Finding the world’s best offshore banks is an important matter in determining your own goals. Sadly, some of the world’s best banks are off-limits to Americans and Westerners.
Last updated January 30, 2017
Dateline: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
P.T. Barnum is widely noted for proclaiming that there is a sucker born every minute.
By my count, there are more than 1 billion suckers in the western world right now, all of whom store the majority, if not all, of their wealth in an insolvent banking system.
Forgive me if that sounds harsh, but the reality is that many Western banks could go bust at any minute.
Now before we get carried away, let me clarify that I am all for diversification. I’ve even said that US banks are worthy of strong consideration for business banking. That said, the key word is “diversification”, of the carefully crafted and cautious kind.
Sadly, most Westerners believe their government will solve ANY problem that comes up. Twelve or thirteen years of government schooling have conditioned the average American or westerner to believe that the people in your home country’s capital will find a way out of even the most potent financial meltdown.
While I’m not suggesting that you should move your entire life savings to the safety of an offshore bank, I am saying that the risk that the US, Canadian, or European banking systems could see serious hiccups and lose depositor savings is a real possibility, particularly in the wake off bail-ins and other denial of service incidents in places like Cyprus and Greece.
The idea behind offshore banking is jurisdictional diversification to ensure return OF capital in addition to better return ON your deposited capital.
What is an offshore bank?
The reality is that any foreign bank in a jurisdiction other than your own can be considered an “offshore bank”. Plenty of multinational banks like HSBC operate in a number of countries, and having a bank account with one of these banks is just as “offshore” as working with a bank that only operates in, say, Panama.
That doesn’t mean that HSBC is the best offshore bank – in fact, HSBC is among the worst banks on earth – but merely that a US person banking with HSBC Hong Kong has an offshore account.
Offshore banks have long had a reputation for being in shady, lawless “third world countries” on half-deserted islands. While it’s true that small countries with few natural resources often turn to the offshore financial sector as a way to generate revenue, there are now dozens of countries with reputable offshore centers.
Where are the best offshore banks?
Recently, my team and I went through a list of hundreds of banks in about 40 countries around the world in search of the best offshore banks with which anyone can open an account.
Our criteria were simple: not only did the banks need to be stable, but the jurisdictions they operated in needed to be so as well.
That means countries that respect capital and even go out of their way to attract it. Countries like Singapore that realize that their lack of oil and other resources, such as endless land, leave them in need of a way to bring in revenue.
Increasingly, some of the best banks in the world are located in the Middle East. Middle Eastern banks are frequently capitalized far better than Western banks that are stuffed with worthless paper. Middle Eastern banks can also be easier to deal with once you have a business relationship with them, especially if you’re on the up-and-up.
Banque Audi in Lebanon, for instance, has gained a reputation among many experts as a top place to park your cash. Banks in Qatar, namely Qatar National Bank, are off limits to Americans and some other foreigners, but do have an excellent reputation.
And of course, Dubai has plenty of banks in the same way Hong Kong or Singapore do; some good, some bad.
While Germany is statistically the safest place to bank in terms of the number of well-capitalized institutions, there are plenty of low-tax countries such as those in the Middle East, Asia, the Caribbean, and even Africa that beat out European banks.
This is even more true considering that many Western European banks expanded heavily into Eastern European economies that have produced horrible results like Croatia, Greece and Albania.
What are the best offshore banks for 2018?
The problem with determining a list of the best offshore banks is that such a list doesn’t matter if you can’t bank there.
As I mentioned above, Middle Eastern countries like Qatar see little need to open accounts for Americans or other Westerners who want to plunk a few bucks in a savings account and never return. There’s very little upside for them when you consider the high compliance costs and the far greater profits to be made catering to wealthy oil sheiks.
The same is true in Asia, where one banker in Hong Kong told me that their average mainland Chinese customer was worth 35X their average US expat customer.
If you were running the bank, would you spend time doing paperwork to deal with dreamy-eyed Americans putting $5,000 into a savings account? Of course not.
That’s why the best offshore banks that are actually accessible to you are either in places like Singapore that cater to foreign wealth and have maintained an open door policy, OR places that actively encourage Americans… again, because they have an open door policy.
I’ve talked at length about the idea of finding “the next Singapore”, and that as well-developed countries attract so much capital they can’t use it all, your focus should be on the places that need your cash as much as Singapore did twenty years ago.
Those are the places where you will be welcomed. That’s because finding the best offshore banks is all about finding the best culture. Spain’s government is such a disaster that they chase away foreign capital like dogs chase cars, while countries like Georgia realize they need capital.
