A lot of readers have been asking me lately about offshore banking and wealth management opportunities in Singapore. Unquestionably, Singapore has some very sophisticated banks and bankers, and it has developed a well-earned reputation for discretion and confidentiality.

However I found the following observation on an internet discussion group, that I found interesting:

“Switzerland said it would seize UBS AG data to prevent the U.S. Justice Department from pursuing a U.S. court order seeking the identities of 52,000 American account holders in a crackdown on tax evaders.”

“The Swiss government “will use its legal authority to ensure that the bank cannot be pressured to transmit the information illegally, including if necessary by issuing an order taking effective control of the data at UBS that is the subject of the summons,” according to the filing.”

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“The Singapore government is proposing changes to its tax laws to meet demands from the U.S. and Europe to clamp down on bank secrecy.

“Singapore will seek to amend its domestic laws to allow it to extend further cooperation on information exchange” via double-taxation agreements with other countries, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.  It is seeking public comments through July 28 on the amendments.”

So, how can we interpret these two news items?

First of all, they both have to be taken in context. While it’s good to see Switzerland sticking up for its sovereignty, we have always recommended clients against doing business with big, international banks like UBS or Credit Suisse. Iwas hardly surprising that UBS were targeted, given their large US presence that makes them something of a sitting duck. We have numerous articles about the Right Way to do Swiss bank accounts (Cantonal Banks, for example), and our Practical Offshore Banking Guide includes contact details of other recommended sources for private banking in Europe (not necessarily Switzerland).

Singapore is a place we’ve never done a lot of banking business with, and the quotation above goes some way toward explaining our reticence. But we full admit that our geographic bias when it comes to banking is more towards Europe and Latin America. Singapore is certainly convenient for Asians and Australasians, due to time zones, languages and culture. On the other hand, it would have to be up there with Hong Kong at the top of the hit list for say the Aussie tax authorities, who are getting more and more agressive these days.

But is banking in Singapore and Hong Kong such a good idea for Europeans and North Americans? In my view, probably not. Both the EU (particularly the UK) and the USA have quite strong influences there, and neither of these entities are friends of offshore banking. Canadians might be OK in Singapore. If you are interested in banking in Asia, then World Offshore Banks has some intriguing services worth exploring.

Generally, the rule is that convenience is a threat to privacy. If you are looking for the most private, best offshore bank for you, you want to be as far away as possible – both geographically and culturally – from your home country and the places where your fellow countrymen do their offshore banking. Europeans might do well in Latin American havens like Panama and Uruguay. North Americans might do well still in obscure corners of Europe.

Whatever you decide, remember that nothing is for ever. You need to monitor the situation and changes taking place in the world of offshore finance. It pays to work with banks that are nimble enough to help you with this. We can recommend a few. And The Q Wealth Report is here to help you with offshore banking advice and recommendations. If you haven’t yet signed up for our Free Offshore Banking and Asset Protection course, I would recommend you do so!

by Peter Macfarlane for The Q Wealth Report

by Peter Macfarlane for The Q Wealth Report

Anyone looking for currency diversification strategies should consider a multi-currency bank account. Unfortunately this banking product is virtually unknown in North America and the UK, although it is commonplace in some European countries. I say ‘unfortunately’, because this is one of the most simple and convenient tools for anybody looking to diversify out of the dollar. In this article, I’ll explain more about multi-currency accounts and how you can open one.

A multi-currency account is simply a bank account, with a single account number, in which you can hold balances in various different currencies. For example, you log in through internet banking and immediately you see a summary screen showing you have so many US dollars, so many Euros, so many Canadian dollars, so many British pounds etc. Many banks allow you to hold a wide range of currencies, including more exotic currencies. Some European banks now even allow you to hold ounces or grams of gold in your account alongside national currencies.

Advantages to this are numerous:

• For a start, it is clearly a very convenient tool for anyone who is serious about diversifying currency risk. Instead of having lots of different account numbers and logins, you keep everything on one convenient screen. At any time you can easily exchange your balance in one currency (or part of it) for another currency.
• You can wire money in and out in different currencies, to and from anywhere in the world, without the need for currency conversions.  This type of account is therefore ideal if you frequently send and receive money internationally, perhaps dividend payments, or transfers related to an overseas property or family living abroad.
• Banks normally permit you to go overdrawn in one particular currency, provided your overall ‘global’ balance is in the black.
• You can have credit cards and checks linked to your main multi-currency account. Checks can be drawn in any currency. For credit cards, you normally have to choose one particular currency balance that will be debited.

