still some real bank secrecy you can obtain here as well.
The Uruguayan Peso has been consistently strong, even though most of these banks will give you multi-currency options.
*Not having multi-currency options is primarily an American phenomenon btw.
You will need an in for Uruguay, and I have one, and you already know who he is. Go here if interested.
Panama
If Uruguay is the Singapore of Latin America, Panama would be more like the US of Latin America.
Not a perfect jurisdiction, but it’s where everybody is, and for good reason.
Panama banks are quite functional, and easy to work with, with many many correspondent banks to work with here.
Easy for Americans too, a lot of American individuals and companies already bank there.
You will also get a USD account because that’s what Panama uses, and as I have mentioned before several times, you get 2.5% on your savings just by being a client. This applies to the majority of banks there, but not all, so again do your research.
Go here if interested (not an affiliate link).
Bonus for crypto holders — I’m pretty sure he has an in for a Panamanian bank which has crypto conversion options. Very useful, and not very common.
As an aside, he has added a Costa Rican bank option as well. I have no idea why anyone would need one of these, but the option is now available.
Singapore
The grandaddy of them all.
If you have a Singapore bank, I envy you.
#1 jurisdiction in the world. You have to be somebody to have a bank here.
Or do you?
I started seeing ads for Wirex, an offshore fintech-y option for a Singapore bank account, and I dismissed it right away.
I was like “there is no chance this is real”.
And then I started to see more serious people promoting it.
I’m not messing with it right now, but let’s just say I’m paying attention.
I know very little about Wirex, but I thought this blog post was the appropriate place to share such things.
How To Have An Offshore Account
I have 4 offshore banks (soon to be 5) because I’m a lunatic, so I am allowed to speak on this.
The point, to me at least, for having an offshore account is optionality over anything else.
Diversification comes second.
Have the minimum required balance in your account at the start (plus a bit more just in case there are interest fees for not having a lot in there), and see if the bank is satisfying your needs.
Make a few small transactions from your main bank. Get to know the online platform and the app (if either apply, they may not).
You may even have a banker or a rep assigned to you. Use them for something, and see what this experience is like.
Once you trust them, you can start adding a bit more for diversification purposes if you want.
But having this tunnel up and running is the main objective here.
We are financial preppers. And we know things can happen suddenly. Bank failures for example, are almost never a slow car crash, they happen in an instant.
If things do happen suddenly, you are not going to have time to open up a lifeboat on the fly and move funds over while everyone and their grandmother is trying to do the same.
Plus, opening up an offshore bank, even remotely, will already take a bit of time as there is always KYC.
You will want to put in the work to have these options open NOW.
So go and fucking do that already.
Not financial advice.
— VP