Along the same lines, banks from countries on the brink of collapse tend to be less open than some of the “new safe havens” I frequently speak of. For example, Japanese banks are all but impossible to work with, even in Singapore. The staff always seems one step away from chasing you out of the bank branch with a broom.
Along the same lines, I wouldn’t recommend you bank in Europe if you’re European. There’s too much risk. Governments in the same hemisphere tend to get along too well, too much of the time.
In order to get specific though, understand that the best offshore banks for you depend on several factors:
- Are you willing to travel there? The most reputable banks want to see the whites of your eyes. This is often due to enhanced regulations in their country of origin, but most banks in Singapore, Europe, and elsewhere want to see you. Even some of the easiest banks with which you can open an account — for example, those in Eastern Europe — need to see you in person at least once. If you can’t visit, your options will be more limited. However, my team and I found several dozen banks that will allow you to open an account remotely, without leaving home. I recommend these very rarely in 2017, but there are a few exceptions particularly with a power of attorney and a local lawyer.
- What is your citizenship? US citizens are at a severe disadvantage due to FATCA. Even non-US citizens living or spending time in the Land of the Free have seen their foreign accounts shut down as punishment. However, my team and I found 34 banks that earned our seal of approval and still open accounts for Americans. Some require travel, others don’t.
- How much money do you have? It’s true that you can open an offshore bank account with as little as $500… sometimes even a little less, depending on currency fluctuations. However, as with anything in life, you can’t be too greedy. Don’t expect white glove service for plunking a few hundies in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. In fact, HSBC Private Bank in places like Vanuatu requires $5 million. The aforementioned Banque Audi in Lebanon wants $10 million or more for private banking. Other private banks will settle for as little as $1 million, but you get what you pay for. HSBC Premier accounts require only $100,000 in many countries, but service isn’t that good.
There are other factors, but those are three of the biggest ones. It is indeed easier to open an account with a multi-national bank, but some of them flat out suck (like Citi) while others can be difficult to deal with if you’re a Westerner (HSBC in Hong Kong and Singapore).
That doesn’t mean those banks aren’t stable, but it does mean you’ll have to change the way you approach customer service.
What does an easy offshore bank account look like?
If you’re a US person, banks in Belize used to be really easy to deal with. Then the US government went down to Belize and started snooping around. Many of the banks in Belize ran into problems, and people had trouble getting money out. Sure, some banks will open an account for as little as $500, but fees are high and you’ll eventually run into problems.
Ditto for many of the islands – even the Cook Islands – that have offered easy remote account opening. It was too good to be true in an era of the Panama Papers and countless new regulations.
It seems every time I turn around, I’m hearing some horror story about a guy who opened a bank account in Seychelles and can’t get his money out now. These offshore “starter banks” used to be good, but not any more.
These days, the easy offshore bank account is one that is not only easy to open and accepts depositors from your country, but one that will be easy for the long term.
Even I had problems dealing with HSBC in Hong Kong and eventually decided to leave Europe and fly there to close my account after several months of unbelievable stupidity dealing with their various offices by phone and email. It was a total mess.
In the good old days of 2014 and 2015, every guy and his dog were helping people open accounts at HSBC. It was a total joke; almost no offshore service provider in Asia even bothered sending people anywhere else. Now, nobody likes HSBC… not even their own employees in many cases.
What seemed oh-so-easy turned into a total nightmare for many people who suddenly couldn’t access their funds or, in cases like mine, got sick of the horrible service.
I can’t say I’m surprised. While Hong Kong banks were never big on opening accounts for foreigners, capital inflows into Hong Kong are so high now that banks can afford to be extremely picky. The result: anyone who isn’t a multimillionaire isn’t needed, which means everyone else will be treated poorly.
In countries like Georgia or Montenegro or Panama, however, anyone with a couple bucks will be welcomed with open arms. In the Latin world, those open arms will come with a wheelbarrow full of paperwork, but at least you can open an account.
Opening a foreign bank account is still a great legal and practical way to diversify your wealth and even hold foreign currencies. However, it’s not as easy as it used to be, and you do need to plan ahead. Knowing which banks work and which don’t based on your profile is a must if you don’t want to chase your tail.
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Andrew Henderson
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Let it be known that HSBC in HK is past worthless. I am taking my time today to go from Shenzhen across the border to deal with a wire transfer that they couldn’t competently complete. I took printed wire transfer instructions from my broker. Now I have lost the use of my money for a full week, incurred a fee of about $90 US and have to go back and deal with them. I almost think it is feigned incompetence so they can do what banks do, steal your money with impunity. Note you also have to pay a fee to deposit more than $1500 US per day. Who charges you to put money IN the bank?!
What is the name of the bank?
You couldn’t be more right about HSBC Hong Kong, they are the worst bank in the entire country.
