Mostly topics covers offshore banking for companies. Now, this article was made to cover the aspect of personal offshore banking that can be done online.
A lot of curious individuals would sometimes ask if it’s possible to do personal offshore banking without appearing personally at the bank. For traditional banks, this can be very improbable, but for offshore banks, it’s doable. You will need to meet certain criteria’s prescribed by the bank. There are literally a lot of banks that allows personal bank account opening to be done online. You do not have to appear personally at the branch where the account will be opened.
This is possible if you can
- provide the necessary legal documentations,
- pass the bank scrutiny on due diligence,
- pass the risk appetite of the bank during their onboarding compliance process.
We have observed that a lot of applications for this procedure have been able to seek approval once the proper offshore bank has been chosen.
Other professionals would argue that this process is expensive or too lengthy to undergo or even impossible sometimes. On some levels they may be correct.
But just to shed light on this personal offshore banking, once a client is able to meet the standards set by the proper offshore bank, approval is just step away.We can provide them a low risk onboarding portfolio on you and create a bank account opening strategy that can eventually withstand the scrutiny of the bank both in terms of
- risk management,
- due diligence.
Then by that time everything is practically possible. Contrary to what has been mentioned, remotely opening a personal bank account is becoming more and more trending at some degree. However, let us remind you that this would only be possible if you acquire the service from a specialized bank introductory firm like us.
Things to Keep in Mind
Before diving on this possibility, try to assess your situation first, since the onset of the pandemic, tons of traditional and offshore banks are becoming more lenient in allowing remote opening of personal offshore banking account online because of the current travel restrictions, making it almost impossible for applicants to travel personally and appear before the bank and undergo the normal process of bank account opening. This type of scenario is advantageous to some entrepreneurs and business owners.
Choosing the Right Offshore Jurisdictions
Offshore jurisdictions oftentimes offer a diversified type of services between personal offshore bank account and a typical offshore bank account for companies. But one thing is for sure, choosing the right jurisdiction is key to ensure that you are in the right place.
Here are some reminders before choosing the country:
- Make sure that the offshore jurisdiction is not included in the watch list of non-cooperative offshore countries
- Make certain that the offshore country is abiding by the set of global banking standards set by international regulatory agencies such as the Financial Action Task Force(FATF) and other anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing organizations
- Double check if the political and economic situation of the country is stable. Since an unstable economy and political environment will greatly affect the quality of offshore banking
- Check if the offshore country has an existing bilateral or multilateral Common Reporting Standards (CRS) other treaties that involves an automatic exchange of information in terms of offshore banking
- Try to do a ground up approach in determining the cost associated in opening a personal bank account online without appearance
- Look into it that their online banking is accessible in other countries
Next step: Choosing the right Personal Offshore Banking
After determining the right jurisdiction for you. It’s time to choose the correct bank for your personal account. There are several factors to consider when you are looking for the right offshore bank, this would normally include some characteristics such as a good reputation in the offshore banking scene, a top notch correspondent banking, bank related products/services, and a soundly stable financial standing.
On top of that, you should also check to make sure that the bank can provide the services that you need in order for the offshore bank account to work in a way that you wanted it in the first place. Things like (i) is the process for sending and receiving international wire transfer easy? (ii) do you have a multicurrency bank account opening to offer? (iii) and does your online banking secured and accessible in other countries? Matters like this would help in trying to weight your options straight. Also, try to look for sources online if their customer service is of quality and has to issues, since this is a bit important so that when you encounter any difficulty accessing you bank account, they are always readily available to respond to any of your queries.
The Process
The actual bank account opening online would vary depending on the bank of your choosing. But majority of the time, these are the normal optional stages:
- Fully digitalized onboarding process and application procedure
- Digital submission of requirements for the onboarding process concerning compliance and due diligence
- An assessment will be done that is accompanied by a personal visit by a bank representative or a banker itself that is primarily reserved for private banking clienteles.
- A visit to the bank branch in another country
Again the smoothness and eased of the application process will be dependent solely on your risk profile as a client, value, and the results of the risks assessment made by the bank and strategized by your service provider. After that fact, the bank will then offer you a few banking options, and sometimes, the bank would not necessarily offer some of its privileged banking amenities since they offer them usually to top brass clienteles with low risk profiles. This is why it is very important to consult experts like us to help you in this process.
If you are very much interested in opening a personal bank account in an offshore jurisdiction, then it’s time to talk to us.