Multi-currency accounts are a good, conservative way to hedge against currency risks or make profits with fluctuations. Unlike ‘forex trading’ your account is not leveraged, so there is not so much potential profit but there is also less potential for loss. This is an easy version of forex trading – for people who don’t want to have their eye on currency rates every minute or even every day.

A multi-currency bank account also beats currency ETFs hands down. With currency ETFs you buy and sell back to your base currency, paying a brokerage fee each time. With multi-currency accounts you hold the actual currency on bank deposit, rather than stock in an ETF.

Anyone who is serious about diversifying outside the dollar needs a foreign bank account –and for many people a multi-currency bank account is the logical choice. But what about the IRS’ Foreign Bank Account Reporting requirements? Simply by opening a personal account like this, you will not affect your tax situation in any way, neither positive nor negative. US persons will be liable to declare foreign bank accounts to the IRS.

However, as outlined above, there are many extra benefits besides tax benefits. One of the greatest advantages, besides the currency diversification out of the dollar, is privacy. Privacy is a basic human right, which is unfortunately disappearing fast when it comes to financial services, where domestic investments are basically an open book these days. Although you might be obliged to report your offshore multi-currency account to the IRS, private parties like credit rating agencies or lawyers who might want to sue you certainly won’t know anything about a private foreign bank account of this nature.

The multi-currency account was not designed as a sophisticated financial instrument. Rather it’s an accident of history, something that developed in smaller European countries like Switzerland, Luxembourg and Andorra where individuals commonly needed bank checking accounts in various currencies. This was especially true in the old days before the euro when Europeans did business in many different national currencies. Not coincidentally, these countries now offer the best international financial services as well as good banking privacy.

However, in modern private banking terms, such an account can provide a basic transactional banking relationship with a foreign bank, onto which you can tag many much more sophisticated wealth management services: for example, foreign currency loans for investing in bond holdings or stock portfolios. Most banks offer such services.

Needless to say, corporations, trusts, foundations and the like can also open multi-currency accounts and in such cases there is an even greater privacy benefit, and in some cases, depending on individual circumstances, tax reporting requirements may also be legally sidestepped.

How, then, can you open a multi-currency account?

Quite a number of banks in some European countries offer multi-currency services by default, as soon as you open account. Unfortunately, especially for US citizens, it has become very difficult to find a foreign bank that will open an account.

It is undoubtedly best if you can travel to meet the bank and open the account. Personal meetings and referrals from known and trusted parties still open a lot of doors that initial research might suggest are closed! It is, however, possible even today to open a multi-currency bank account through the mail.

If you would like further information, including links to specific banks that offer this service, you might like to check out my Practical Offshore Banking Guide, available free to Q Wealth members (just one of many asset protection, offshore banking and wealth creation related benefits). Another major advantage of Q Wealth membership is a free e-mail consultation on your personal situation, in which we can also make referrals to banks where we have working relationships as trusted business introducers.

You can either go sign up now, or if you prefer, sign up first absolutely free and without obligation to receive our five part online course, Secrets of the Super Rich.

When you decide to open an offshore bank or brokerage account, whether in Switzerland, Cayman, Belize, Panama or anywhere else… one of the most typical requirements is for a bank reference letter. Offshore bankers are generally required to ask for such letters in order to complete their due diligence file on you as a new account holder. This applies equally whether you are opening a personal or corporate account.

Yet, bank reference letters can be a big threat to your privacy. You are opening an offshore account mainly for privacy reasons, I would assume. You believe that your finances are your business and nobody else’s. You are concerned about threats to your banking privacy onshore, in the form of tax information exchange agreements, credit reference bureaux and the like. So in this blog posting, I am going to look at what you can do to ensure your privacy, and whether it is possible to open offshore bank accounts without reference letters?

It has been reported recently in the offshore media that requests for “Bank Reference Letters” are now subject to “Suspicious Transaction” reporting in the USA. The story goes that banks are refusing to issue reference letters because they would then have to file a suspicious transaction report.

