Offshore account

hi am from lebanon, and we are in the beginning of a big banquing crisis. am looking for a way to preserve my money in an offshore account having low fees and allowing me to deal with broker investment in USA, like “IQ options”. with low rates of withdrawal. when searching on internet all are talking about cayman islands and switzerland, are they really the best and is there better options?

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Hello Alec. I’m in Japan, but with similar offshore goals to you, to diversify geographically for security. I am in touch with people at Blom Bank, Beirut, and hear about the sudden poor economy, banking disruptions there. You may wish to explore Labuan and banks there (particularly setting up a minimal corporate structure). All legitimate. Here is one link, but hunt for more: https://www.simplyoffshore.com/labuan-company-formation/ It is a few km from Brunei, with cheap regular quick flights from Kuala Lumpur or Singapore. BRED Bank of France is active in Cambodia.
https://www.bredcambodia.com/ ProCredit Bank of Germany is active in Albania https://www.procreditbank.com.al/ These are all ‘development’ banks investing in regular SME business functions, and so appear more reliable, conservative, well-managed. And please post here any insights you have, news on Lebanon. Take care.

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And Alec, on investment, Sovereign Man newsletters may interest you. https://sm-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/reports/previews/SM_Preview_4th_Pillar_98_2020_01_4p.pdf

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If you have an identity outside your country, you can open a bank account and put money there. If you don’t have a foreign identity you need to start a business offshore and open a bank account and put money there to run the business. Security investment may be one of your businesses. We can do both ways above.
Wilson

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@alecazzi there are some US banks that allow non-US residents to open and invest in stock market, bonds, funds, etc. I’ll leave below some links for your personal research.

To open a account in US it’s most likely that you need to travel US in person, but there are some places you can open online, for example: Charles Schwab, TD Ameritrade, DriveWhealth.

https://international.schwab.com/public/international/us_investing

https://www.reinisfischer.com/how-open-bank-account-us-non-resident-non-citizen-wells-fargo-bank

https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/banking/bluebird-prepaid-debit-card-review/
https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/banking/undocumented-immigrants-bank-accounts/

https://www.investidorinternacional.com/como-abrir-uma-conta-bancaria-no-exterior-parte-5/ (in portuguese, use Google Translator to read it.)
https://drivewealth.com/

I’ve opened a account on Schawb and DriveWealth. Drive Wealth is a quicker process, but they offer limited products compared to Schawb, on the other side on Schawb you will fill a longer form and need to pass by phone interview to answer some compliance questions like the origin of the money that you are moving to US and other regulatory questions.

I hope this helps you.

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So sorry to hear you are having issues there.

US banking is really great for non Americans as there are privacy and also no tax due if you are not present in America.

There are ways to do it without physically going to USA to apply, but of course there are fees for those banker agents.

Wish you all the best in this crisis.
Mike

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As mentoned /Schwab are good choices

USA if you do not mind reporting to your home country. it all depends if your country of residence has a double taxation treaty DTA with the USA,
Review your relevant DTA as most have recipricol agreements to share infomation which links with FACTA,.
if the DTA specifically states “not including the territories” then you could consider territory islands as these probably wont be reported.

Guam, Puerto Rico etc
or consider.broker accounts like interactive brokers who I think Schwab bought out
maybe some on here, dont just stick with the USA

stay away from forex brokers

thank you duncan i will explore the different options you sent me and keep you up to date, by the way is there any of them i can have an account online without having to be there in person?

Thank you Wilson for your answer, do you have a specific place for opening an offshore business online with that can facilitate the process with low fees as for withdrawals and taxes?

Mike MICHELINI, Thank you for your valuable reply, do you have specific names for these banks who allow us to open account without being there in US?

It is possible to open a Bank Account in CAMBODIA remotely without travelling

I did it a few months back, no ATM card unless you travel there but still ok for international banking.
I top up my Singapore pre paid card no problem
fixed term deposit 4 to 5% USD
basic account 0.5%
for Individual and business

sorry as per PM I forgot the link Offshore CAMBODIA Bank without travelling there. some guidance on what they have available. huge Bank good feed back from local expats before I applied.
pm me if you need further information or help.

Details for opening from overseas scroll down the page of this link see overseas after notarising MT999 method is best, if you are not close to Cambodia Embassy in your country

if you click on the ”Deposits" on left of the page you get the full list of accounts availabe.

you will need a current or savings account first before opening a Fixed Term Deposit Account and ask them for the form for authorisation by email.

Use the Enquiry Application Form
https://www.acledabank.com.kh/kh/eng/appform_deposit

happy travels
if any one applies be intetested how you get on

In-country you can get up to 8.5% on USD deposits in some of the financial organizations.
Well worth the flight.

YES on some of the micro finance banks I, did notice when trying to find one for remote banking,had to pick myself up after reading the rates.

all banks are risk but suppose if. you spread it around to a few and tie your selff in for.a.while then why not. I prefer 1 year rolling so can pull out with minimal penalty think it drops to interest paid and reverts to base rate. Also thinking Acleda less likely to fail compared to microfinance banks.

I read forieign investors mandatory 14% tax on interest, but that is neglible on 5% or even 8% when banks elsewhere are negative interest rates or charging you for looking after your money every month. western world paying for QE and borrowing from the future! massive ponzi

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Some MFIs are extremely successful and maintain larger business operations than most banks, and so are just as unlikely to fail. Note that Acleda itself started out as an MFI.

The largest MFI at the moment has around $1.5B in deposits, which makes it the 4th biggest deposit holder in Cambodia among both banks and MFIs. The first 3 are Canadia, ABA, and Acleda, in that order.

Residents only pay 6% withholding tax, and it is quite easy and inexpensive to get the required paperwork to register as a resident with almost all banks/MFIs.

Acleda’s rate is only 4.5% for 12 months, not 5%…

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only 4.5% splitting hairs … my other Bank is 0.03% plus they charge me for breathing in their direction. :smiley:

Which is the microfinance that you refer to

I m using the trading broker platform recently.

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