Offshore Banking: Cayman Islands, Saint Vincent and Grenadines, Bahamas, Gibraltar and Netherlands Antilles.
Banking is one of the most important sectors of the world economy as it influences investment and other business activities. Furthermore, banking has a strong impact on the circulation of money. Offshore banking, provides a unique opportunity to individuals, business people and companies to access the international market for their capital raising endeavours through offshore banking. Furthermore, offshore banking encompasses stronger privacy and security features. That is to say, the activities that you launch through your offshore private banking are more confidential and secure. Moreover, you will be able to offer the same privacy to your customers together with other related benefits.
The procedures you need to follow in order to open an offshore bank account are not complex. In other words, every individual may open an offshore bank account within few hours. Note that each offshore banking jurisdiction has its own requirements. Among the most popular offshore banking centres are Cayman Islands, Saint Vincent and Grenadines, Bahamas, Gibraltar and Netherlands Antilles.
Some considerable benefits of offshore banking are:
• Minimised political risk. In many cases, the biggest threat is not the market risk but the
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In particular, confidentiality regarding the incorporation and the launch of business of an International Banking License has been ensured by the Confidential Relationships Preservation (International Finance) Act 1996 and by the International Banks Act 1996. Among the major advantages of Saint Vincent and Grenadines is the absence of exchange control restrictions to offshore transactions and stamp duties. Furthermore, there are no corporate taxes, no income tax, no withholding tax, no capital gain tax and no estate/inheritance/succession
By focusing on only one risk, for example peer risk, it leaves the company up for even more risk in its assets and pension obligations. Figure 1 illustrates that these risks do indeed rely on one another. When investors try to only minimize one of the risks (small circles) stockholders leave themselves open / exposed to the other two scopes of risk: Beta and Matching (ALM).
With the floodgates open, it would be impractical and unsafe to deal with millions of dollars in cash. Under these circumstances, the implementation of a new and separate banking system is necessary, as the existing global financial institution will not be willing to go against international money laundering laws.
After World War II, many nations were left with weak economy and financial instability. Offshore banking became a method to escape national regulation as many national regulators turned a blind eye on deposits in currencies other than their own. The offshore market became popular due to its ability to facilitate new finance innovations and keeping transaction costs low. Eurodollar market for example is a product of this trend. As offshore banking became competitive, the U.S. had to remove limits on national banking and the division between commercial and investment banking. Canada also benefitted from this new trend as it appeared to be very promising for international expansion. However, differing from the United States, Canadian Banking Act was in place to protect domestic banks from new foreign entrants and also effectively manage risk. With the increase of international investment, not only does funding needs were satisfied but new business information systems were also developed due to the increased need for more centralization and a variety of services. New regulations such as The International Banking Act of 1978 was formed to level the playing field between foreign and American banks by requiring mutuality from any country whose banks are seeking permission to enter the United States. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act also removed barrier for commercial banks, investment banks,
In addition, the Political risk confronted by organizations can be demarcated as “the jeopardy of a financial, strategic or employees’ loss for the organization for the reason of such nonmarket aspects including the social and macroeconomic policies, or occasions connected to political variability (riots, terrorism, coups, insurrection and civil war). Furthermore, administrations may face difficulties in their aptitude to implement military, diplomatic or other ingenuities as a consequence of political jeopardy (Goddard, 1990)
Ladd, R. S. (2011, Summer). Swiss miss: the future of banking secrecy laws in light of recent changes in the Swiss system and international attitudes. Transnational Law & Contemporary Problems, 20(2), 539+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.db19.linccweb.org/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA264482429&v=2.1&u=lincclin_pbcc&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=8079c8c57bf69f6fc300b491ae1cf020
In this report I will go on to discuss the topic of money laundering in the following order; firstly, I will begin by explaining what is money laundering?, why it is done?, and how it is done? I will then go on to explain the effects of money laundering and the institutions/organisations that are at risk from these activities. I will also be discussing the current situation in the UK regarding money laundering and whether anything can be done to prevent or restrict laundering activities, and will then go on to conclude my findings.
The banking system in Panama makes use of the advanced modern technologies. In Panama City, there are approximately 100 internationally renowned banks. The presence of strict regulations regarding the banking sector by the government has seen the banking sector grow tremendously (Arboleda & Martín 152). For instance, the Panamanian government has come up with strict banking rules and guidelines, to scrutinize all the banking practices so that the banks can give good banking services to all people. To ensure this occurs, the government has ordered the submission of monthly auditing reports from all the banks to the National bank of Panama and to the Panama’s National Banking Commission. All the depositors in any bank need sureties of their securities,
Offshore banking is the action of having a bank account outside of the country of residence. Since its start, offshore banking has become a considerably lucrative business. Many of those who take part in offshore banking are looking for a secure location to place their income or seize the opportunity of having lower taxes. However, there are those who misuse the privilege of a foreign bank and use the business ventures for illegal actions rather than the original purpose of the dealings. Offshore banks seem to have an impartial acceptance of quite a few clients within the bank that create a lower standard of ethics in contrast to the ethics meant to be held—this includes those of a political position. Furthermore, this has the potential to be detrimental to the economy.
