Best banks for the usd 100,000 trust or foundation

[jafo]

Right. And if you are a "professional" and things don't go as expected just use 'it is your fault' strategy. The bright example can be observed in a few posts above - there are no solutions 'because you are a newby to offshore'.

I know how frustrating this can be! I sometimes go back and reread my diary notes from the early 1980s about the Asset Protection courses and seminars I was taking. It was H3LL! I couldn't make heads or tails of what was being said/taught. Hiring professionals at those seminars proved even more disastrous as they would overcomplicate things, and money was down the drain. Many of my other impatient newbie seminar buddies lost so much money by engaging others "we" thought knew what they were doing. Still, to be honest with ourselves, we had NO knowledge of how to gauge the understanding of the "experts." We wanted things to be easy, and instantaneous was NOT fast enough for us then. We lacked industry knowledge.

The ONLY thing that saved me was I was an engineering student learning Fortran & Pascal at that time, and my college professors used to say:
"Garbage in = Garbage out."

I knew that our input, what we told the "experts/service providers," was utterly wrong, but I had no idea what the correct input had to be, nor did I know how to correct our input.

Example: Even bright and accomplished people in "law" could NOT give me clear directions (input) on what they wanted in order to develop a legal computerized system for them then. It was people who were lawyers who also had programming talent/knowledge and the expertise who could program & establish such systems.

It takes time and a LOT of research to be able to recognize that needle in the haystack.

Be patient. It will all start to make sense. For example, when learning a new language, such as Mandarin, it would be unreasonable to expect to be fluent in Mandarin in the first year. It would even be more irrational to expect a Mandarin-speaking chef to understand our dish expectations...we instruct him "in common English."

PS. I've been here for a while. I was here with another account until some Gypsy ran off with my phone at Mr. Pizza in Firenze in 2019. I was 99% unfamiliar with these concepts when I started on OCT. Now, after a few years, I am down to 95%. That means I am unfamiliar with 95% of the new things as I read them here. So is the nature of a fast-moving world where lobbyists, politicians, and public servants keep moving the goalpost in order to rob us more easily.

 

[Borg]

So far there is no suggestions for the proper bank account for the Nevis Foundation to which it is possible to send more than 10k without fear of losing it.

Any useful suggestions from the professionals?

 

[Sols]

To be real with you, probably nowhere.

Unless the people who set up the foundation for you can make some recommendations based on their network of banks that they work with. That's how foundations normally work. You go to a reputable service provider, explain your situation and wishes. They work out a plan and take banking options into account. They speak with their banking partners to get pre-approvals. Then the foundation is formed. The council of the foundation consists of majority (or exclusively) people that the bank already knows. Account number is issued and you wire funds in. Then you don't see the money again until the council says so.

Maybe some EMIs like Verifo, Zen, GuruPay, and Nexpay would take it, but there's a high probability that you'd be limited to EUR and SEPA only as they couldn't expose their correspondents.

Foundations are compliance headaches. They take a lot of time and effort for a bank to onboard and monitor. You've indicated 100,000 USD an approximate value of the foundation. How does a bank make money on that?

Second, you want to deposit USD, which is a very precious currency and USD relationships can be fragile. Uncle Sam won't think twice about yoinking USD correspondent accounts if a bank does something naughty. I'm not saying you're an international drug dealing, gun smuggling terrorist. But it only takes one bad client for a US based correspondent to kick the bank out.

Now, as for the jurisdictions you've specifically mentioned...

100,000 USD is not enough to attract banks in Switzerland and Liechtenstein even for a natural person. They want 10–100x that. Then add the complication of a foundation. A foundation set up, where? Nevis?

100,000 USD can get you a personal VIP/premier banking relationship account in Hong Kong and Singapore. But again, the problem is you're not just opening a personal account. Your application comes with all the complications of an offshore foundation. It's going to cost the bank dozens of hours to onboard and monitor/maintain. Relative to the revenue potential, you'll likely be rejected.

While banks in Mauritius have more modest requirements and are used to trusts and foundations, they prefer them to be local ones or at most Seychelles or BVI/Caymans. Nevis? What's that?

You might have some luck with banks like BONI (Nevis), Hermes Bank (St Lucia), Caye Bank (Belize), Turks and Caicos Banking Company, British Caribbean Bank (TCI), Cayman National, Belize Bank International, Proven (Caymans/St Lucia), Butterfield (Caymans/Bahamas/Bermuda), Bank of Asia (BVI), and MCB (Curacao).

But times have changed in the Caribbean. I wouldn't hold my breath.

You might have more luck shutting the Nevis foundation down and setting up another structure with a better service provider, who can help you make banking arrangements.

