Offshore Banks

Offshore banks

Offshore banks are banks and financial institutions that are located in countries beyond the residence of the bank account holder. Beside the physical aspect to the separation, there is also a separation of legal jurisdiction. Offshore banks place themselves beyond the reach of most jurisdictions in order to achieve the objective of offering banking clients another way to perform private banking transactions.

Many high net worth individuals place high value on the services offered by offshore banks. Among the reasons for banking with offshore banks, the primary attraction lies in the low tax regimes offered by offshore banks as compared to the country of their domicile. While banking secrecy had been touted as a major drawing point of such offshore banks and their offshore bank accounts, the financial world post-Lehman Brother debacle is moving towards more transparency and accountability.