In the 21st century the global economy has suffered a major economic crisis greatly affected by the misuse of offshore banks. How does offshore accounts and all of its components work? Offshore accounts many times bring subjects such as tax haven, laundering of money and off record assets. Individuals that have offshore accounts control accounts through a credit card that has a unique and individual number and secret code. This system helps all of these banks provide financial secrecy which is that only you and your banker would legally be allowed to know the financial activity within your account. The financial secrecy, completely different from financial privacy, includes many regulations to maintain this asset of secrecy for example many banks use codes that are implemented during communication that in absence of this code it means that a governmental agency is in an investigation process of this account.
The topic offers a brief discussion on investment banking and its relationship with the research division. Investment banking acts as an intermediary between investors and corporate issuance firms during initial public offerings (IPO’s). It also performs various functions such as aiding firms in mergers and acquisitions. In addition, investment banking relies heavily on information regarding market intelligence. This necessitates the importance of a research department that performs the duty of carrying out research on the market conditions. However, there is a conflict of interest since investment banking relies on this research to capitalize their gains. As a result, the Global Research Analyst Settlement found it necessary to formalize separation of these two departments in order to prevent exchange of information (Morrison and Foerster 2).
Money laundering is the routing of illegal profits from bank to bank to disguise its existence. The illegal profits are usually made through activities such as drug trafficking, prostitution rings, illegal arms sales, and various other things. Unfortunately money laundering is a serious crime that is still prevalent in the United States and other countries. The Russian mafia, the Triad or Chinese mafia, and the Columbian drug cartel are just a few of the groups that partake in money laundering. No one knows exactly how much money is laundered yearly but it is estimated to be about $100 billion in the United States. The United States is not the only country affected by these numbers. The estimated amount of laundering is 2% - 5% of the world’s GDP, between $600 billion and $1.5 trillion dollars annually. Although there are hundreds of ways in which to launder money, some are more lucrative than others. For example, the Black Market Peso exchange, gold, and digital cash are some of the more common ways to launder money. Making it harder to crack down on money laundering is the fact that many countries do not have money-laundering laws in place like the United States does. These other countries make it possible for this illegal activity to carry on, and are only hurting themselves because money laundering creates a direct negative effect on their economy. If these nations want to fight money laundering they will need to implement laws against it. Banks could be one of the most useful tools in stopping the laundering of money.
”Political risk” as defined by Ian Bremmer refers to “The probability that a political action (or non-action) alters the expected value of a given economic action or the expected outcome of a government policy” . In layman’s terms, one can construe it as how politics influences markets. So why does it matter? Politics has always influenced markets, and vice-versa. However, according to Ian Bremmer, while “[one] can argue about the speed, or the magnitude of the trends that are happening…The fact of the matter is that politics will increasingly matter more to the markets over time”. The four trends he argues are; the increasing amount of energy coming from u...
The practice of outsourcing jobs is not a new concept. People have been outsourcing jobs for decades. Some people even offshore outsource jobs. There are many opinions to offshore outsourcing based on how it influences the economy. Some people are in favor of outsourcing jobs and some people are against outsourcing jobs. People need to get educated about the great impacts that offshore outsourcing does to an economy. The global economy has started to thrive and offshore outsourcing has profited the consumers as companies want to cut costs and competition, which is why I support offshore outsourcing jobs to foreign countries.
The first online banking system was created in 1980 in New York, and was adopted by four main banks; Citibank, Chemical, Manufacturers Hanover and Chase Manhattan. The sector needed an innovation in banking systems because of growing consumer demand for service improvements as well as fear of losing market share. In the beginning, online banking was treated at private customers and small companies, to help customers have easier access to their bank accounts, however, now it achieves a global reach through the population. (Cronin 1997) In today’s world, electronic business (E-business) is very important especially for the banking system, plays a fundamental role in online banking (Nasri 2011). A true definition of online banking is difficult, because this system is connecting with different services which are constantly evolving. Access to online banking is possible through the internet, phone or even television. (Daniel, 1999; Mols, 1998). This ‘open system’ is available to the customers twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. This is a multi-level organized system, which helps people pay bills, check credit cards or even arrange mortgages without leave their houses. (Singer 2012)
It is a known fact that the banking industry plays a huge role in today’s society, the industry has grown rapidly of many decades and still growing. The banking sector is that sector of the society that is actually responsible for the handling of financial assets for other sector of the economy, they do this by investing the financial assets in order to create more wealth in the society while regulating all the activities involved in the process. (What is the banking Sector 2015)