 

[Borg]

To be real with you, probably nowhere.

Unless the people who set up the foundation for you can make some recommendations based on their network of banks that they work with. That's how foundations normally work. You go to a reputable service provider, explain your situation and wishes. They work out a plan and take banking options into account. They speak with their banking partners to get pre-approvals. Then the foundation is formed. The council of the foundation consists of majority (or exclusively) people that the bank already knows. Account number is issued and you wire funds in. Then you don't see the money again until the council says so.

Maybe some EMIs like Verifo, Zen, GuruPay, and Nexpay would take it, but there's a high probability that you'd be limited to EUR and SEPA only as they couldn't expose their correspondents.

Foundations are compliance headaches. They take a lot of time and effort for a bank to onboard and monitor. You've indicated 100,000 USD an approximate value of the foundation. How does a bank make money on that?

Second, you want to deposit USD, which is a very precious currency and USD relationships can be fragile. Uncle Sam won't think twice about yoinking USD correspondent accounts if a bank does something naughty. I'm not saying you're an international drug dealing, gun smuggling terrorist. But it only takes one bad client for a US based correspondent to kick the bank out.

Now, as for the jurisdictions you've specifically mentioned...

100,000 USD is not enough to attract banks in Switzerland and Liechtenstein even for a natural person. They want 10–100x that. Then add the complication of a foundation. A foundation set up, where? Nevis?

100,000 USD can get you a personal VIP/premier banking relationship account in Hong Kong and Singapore. But again, the problem is you're not just opening a personal account. Your application comes with all the complications of an offshore foundation. It's going to cost the bank dozens of hours to onboard and monitor/maintain. Relative to the revenue potential, you'll likely be rejected.

While banks in Mauritius have more modest requirements and are used to trusts and foundations, they prefer them to be local ones or at most Seychelles or BVI/Caymans. Nevis? What's that?

You might have some luck with banks like BONI (Nevis), Hermes Bank (St Lucia), Caye Bank (Belize), Turks and Caicos Banking Company, British Caribbean Bank (TCI), Cayman National, Belize Bank International, Proven (Caymans/St Lucia), Butterfield (Caymans/Bahamas/Bermuda), Bank of Asia (BVI), and MCB (Curacao).

But times have changed in the Caribbean. I wouldn't hold my breath.

You might have more luck shutting the Nevis foundation down and setting up another structure with a better service provider, who can help you make banking arrangements.

Finally, thank you very much for your answer.

Just to clarify the situation and where I am standing right now from my initial post:
I set up a Nevis foundation with the nominee as a councilor (not offshore nominee) to get the image of the real management. My target is only to get an eye off the jurisdiction of my residence to avoid any taxation. The funds are coming from another offshore company that is an operational company owned by the foundation and with the non-offshore nominee appointed to directorship. The funds never go through my personal ACC.

Understanding the problem with the banks, I decided that I would rather never store money in any bank for now, (given various cases of banks went bankrupt in all parts of the world as you may know plus possible blockages etc.) and would accumulate it on the brokerage account by investing in securities, so I put my funds to work and the risk to loose 100% of the money is minimal comparing to deposits. An additional perk is when I sell the securities I automatically get the valid SoW for those funds. I managed to open an investment account with a top-tier London firm just for the amount of 100,000 at the beginning. I was very lucky there.

So what I need is a 100% reliable solution to transfer money to/from the broker in one transaction. I plan to add around the same amount each year/two years. I will not keep money in the bank account.

As of now, I opened an account in the Belizean bank that you mentioned above, and Hong Kong EMI that seems to be unknown on this forum. After additional consideration and some failed transfer with the Belizean bank, I decided that I cannot use any of that for the amounts that I am not ready to loose/be blocked.

Mauritius Banks seems the best option for me right now, the only problem is that I have a Mauritius residence and opening account there can make it all useless. I am going to talk to some bankers in Mauritius regarding reporting to the local authorities, as the councilor/management is outside Mauritius. But I know very well their cultural background - in other words, it does not matter what they say, you should never believe any single word)

My currency is EUR and all the transfers should be with SWIFT in EUR. If any of the banks you mentioned in the Caribbean have a reliable and reputable correspondent for EUR it might help me a lot. Also, in case there is direct contact with Butterfield Bank, any email of the manager, etc. I would be very grateful if you send it to me in PM.

P.S. I understand how it intend to work with the trust companies, but I am not their client for now. The only trustees I would choose if I ever had enough money would be located in the IoM, Channel Islands, Cayman or Bahamas as the last resort. All other options like Seychelles, etc adds the huge risk of incompetence from the local peanut eaters that can simply transfer a million to the wrong account. Not saying about some more sophisticated things. The risk of fraud or dishonesty by the trustee is present in any jurisdiction, there are iconic precedents from Guernsey, as well as the IoM.