Hong Kong banks now are most difficult to open bank accounts for foreigners and HSBC just closing banks accounts for thousands of commercial and private accounts without any explanations.Happened with me after 8 years to be a loyal customer with them.
They Just shut my HSBC account down. Hang Seng has a wait of 2 months just for an appointment
. Any recommendations?
I’m an American with bank accounts at Bank of East Asia, Hang Seng, and Bank of China (Hong Kong). None of them have given me any trouble and just asked me to sign the relevant documents so they can report me to the IRS.
Andrew, if we’re a dual citizen; American and other, if we’re opening an account say in HK, do we need to disclose that we are also an American citizen? Or better to just use your other passport? Wouldn’t they see you were born in the USA in your passport, thus pointing you out as an American?
Hello, I just left Singapore where I try to open a bank account. I visit about 8 banks. I’m French. It’s easy to open a bank account in HSBC and Citi bank, but you need to deposit 200k usd. If you are ok with the deposit you can have the bank account. For the smallest bank which ask only 1k or 5k deposit, it’s more difficult, you have to speak with a manager and convince him you have a good reason to have your bank account there. For me it didn’t work.
Did you ever get the chance to find and open an account? I’m in the same position.
unfortunately no…
can you provide more details please? im in the same boat… did you need a sgp address? what reasons did you give etc? what banks or branch locations can you recommend?
I think there are 2 kinds of account, accounts for people who live/work in sg, and accounts for people who don’t. For the first one it’s easy to open the bank account (a few banks ask me if I have a work permit in sg, in order to know if I was in the first group or the second group). If you don’t have a work permit in sg, then you are in the second group, foreigners, so in HSBC and citi bank you have to deposit 200k $, in smallest bank you have to convince the manager to open you the account.
Only one bank was honest and told me “I don’t find any good reason you have to open a bank account in sg”. Other banks lie and don’t give the right reason. Of course I don’t know chich reason could be good enough to have the bank account.
I don’t know if an address in sg help you, I don’t think so, because if you say you live in sg but you don’t have any work permit, it’s weird.
They also look my passeport to look which address was written (for me : french passeport with vietnamese address, he didn’t like this).
I cannot recommand any banks because all the banks refused me.
If you want to try to go there and try to open a bank account you can contact me, maybe we can rent a flat there (to have an address), and make each bank talk, to know what are their requirements to open foreigner’s accounts (address, visa…), what they want to heard, and then do the requierements and come back to finaly have the bank account.
Sylvian, you didn’t even understand his question before you went rambling about Brazil.
Why dont you help people from countries like Brazil? The freedom here is half way between north korea and the USA. We need more help than the peoplr from the rich countries that you are helping.
Getting a visa in Brazil is a bit difficult and living in Brazil is a bit dangerous depending on where you live. The infrastructure of Brazil is borderline good and borderline non-existent in most of Brazil. Currently there was a coup. And now the citizens are attempting to get rid of the new government. How many people died during the recent Olympics? Now forget that number and ask yourself how many people died after the Olympics from disease they got from drinking or swimming or running through a puddle of water? Those kind of deaths go unreported like a soldier who dies the day after returning home from the war. Brazil’s economy unfortunately seems that it is back to where it was before the Real was invented. Confidence is lost. This is worse than simply losing an oil rig. Brazil might not recover. There’s strong implications that the N.American government U.S.A. or also referred to as Washington D.C. is in control of Brazil’s government and future and wants a collapse in Brazil to help maintain control and so it’s highly likely that’s what is going to happen. Rich investors don’t want to invest in a sinking ship. Plain and simple. And they definitely don’t want to live on board that sinking ship! Personally I love Brazil, and am constantly watching what happens there because I’m waiting for the day that it becomes a great place to live and a safe investment. That would be my dream come true. I’m still a heavy eater of Brazil meat. In South Korea they’re importing Brazil chickens to make up for the horrific collapse in Korea’s chicken production (chicken was as of recent one of Korea’s restaurant industry’s largest assets now a horrific liability). Brazil has tons of gold, tons of oil, tons of land, tons of laborers, and so much potential. But maybe it’s too big for its government? The infrastructure is nearly good! But it’s like a rusted bridge that still performs just fine and shows no hints as collapsing or having any problems. But we gotta wonder why the rust, and how all that rust and the holes and the missing bolts and no paint is going to affect the bridge… is it really going to continue holding up and performing well as always? Also it’s very creaky and swings a little as you’re driving across it. It seems sound enough. But we’re all wondering and there’s no way to predict what will happen. We know there’s simply not enough money to pay somebody to clean up that rust, fill in those holes, and paint that bridge. It’s like the recent Olympics tragedies in Rio… it was almost good, almost good. And yet it wasn’t bad… it wasn’t bad… but is wasn’t entirely good either. That’s the definition of an infrastructure that is skirting the line of either disaster or greatness… and tomorrow’s actions will determine which way it goes. Get a good education, get a good job, save/invest, grow your assets and family… stay healthy and strong, spread that education around the family tree, make everybody strong, work together… that’s the best that you can do in a country like Brazil if you refuse to move somewhere better. In Brazil you have that ability to rise up, because it’s not entirely a flavella. There is opportunity. And family values are strong. Work together as a family. Rise above the middle class level.