Frankly, we have seen no evidence to support this claim. It’s worth noting that more and more entities are requesting bank reference letters. For example, these days buying a high value property quite often entails providing a bank reference to prove clean funds, clear of criminal origin. So requests for bank references are really on the increase and most requests probably have nothing whatsoever to do with offshore accounts. On the contrary, one would think the powers that be would like to encourage more use of bank references because they create a paper trail. But therein, of course, lies the problem!

One of my clients in the UK did tell me today that she had been asked to justify to the bank’s head office her request for an open reference letter addressed “To Whom it May Concern.” Most UK banks now blankly refuse to write references like this, though some still do.

Anyway, whatever the truth of the matter, I understand that many clients are reluctant to tell their bank at home about the business they are doing offshore, and a bank reference request might entail this. So many clients ask how they can open an offshore bank account, whether corporate or personal, without a bank reference.

The answer is that it is difficult, but certainly not impossible. Over the years I have built up excellent relationships with a number of top flight European, Latin American and Caribbean banks, and I do understand how they work. By dealing at a higher level, I get to talk to intelligent bankers who are prepared to get to know clients as individuals not as numbers (though they might still offer numbered accounts!) The benefits of these referrals and relationships I am happy to pass on to my readers.

Let’s make it clear, I am not saying that I deal with banks that will cut corners on due diligence. We only want to deal with honest individuals. I have plenty of experience of sniffing out scammers or crooks and they will not get in the door at any bank, at least not with my endorsement.

But if you are a true, honest, freedom-loving and privacy seeking individual with good intentions and clean funds, who is sick of government intrusion in your life, then I am prepared to help you to open accounts without bank references. We can do it properly and legally in reputable banks. I do know which banks have more flexible policies, especially where higher level personnel are involved in the account opening.

You will have to provide some kind of reference letters, but not necessarily from a bank. Commercial reference letters might be acceptable, or references from a lawyer or accountant. Other banks might accept copies of the last 3-6 months of your bank statements, in place of a reference. Or sometimes you are permitted to open a personal account without a reference, and then use that as the basis to open a corporate account if you wish soon after.

I am certainly not going to name specific banks here in public, only to have them deluged with scammers trying to open accounts and picked on in public by the anti-tax-haven people. Suffice to say that if you are holding off opening an offshore bank account because of worries about providing a reference, don’t wait any longer. Take a look at my Practical Offshore Banking Guide 2009. If you are already a Q Wealth Member, it is available free of charge for download instantly in pdf format. If you’re not yet a member you can sign up right now and get instant access.

Within the Guide, I would refer you specifically to the section about “What Can You Do if Not All the Documents Are Available.” You’ll find some guidance there. You’ll also find a list of various different offshore banks and brokerage houses all around the world we have successfully worked with, done due diligence on, and recommend. If you need additional help with bank referrals, remember that as a paid Q Wealth member you are entitled to a free e-mail consultation with Peter Macfarlane in order to get your structure up and running smoothly.

Full membership brings a host of other benefits too… including information on Secure, Non-Reportable Gold Investments for example. You will also be invited to exclusive Q Wealth Events… designed for present and future millionaires!

If however you would prefer just to try our services first of all without any cost, commitment or obligation, sign up now for our free five-part introductory course on Offshore Banking and Asset Protection.

by Peter Macfarlane, Offshore Banking Consultant for the Q Wealth Report

One recurring question we hear almost every day in the wealth management business is “How Can I Open a Swiss Bank account?” Whilst a minority of those asking the question might really be candidates for Swiss private banking, the majority seem to have watched too many Bond movies! This article is a brief introduction to Swiss banking to help you decide which of these categories you fit into.

First of all let me point out that if you are looking for a secret bank account, there are places that are much more discreet, much more under the radar than Switzerland. You’ll find, for example, nine alternatives to Swiss banks which also have that “private banking feel” listed in the Practical Offshore Banking Guide 2009, which is available free to Q Wealth members. This instantly-downloadable pdf guide also explains the truth behind some of the services associated with Swiss banking like anonymous numbered bank accounts (yes, it is still possible to open numbered bank accounts legally as of 2009! – details in the guide)

But what if you have your heart set on a real Swiss account? Opening a bank account in Switzerland is in theory not too difficult – but like all banks anywhere in the world, Swiss banks do reserve the right to refuse customers. Needless to say the recent hoo-hah from the G20 and the OECD has not made it any easier to open Swiss bank accounts. All banks are scared of being accused of money laundering and this has made it much harder, especially for non Swiss residents, to open bank accounts.