I hope this makes sense and any additional comments would be valuable.

 

[Sols]

As of now, I opened an account in the Belizean bank that you mentioned above, and Hong Kong EMI that seems to be unknown on this forum. After additional consideration and some failed transfer with the Belizean bank, I decided that I cannot use any of that for the amounts that I am not ready to loose/be blocked.

Very sorry to hear about the issues in Belize. Unfortunately, it's all too common problem these days. Banking in the Caribbean used to be reliably easy until big correspondents started de-risking them.

My currency is EUR and all the transfers should be with SWIFT in EUR. If any of the banks you mentioned in the Caribbean have a reliable and reputable correspondent for EUR it might help me a lot.

The bigger the bank, the stronger the correspondent relationships tend to be. Any transaction you make is likely to be flagged for manual review due to involving an exotic structure with non-resident people involved.

If you're able to get an account with banks like Butterfield, CIBCFCIB, or Scotia Bank, it'll usually be more stable than smaller banks. In the past, I've opened accounts for foundations and similar exotic structures with those banks in different parts of the Caribbean. However, I don't think your chances of success are high. The banks lose money by onboarding you, if you factor in the time and resources spent on onboarding/monitoring a couple of thousand EUR coming and going relative to the revenue from that.

If EUR and SEPA is fine, try EMIs (such as the ones I mentioned). It's far easier to move money via SEPA than via SWIFT.

Also, in case there is direct contact with Butterfield Bank, any email of the manager, etc. I would be very grateful if you send it to me in PM.

I don't know if Butterfield Bank is a realistic option if the account is only going to be used as a funnel for money going in and out of the London investment account. Butterfield is the kind of bank that wants you to store money with them. If you had placed the full 100,000 USD with them, they might've been open to it. No harm in trying, but I don't have a contact I'd be able to share for this.

 

[2fire]

Foundations are compliance headaches. They take a lot of time and effort for a bank to onboard and monitor.

Dear Sols,

It is seems that you had some experience with foundations, would you mind to share your experience about banking experience.

How banks would look to operating company, which is owned by holding company, which is owned by foundation?

Technically foundation has no shareholders, what would write operating company to the bank in the field UBO?

 

[Sols]

It is seems that you had some experience with foundations, would you mind to share your experience about banking experience.

How banks would look to operating company, which is owned by holding company, which is owned by foundation?

Technically foundation has no shareholders, what would write operating company to the bank in the field UBO?

Most banks will reject. That's the harsh reality.

An applicant is judged by the riskiest part of the structure. If they can't easily determine the UBO, there's a high chance they'll simply refuse the application. You have to be really worth their time, effort, and risk to be worth onboarding.

Most jurisdictions have issued guidance for their banks on how to identify UBO in exotic structures such as foundations and trusts. Those guidance notes almost always state that if the guiding principles cannot be followed, the financial institution should carefully consider the risks and appropriate measures. That's government speak for "You'll regret it if you didn't decline and we find something later."

Foundations are difficult to onboard because they don't usually follow an exact template. In some cases, the UBO is the founder. Sometimes it's the council itself. In many cases, it's the beneficiary. I've seen cases where a protector is appointed and, because they had so much control, was considered UBO by some banks.

This is why you should make select your councillors and service provider very carefully. Their banking relationships can make or break a foundation.

 

[2fire]

If they can't easily determine the UBO, there's a high chance they'll simply refuse the application.

Thank you very much for your answer

As I can understand main goal of foundation is protection of assets from potential attack on UBO.

Would you use foundation in your structure if there is would be no issues with banking for subsidiaries?

 

[Sols]

Thank you very much for your answer

As I can understand main goal of foundation is protection of assets from potential attack on UBO.

Would you use foundation in your structure if there is would be no issues with banking for subsidiaries?

Maybe. Asset protection isn't an off the shelf product like forming a company. It's usually tailored based on the needs and threats faced by the UBO, the assets, and/or other involved parties. Take local and other applicable laws into account.

Foundations can be very useful tools, especially if you're confident that banking won't be an issue.

 

[2fire]

Maybe. Asset protection isn't an off the shelf product like forming a company. It's usually tailored based on the needs and threats faced by the UBO, the assets, and/or other involved parties. Take local and other applicable laws into account.

Foundations can be very useful tools, especially if you're confident that banking won't be an issue.

Appreciate your answers on this matter.
As usual very interesting to hear your opinion.