Hi Karl. If you need more information you can apply and work with us: http://www.holanomad.com
Hi – I have an offshore account with HSBC in Singapore purely because I move countries a lot due to work and have no solid home base – but there service sucks and that really don’t care, can any one recommend a decent offshore bank – I just need somewhere to place cans along with credit card facilities, internet banking I am a UK/NZ citizen
Mike
Hi Mike, here is your first step: http://nomadcapitalist.com/shop/nomad-strategy-call/
I have been banking with Citibank Singapore for about three years. I have always received very good service. One problem is that while opening the account Citi’s minimum deposit went from $10,000 to $20,000. The minimum is now $100,000 or you pay a $50 per month fee. I’m still banking there and paying the fee as it allows me to diversify into HK and SD funds.
Andrew is correct regarding HK but this also applies now to Dubai.
Cambodia is the spot 😉
I can assist in the Kingdom of Cambodia and also in Shanghai relating to opening Bank accounts and Visa assistance.
Hello everyone. I have an offshore Cie for over 23 years now registered in the BVI. I am a US Citizen living in the US. The reason I have an offshore Cie is just because of the nature of my business which provides Crews to airlines. We have to pay our pilots offshore “Tax Free” as per the Contract signed with our Client. My business is fully transparent and reported to the IRS each year as per US Regulation. My Cie had its account in Cyprus until 2012 and thanks God I closed the account a few months before Cyprus had its Financial crisis and then froze all assets from everyone ‘s bank accounts and stole their money. Would I have had the account open in Cyprus when the Government froze all accounts, I would have lost my business . The account was then opened with HSBC/ HK. I thought at that time that HSBC was one of the best bank. It was until FATCA was implemented and I had to fill the forms. Then HSBC started to delay wire transfers targeting sometime the same beneficiary over and over each month, asking each month the same information and documents. At HSBC you cannot contact the compliance Dept and send them the proof that your beneficiary is not an International terrorist or drug dealer..you can only contact their Customer service who then relay the message. Then someone eventually call you back sometime a week later and yes they always “apologize for the inconvenience caused” but meanwhile the wire is still blocked, the beneficiary is screaming because he needs to pay his bills and still hasn’t received his money ! It takes normally 10 to 15 calls and around 20 messages of treats to have the funds finally unlocked after HSBC/IN NY (because HK always accuses their correspondant bank in NY). Then they call you back to make sure that you are aware that the funds have been credited…(bend over here’s some oil…)
Where can I go with my BVI Cie (All papers are in full compliance) to open a BUSINESS ACCOUNT with a Bank that is efficient, a Bank with whom you can contact a Manager directly who handles your account in a professional manner, a bank that will not block wires for no reasons…..Note that over a year ago, I visited HSBC in person at their main branch and spent nearly 3 hours in line and 2 hours with a bank Officer , provided the Bank with copes of Contract, compliance documents , and all the documents for all beneficiaries….the very next month, wires were blocked again……
Hello James, you’ve really been through a lot. Unfortunately, these mishaps are more often with each passing day, which is why it’s so difficult to find a bank that takes their clients’ needs seriously, but it’s still possible. Here’s the first step:http://nomadcapitalist.com/shop/nomad-strategy-call
Setting up a off shore trust, LLC and a off shore bank account for real estate investment in South America. I was recommended cook island for the trust, Nevis for the LLC and switzerland for banking. You mentioned the banking in Switzerland is not recommend. Would Panama be better.
Hello Alexander, here’s a video that might help you with your decision, it provides additional information about offshore banking that will come in handy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9e_u5erBpc&t=45s&ab_channel=NomadCapitalist
Misleading title said38 banks Even for americans butnot listed in artcle
Planning to retire overseas, probably Belize, & looking for info. I’ll need local banking & investment accounts & have no idea what options & fees are available. any info you have will help.
What would be relevant advice for a South African citizen?
What about Antigua-Barbuda, and their citizenship and passport program? What is the best bank to work with there? Are you limited to working with the East Carribean dollar? Is there a problem when it comes to removing money, or closing accounts after a period of time?