Then, you need to choose a Swiss bank according your requirements. If you want traditional private banking service and a free lunch each time you visit your banker, expect to invest at least a million as your opening deposit. Some of these real Swiss private banks are so discreet they don’t even have signs outside their offices, let alone websites.

You can, however, open accounts at more run-of-the-mill Swiss banks with a very low opening deposit or minimum figure to open accounts. Swiss banks like Migros or Swissquote Bank (which is really more of a discount brokerage, E-Trade style) have no minimum opening deposits whatsoever and you can start the process all by yourself – no need to pay an intermediary. The disadvantage is that, well, there is no particular advantage if you see what I mean… this is not traditional Swiss banking at all! There is nothing private about these banks. Swissquote, for example, will require you to waive bank secrecy before you can even open account!

If you have a Swiss work permit and wish to open a local Swiss bank account, that changes things significantly. In order to pay your salary in, your employer will probably require that you have a bank account. But Swiss working papers make all the difference.  Some of the documents you will need, according to expat website AngloInfo, are:

• Passport or identity card
• Recent utility bill (electricity is best)
• Residence permit
• A copy of your work contract
• Cross border workers from France or Germany, a copy of your permis frontalier (cross border work permit)

It is not necessary to make an appointment to open a current account, says Anglo Info. Opening an account can be done in a day and means of payments (like cash cards) will usually arrive within a week to ten days of the account being opened.

In general banks all over Switzerland are open from Monday to Friday from 08:30 to 16:30, and are closed at weekends and on public holidays.

You may, however, not need a Swiss bank account at all. Household bills and invoices are more commonly paid through the post office, with a so-called Bulletin de Versement (bill slip). Bill slips are attached to each bill that you receive by the post.

Below are some links to major Swiss retail banks. Remember these are not the same as Private Banks. If you are a non-resident looking to open a Swiss bank account, you need to be looking at Private Banks since they are the ones that accept non-resident business. To sign up for our free newsletter on Asset Protection and Private Offshore Banking, visit our Q Bytes page.

Major Swiss Banks

• Banque Coop
• Banque Migros
• Banque Raiffeisen
• Crédit Suisse
• UBS SA

by Peter Macfarlane, Offshore Banking expert for The Q Wealth Report

Strange as it may seem, given all the hype in the news recently, when I started to search on Google for the blacklist of non-co-operative tax havens and bank secrecy countries published recently by the OECD at the behest of the London G20 meeting, it was mighty hard to find the complete list! Even on the OECD site after visiting multiple pages, I found only a pdf file that by no means makes the blacklist clear.

I suppose I should not be surprised, however – for, as I wrote in my article G20 and OECD: Much Ado About Nothing this whole campaign is more about publicity, distractions and scare tactics than real action against tax havens. The list on the OECD site is obviously the result of a lot of political horsetrading – would you believe for example, after all the recent hype, that the OECD does not list Luxembourg and Switzerland as tax havens? And how on earth did Chile get on the list – did you ever hear anything about offshore banking in Chile? While Hong Kong, a major offshore financial hub,  escaped listing altogether, for fears of upsetting the Chinese.

Here, then, for the record is a complete list of non-cooperative tax havens as published by the OECD, for which I would like to thank the print edition of the Spanish newspaper El Pais dated April 4th, 2009. In fact, there are three lists: the blacklist (countries that ignore foreign fiscal authorities) a grey list (countries that supposedly lack fiscal transparency but have commited to change) and a third list, neither grey nor black, of countries that are “non-co-operative financial centres.”

THE BLACKLIST

Costa Rica, Philippines, Malaysia

THE GREY LIST (COUNTRIES THAT HAVE COMMITTED TO CHANGE)

Andorra, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Bahrein, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands, Cyprus, Dominica, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guernsey,  Isle of Man, Jersey, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Monaco, Monserrat, Nauru, Netherlands Antilles, Niue, Panama, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Seychelles, Turks and Caicos Islands, US Virgin Islands, Vanuatu (Uruguay was oficially added to this list a few days later)

NON-COOPERATIVE FINANCIAL CENTRES

Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Chile, Guatemala, Luxembourg, Singapore, Switzerland

by Peter Macfarlane, Offshore Banking Expert for The Q Wealth Report

To judge from my inbox, the grandstanding by G20 leaders and the OECD is having its desired effect. In fact, it has two aims:

1. Publicity that portrays Brown, Obama and Sarkozy in a positive light while distracting voters from all the problems at home, caused by bankers in their home countries.
2. Scaring people off investing money in tax haven banks (ie, those banks in countries where banking secrecy is written into the law).

