Two Requirements to Incorporate in Panama:
- Payment of the incorporation and first year of operation, from $900
- A Copy of the authorized persons' passport(s) and proof of address
Minimum Offshore Bank Account Requirements:
- A certified copy of the beneficial owner's passport photo page
- A recent utility bill as proof of address
- A personal bank reference
There are over 80 banks in Panama alone with about as many lists of requirements. There are about 30 more jurisdictions with banking secrecy. Thus, the choice of bank depends on each client’s individual needs. Click here for a no obligation assessment of your case. Once you incorporate with us, we will help you decide the best bank for your particular needs. The following is a general list of requirements that are common to most banks.
Nowadays it’s so easy to open a bank account in North America or Europe. So, many businessmen are wondering; “Why do offshore banks make it so difficult for foreign investors to open corporate accounts. Don’t they want more customers?”
During a bank conference in Panama, we posed the very question to a group of Central American and Caribbean bank owners, presidents and senior VPs. This group was furious with the US government and their correspondent banks because for the last several years they have been carrying on doing business with total irresponsibility. Looking the other way from the sub-prime rate games, they destroyed their economy thus eroding the portfolios of the otherwise very healthy offshore banks that were obligated to own the shares of their ailing correspondent banks. As if that wasn’t enough, the US government started “muscling-in” the governments of the offshore jurisdictions to satisfy their own agenda. Under the pretence of fighting terrorism or drug trafficking, USA has stripped their citizens of their civil rights and they are now extending their claws to the Caribbean and Central American countries by blackmailing the frightened banks to comply with unreasonable regulations or risk losing their correspondent bank network.
These high ranking executives made their point of view very clear but we also wanted to get the scoop from the bank officers that are in the front line dealing on a daily basis with the frustrated clients that are trying to open a corporate account for their lawfully registered Panama corporations.
As an outsider, we were entertained observing the beautiful young bank officer trying to explain to the puzzled middle aged businessman why her compliance department needs to see his original phone bill from back home so they can confirm his address. Her hair was flawless, skin and make up close to perfection and her French manicure impeccable – it must be part of an unwritten regulation because they all look more like beautiful models than bank clerks. We know that most of these young women earn around $600 per month with very few reaching the $1000 level. So we wonder how much of their salary goes to maintaining their appearance. We also know that every day, many of them have to travel for over an hour each way in a 30 degree (Celsius) weather, packed like sardines in a full bus without air-condition while wearing a dark business suit with pantyhose. If they open five more new accounts per day, not only they don’t receive any additional rewards but, on top of the additional mundane and tedious workload they will increase their responsibility for errors that could cost them their job. So why bother?