Offshore banking services allow for greater financial confidentiality. Having an personal offshore bank account allows you to enjoy many financial benefits and perform banking transactions abroad in exactly the same way as your personal bank account would allow you to do in your country.
You will be able to protect your money against many problems, against all kinds of lawsuits in legal battles, such as a divorce for example. Offshore bank accounts are opened either in the name of an offshore company to ensure maximum confidentiality and security, or in your own name. Offshore bank accounts are not just for the wealthy. There is a significant increase in the number of people around the world who put their money in private financial accounts.
Most offshore bank account jurisdictions have strict privacy rules and regulations to ensure that the identity and transactions of investors and depositors are protected from prying eyes. Georgia's jurisdiction in this respect is very well placed: Georgia has not signed any AEOI agreement with the OECD or TIEA agreement. Although this confidentiality is very high, it is not possible to guarantee absolute confidentiality and anonymity. All financial institutions around the world have an implicit legal obligation to report and comply with investigations of suspected serious criminal activities such as suspected terrorist activity, money laundering from the illicit drug trade, weapons, etc.
However, in the overwhelming majority of cases where there is no legally mandated criminal investigation procedure, the information of the clients of these institutions is jealously kept. These offshore jurisdictions are designed to provide maximum confidentiality and serve to secure depositors' information. This high level of confidentiality is particularly useful in the protection of property against international disputes and civil cases such as contested successions. It is not in a bank's interest to disclose confidential or depositor information, and it generally does so only under coercion and in accordance with certain strict criteria with which the requesting government entity must comply. Indeed, the breach of the tacit confidentiality agreement between the bank and its customers would have the effect of breaking trust and these banking institutions would risk losing a large part of their business.
Even deeper levels of anonymity and confidentiality are possible through other asset holding mechanisms such as International Business Companies (IBC) or offshore trusts, although they are more complex to establish and manage than simply "opening a bank account".
The objective of any person seeking to open one or more offshore bank accounts must be to find the right balance between the protection of their assets, anonymity, security and accessibility of the bank account where their money is kept.
The popular jurisdictions for offshore persoanl bank accounts may be located in various parts of the world, bank accounts are opened with different degrees of ease. Opening a personal offshore account in Georgia is very simple compared to opening a bank account in Hong Kong, for example. This is one of the advantages of the Georgian banking system.
For an offshore account of a company, you will of course have to prove that your company exists and is registered in the jurisdiction in which it is officially domiciled.
The jurisdictions that offer the most confidentiality for owners of an offshore company are not necessarily those where the provider of the offshore bank account will open the attached account. For example, you can have a company based in Hong Kong where corporate income tax is very attractive and a Georgian bank for the attached account that offers the best combination of banking security and financial confidentiality. It is essential to establish the right combination for your specific needs.