Of course, we cannot afford to dismiss the new OECD blacklists out of hand. But neither should we panic. And above all we should not be rushed into decisions that could cause problems down the line. Strategy for building wealth offshore should be well thought out for the long term. If you are one of the many who are concerned that your tax and offshore banking arrangements may not stand up to new scrutiny, then you should be taking some action now to put things right – but not panicking. We are happy to refer our readers informally to appropriate professionals.

Tax evasion through offshore personal bank accounts really is a thing of the past. It’s been passe for years. It’s not a particularly attractive business for any tax haven bank because it has the potential to cause lots of problems for relatively little reward. There are so many ways you can legally protect your privacy without having to rely on bank secrecy. For those who are interested, I’ve written a more in-depth article on the subject of the G20, the OECD and Banking Secrecy here.

We never have and never will promote tax evasion in The Q Wealth Report. We believe in full compliance with all applicable laws. That is what we write about consistently, and we have done so for well over a decade. Our view is that offshore banking is just one essential part of an overall long term strategy. Most of the clients I deal with these days are not motivated so much by tax (although that is obviously one of their concerns.) Most people are going offshore these days motivated more by security, asset protection, and the much better opportunities that exist offshore to profit from the recession. You can work, invest, retire or live in the world’s best tax havens.

My clients detest instrusive, Big Brother style governments. They subscribe to the view that attempts to redistribute wealth will simply end up redistributing taxpayers, who are increasingly voting with their feet. Our belief is that it’s much better to be living legally tax-free in a low-cost, healthy, tropical paradise… earning your living or managing your investments over the internet from a secure country where banking service and secrecy still go hand in hand. Meanwhile you can watch on TV as things get worse and worse in G20 countries, rather than watching from your window!

I’ve always written that if you need to rely on banking secrecy to protect yourself, you might as well give up. By that I mean that if you want to protect your assets, you should hide them where they cannot be found. You should take care to avoid any and all paper trails leading to them. If nobody knows where to find your stash of cash, nobody will ask your offshore bank about you. That is true secrecy. If the taxman knows where your money is, it’s already too late.

I imagine some people will be reading this article as first time visitors to The Q Wealth blog, who are keen right now to know what banks and countries are safe to invest in. Well my basic advice is to wrap everything in secure offshore corporate structures (for example, Belize or Panamanian corporations). Do this through reputable professionals who respect security – not through internet merchants competing to provide the lowest price, who just want to sell you a stack of papers and then move on to the next case (until it is time to charge your annual renewal fee).

If you feel that your financial arrangements are not watertight, then now is a good time to start taking a look at them. Offshore banking is one important aspect of any overall financial privacy and asset protection structure – it is covered in our free e-book The Practical Offshore Banking Guide 2009. Then, you should be looking at other wealth preservation and alternative investment strategies – for example, we have another free e-book covering Precious Metals Investments. Gold Bullion is one of the most secure, inflation-proof investments, and in the e-book we tell you how you can legally buy and store it offshore. Oh, and did I mention that there is absolutely no requirement to report gold bullion on your tax returns?

Then there are many other things you can do to protect your assets and help them grow. Consider second residency or even a second passport. By now we are getting more in to intangibles. Second passports can increase your security and flexibility. Then again, they could solve any OECD/G20 banking secrecy problems at a stroke! By changing your citizenship to a neutral country that does not tax its expatriates, you can give your asset portfolio and offshore bank account a new lease of privacy.

Of course, in this article we can only scratch the surface. The good news is that in our quarterly Q Wealth Report newsletter you will benefit from our first hand reporting and updating of news affecting your offshore investments. We don’t just get our information from the internet. I myself spent last week flying around Europe for a series of meetings with high level bankers and tax haven government officials, because I know the things they say off the record often mean more than the committments they make on the record.

