Buy a bank instead of opening a bank account?

[Financelady45]

Hi

I was wondering... it looks like banks offshore are not expensive, I found one for $500K and I am wondering if anyone has never acquired a bank before

Bank for Sale in Europe with Licence

If I buy an established bank I will be able to have a real control of all information exchange, due diligence process and more...I will also be able to negotiate terms with local government. I think those points can be big plus, If I am only an account holder the bank can still act and decide whatever they want on my behalf.

 

[Sols]

Sounds great. Go ahead and do it. Let us all know how it turns out. It's super easy to run a bank.

I wonder where in Europe this Puerto Rico place is. Must be in Spain somewhere, right?

 

[JohnLocke]

I don't think you should put all your hard earned money into a bank that you buy within the EU. I believe there will be lots and lots of control and it's obviously not that simple as you think it is.

 

[DGTLOTC]

So much easier said than done this,keeping intermediary relationships and all of that

 

[Joe Blasco]

I can' t imagine a bank in europe selling for this kind of money, something is clearly wrong

 

[Financelady45]

I have asked more information, it is a banking licence from Puerto Rico which is worth nothing to me. The M&A firm told me that a EU bank will cost at least EUR 100M.... So I will pass the ball as Puerto Rico is a s------y place!

 

[Tax Cow]

A finance lady with a dirty mind? Don't you have a shades of grey novel to read or something? For a self-managed laundromat, you'll need smoke cover in the form of low-risk clientele.

The reason those recently-closed 3 Maltese laundromats took retail clients was not to make money. They could have fulfilled their intended purpose with just a few accounts held in the name of top management and amigos. But there wouldn't have been any prospect to move as much money as they wanted. As a bank with no clients, try to explain those 9-figure capital flows. Ermhh.. "eh we're good friends you know, let me buy you a bottle whiskey?"

PS!

A Bank in the EU does not cost 100M. Depending on what you need, you can get started with your own bank at 2.5M. But do you need a bank? To start your own EMI pegged to the Lithuanian Central Bank and the SEPA payment system, you need low 6 figures, after realistic expenses including the cost of a small Lithuania-based office.

The only hard part is SWIFT and dollar payments. For that, a Caribbean jurisdiction like Puerto Rico could be the path of less resistance. According to an urban legend, any land that is not close to Russia or China is more friendly, and for that reason access to SWIFT and dollar payments shall be granted upon request!

 

[bastard]

This is actually a great idea but as said here already it may be much more expensive and does not work like that.

But you get 10 stars from me just for thinking like that

 

[Sols]

Unless you have 10+ years experience in senior positions in banks and you have a team of similarly skilled people, no regulator is going to let you actually operate the bank even if you buy it.

The ECB and local regulators will be all over you if you don't comply with banking law requirements. Just having a license doesn't guarantee you access to the financial systems.

So give up on your dreams to start a non-compliant bank in the EU (or anywhere else). Or do it and see what happens. I just hope your shareholders don't mind losing all their money.

 

[unicorn]

Several DOZENS of established REAL banks (holding billions of savings of EU citizens) have in the past 2 years been sold for litterally 1 symbolic euro. These banks have squandered all the savings of their clients and must sell because of liquidity problems. see : www.jovanovic.com who follows the banking industry (EU + USA mostly) and does quite a bit of research on them and publishes books about their fraud schemes.

It might be an idea to buy such a bank for 1 euro, and stop giving out loans, increase liquidity to a maximum, which would give you a trusted base of existing clients, next to new clients. But I don't think it is "so simple" to run a bank ...

PS : the author of this post did not say he intended to create a non compliant bank.

 

[JohnLocke]

PS : the author of this post did not say he intended to create a non compliant bank.

No but sometimes you may read between the lines