As a subscriber to Q Wealth Report, not only do you obtain instant access to those two e-books plus a series of other special reports and white papers, but you will have access on an ongoing basis to this unique first-hand insight that I don’t believe you will find anywhere else. You will also have privileged access to our network of Q Wealth Experts. These are people located around the world who know and understand, live and breathe, freedom, wealth and privacy.

With the right team on your side, the latest OECD efforts really are “much ado about nothing.”

by Peter Macfarlane, Offshore Banking Expert at The Q Wealth Report

Do you know how anyone, regardless of credit history, can borrow money offshore at only 1% interest (or even less) with no scheduled repayment date, then simultaneously reinvest it for a much higher return elsewhere?

Of course not – because the rock-solid European banks routinely making such loans are not allowed to advertise these deals in your country. Your government calls this “investor protection.” Here at The Q Wealth Report, we call it “protecting the cosy domestic banking cartel.”

Foreign currency aribitrage is one of the areas where you can make money even in a falling market. Currencies will always go up and down, and there will always be big differentials in interest rates. Trading “pips” in the forex market, where you can make or break your account in a matter of minutes, is not every investor’s idea of fun. Slower moving and less risky (though of course not risk free), the types of foreign currency arbitrage programs we are writing about here offer an attractive alternative for more conservative investors.

The arbitrage or investment loan is a fairly standard wealth creation offering from European private banks, albeit little known. The gearing of the initial deposit, together with the currency arbitrage, makes it possible to invest a larger amount in a currency with high interest rates, thereby increasing the prospects of high returns.

Typically you will have to invest about USD/EUR 250,000 in a private offshore bank to get that facility. This can then be leveraged from one to five times, depending on the risk level of the currency you are buying into. If the initial deposit is USD 250,000, a loan of up to USD 1,000,000 can be contracted and then a proportion of that can be invested in a high income Bank CD in a currency paying a much higher interest rate.

The loan will typically be taken in a low interest currency s0 at the moment, USD, EUR and GBP would be perfect… although traditionally most loans have been taken in Swiss Francs or Japanese Yen. To spread risk, you can also choose to take the loan in a combination of two or more currencies. Then, you take the loan proceeds to buy another currency, paying a higher yield in CDs – typically in a multi-currency account at the same bank.

A variation on the same theme, of course, would be investing in gold. You can certainly borrow money against CDs or electronic gold to invest in other products offered by your private bank. Whether they would allow you to borrow against physical gold? I doubt it, unfortunately. In this case you might just be better off buying Perth Mint Certificates and asking your friendly offshore banker for a loan secured by that. Alternatively, hedge your investments by borrowing against US dollar investments, in US dollars, but using the loan proceeds to buy gold. That way you get the best of both worlds.

(Note – I normally recommend only physical gold – see my article How to Buy and Hide Gold Bullion Offshore. But, if someone is lending me money at 1% interest in fiat currency, and I can buy gold with it, I might not be so fussy…)

The profit factors, to summarize, are as follows:

• Exchange rate factor: Raising a loan in one currency and investing in another can lead to exchange rate gains as wells as losses.
• Interest rate factor: Where investments are made in bank CDs, the interest rate level of the currency of CDs can affect the return on the investment.
• Gearing factor: The return on investments is improved by the gearing of the initial deposit. The gearing factor plays an important role again if there is a loss. (You lose more!)

Of course, like any investment, you should do your due diligence very carefully. The good thing is that this, when done correctly (read those last three words again!) this makes a standard, conservative bank deposit that much more exciting. In these times of low interest rates on major currencies, we could certainly all use a little more excitement like that, couldn’t we?

How do you go about getting an Invest-Loan? Not, as you’ve probably guessed, from your local high street bank. If your existing banker won’t lend you money for things like this, it’s time to think about moving your investments to a different bank. A good place to start with the Practical Offshore Banking Guide 2009, available free for download to our members. I’m happy to make personal referrals to private banks who will carry out Invest-Loan transactions, at no extra charge to all Q Wealth members as part of the free consultation that members are entitled to. Just contact me via the Q Wealth London offices. If you’re not yet a member, you can join now to gain immediate access to these privileges.

Peter Macfarlane’s long-awaited Gold Report is now available for download in the Members’ Area here at Q Wealth Report.

If you have been looking into options for buying physical gold bullion but have been put off by the difficulty or the extra costs involved in buying gold bullion through local gold dealers, this report was written for you, by Q Wealth’s Offshore Banking and Asset Protection expert Peter Macfarlane.

As the gold holdings of the Barclays Gold Trust (Gold Exchange Traded Funds or ETFs for short) and the World Gold Council across the globe grew larger than the gold holdings of Switzerland this week, in this 11,000 word report Peter looks at the outlook for Gold during 2009 and beyond. Peter explains why in his view investing in anything other than real physical gold bullion is unsafe because of exposure to the global banking system. The importance of this cannot be stressed enough in the current climate. He explains why the whole point of gold is a safe haven and why owning gold through an ETF or through substitutes like Perth Mint Certificates is just not the same as owning real gold bullion! (Not that it’s necessarily bad, says Peter… but nobody should mislead you into believing you are really buying gold)

Many people, however, are mystified when it comes to buying gold bullion offshore. Gold bullion kept in an offshore safe deposit box does not trigger any reporting requirements, but if you want to keep your gold ownership secret, then there are certain do’s and don’ts you need to know about before you buy a single ounce of gold. Peter explains in detail three strategies for buying gold offshore, privately and even anonymously if you wish. Whether you want to invest just a few thousand dollars or a few million, one of these three techniques will probably work for you.

Peter also talks about buying gold direct from the producers who own the gold mining assets. This is a way of cutting out the middleman – the gold and banking cartel. He touches too on how the Federal Reserve might be manipulating the gold price. Gold Price Manipulation is a big issue for all gold bugs to be aware of – and yet another reason why real physical bullion is the way to go!

Finally, where can you store your gold safely? Peter looks at different options in depth and reviews the pluses and minuses of each, from storing gold in a safe at home or a local bank, to storing bullion in tax free vaults at Zurich Airport in Switzerland. Little known secure safe deposit storage options where you can hide your gold safely in Austria, Switzerland and the Caribbean are also reviewed – and there’s a dire warning about why you should not hide your gold in the United Kingdom!

The Gold Report is essential reading for anyone interested in buying gold offshore or overseas. Best of all, The Gold Report is yours FREE! If you are a Q Wealth member, you can simply log in right now and download your copy. If you haven’t yet joined, take advantage of the opportunity to join online right now and download not just The Gold Report but also Peter’s Practical Offshore Banking Guide 2009 and a host of other goodies available exclusively for members!

For Press Enquiries or Interviews with Peter Macfarlane, please contact Q Wealth Limited in London, preferably by e-mail.

by Peter Macfarlane for the Q Wealth Report

In the American media and press, a familiar news story is being rehashed – again! The IRS are trying to scare people away from perfectly legal asset protection and offshore banking strategies, by cashing in on publicity surrounding their recent coup against Swiss banking guant UBS. UBS have almost closed down their offshore private banking divisions in Geneva, Zurich and Lugano following IRS pressure.

“In the hush-hush world of Swiss banking, the unthinkable is happening: secrets are spilling into the open,” comments Lynnley Browning in the New York Times. “UBS, the largest bank in Switzerland, agreed on Wednesday to divulge the names of well-heeled Americans whom the authorities suspect of using offshore accounts at the bank to evade taxes.”

Reading beyond the headlines, however, the truth becomes clearer:  “It is unclear how many of its clients’ names UBS will divulge. Federal prosecutors have been examining about 19,000 accounts at the bank, but UBS ultimately may disclose the identities of only a few hundred customers.”

This, dear reader, is what I wrote about here just a few days ago in my article Is Swiss or Offshore Banking Dead? No Way!

It’s pure hype, as the article continues quoting a known hater of all things offshore:   “The Swiss are saying that this is the end of Swiss banking as they knew it,” said Jack Blum, an offshore tax specialist. “Nobody will trust the security  of the Swiss bank account.”

Exactly as I predicted the other day – a few hundred, or more likely a few dozen, people who can be identified by the IRS as tax fraudsters for other reasons will have their banking details turned over to the IRS, in accordance with the treaties. Nothing new there. It is not the end of Swiss banking. It is just the IRS trying to get publicity to scare people away from offshore bank accounts.

The Swiss do, however, have another very significant problem at the moment, that you should take into account when considering Swiss banking. In an interview with Swiss daily newspaper Tagesanzeiger, a well-known economist has warned that Switzerland risks bankruptcy, if the recent market turmoil centering on Eastern Europe is not contained quickly.  At issue are loans made in Swiss francs to Eastern European debtors – in other words, sub-prime mortgages in places like Hungary, where the property market has collapsed. The rapid growth in many countries of Eastern Europe was stimulated through loans in Swiss francs. Swiss banks and offshore institutions loaned the local banks francs, which passed the francs on to their borrowers. The loans were attractive because borrowers paid interest rates much lower than required for loans in local currency.

With many countries in the region falling into depression, currencies and asset prices are plunging. Therefore, debtors domiciled in Eastern Europe are increasingly expected to have difficulty with mounting foreign debt loads — and that spells trouble for Switzerland…. There’s a translation of the original article here.

If you are interested in learning more about protecting your assets through Swiss private offshore banking, and more attractive lower profile wealth management alternatives in Europe and elsewhere, Q Wealth Report brings you the answers. The Practical Offshore Banking Guide 2009 is a well-written and researched independent guide telling you in about 40 pages how to open your offshore bank account and – more importantly – how to keep it in good standing, and maintain a good relationship with your offshore banker.

says Peter Macfarlane, Offshore Banking Expert at The Q Wealth Report

The recent scandal involving Swiss bank UBS and the closure of 19,000 offshore bank accounts for American account holders has people running scared. It’s been a big publicity coup for the IRS and indeed for European tax authorities too. However, I was interviewed the other day for a forthcoming magazine article, and the interviewer asked me bluntly whether offshore banking, and more specifically Swiss private banking, is “over.” This got me thinking.

The why and the how of offshore banking for security and asset protection is alive and well. In fact, for American and European Union citizens, banking offshore is more important than ever. Here’s why:

1. First of all, the hype in the media suggests that those 19,000 account holders will be in trouble with the IRS. This is not true. Sure, it’s what the IRS want you to believe, because they don’t want you to bank offshore. If you bank offshore they have less control over your money – so bad news for governments. But provided you have done nothing illegal, those people have nothing to fear. Even if those people have been illegally evading their US tax obligations, most likely they still have nothing to fear – though they should be taking urgent steps to put things right. The truth is that IRS attempts to learn the identities of the 19,000 account holders will be handled by UBS on a case-by-case basis strictly in accordance with both Swiss and American law and the respective international treaties, with UBS refusing to cooperate in any wide-net fishing expedition. By closing the accounts, UBS have done the right thing in helping to protect their clients.
2. UBS clients will need to move their accounts to other banks, or the clients will receive checks in the mail. Obviously, depositing the checks in a home bank would leave a paper trail – playing right into the hands of the IRS. The IRS hopes that those affected who might not have declared their Swiss bank accounts will be scared and own up. If they don’t, however, the chance that they will be ‘caught’ is almost nil. Fortunately, there are still plenty of lower profile, secure offshore banks out there who are willing to take on the new business – even from American or European citizens.
3. The mistake these people made was banking with UBS in the first place. It is stretching things these days even to call UBS a Swiss bank. It would be better described as an international bank, and it has a huge presence in the USA. It is therefore vulnerable to pressure being put on its US operations to breach Swiss bank secrecy laws. If you want further proof, Senator Carl Levin of Michigan said “We can’t get every bank in front of us to do what they did,” referring to UBS rolling over and apologizing. Very true words from the Senator! The basic rule in choosing an offshore bank is to go for one that has no offices or employees in your ‘home’ country. Another basic rule is “you don’t know until you go” – in other words, if you want to open a serious Swiss or other offshore bank account, get on a plane!

I mentioned above that affected account holders should be taking “urgent steps to put things right.” What are those steps? The fact is there are plenty of ways you can achieve the goals you are seeking, serious asset protection, and full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. Those are topics we frequently write about here in The Q Wealth Report, and you will find some starting points in my Practical Offshore Banking Guide 2009 which is available right now for free download in the Members’ Section. The Practical Offshore Banking Guide includes some offshore banking notes especially for US citizens and residents, and another section especially for European Union residents and citizens.

Q Wealth Report is your resource for offshore asset protection, banking privacy, and wealth creation information. A subscription costs just $87 per year, and if you don’t feel  our service is worth a lot more than that once you have signed up, you are covered by our full no-quibble money back guarantee! Plus, as soon as you sign up you gain instant access to our members section to download a series of free reports including the Practical Offshore Banking Guide 2009. What are you waiting for? Join today!