How to get free international asset protection information – by Peter Macfarlane

Asset protection, as regular readers of this blog will know, has changed in the last few years. Whereas in the past business asset protection basically meant keeping your assets safe from creditors who might want to sue you (think McDonalds being sued for hot coffee spills) or from ex-spouses wanting more than their fair share… today the threats have changed. Even moderately wealthy people need to apply asset protection techniques, for example, on their retirement funds. Retirement funds includes any nest egg you have built up. The protection you need is against devaluation, inflation, or just plain seizure by the government. A good foreign asset protection trust can hedge your risk and expand your possibilities – not just to protect your assets, but also to see them grow and flourish!

We have already seen the governments of France, Hungary and Argentina forcing taxpayers to move retirement funds out of private pension plans into state-backed plans. The way governments in the US and Europe are printing money these days, we at Q Wealth think that’s a particularly bad idea.

How would this work, for example, in the case of the USA? Simply, the government would reduce the flexibility of IRAs. Right now, Americans who don’t want full exposure to the collapsing dollar can choose to invest their retirement accounts in tangible things like gold, real estate, or offshore bank accounts containing foreign currencies that are expected to do better. In future, these options may be described as ‘too dangerous’ for people to invest their retirement funds in. Instead, government bonds will be promoted as a safer, more conservative asset to invest in. Of course, US government bonds are nothing more than IOUs, and we would argue they are about the most dangerous thing you could invest in right now.

The same situation applies in most other countries, especially in Europe and Australia. There is more and more government pressure to invest retirement funds and pensions into ‘secure’ government debt. It is against this kind of threat that a foreign or international asset protection trust structure can be useful.

An asset protection trust can be either stand-alone, in the case of regular savings – or it can be incorporated into tax-advantaged pension plans like Roth IRAs in the USA or SIPPs in the UK. In the latter case, the trust is owned by the plan itself, while you the investor maintain full control over the trustee, that can be a foreign LLC. Typically we work with offshore asset protection jurisdictions like Nevis and the Cook Islands, or with New Zealand for those seeking an onshore, non-resident asset protection trust.

In my consulting firm we set structures using basic asset protection techniques like this up frequently for clients who are concerned about protecting their assets from nationalization of their retirement savings as described above. Using these simple techniques, you can obtain full tax compliant asset protection. If it sounds like something you would like to learn more about, we have prepared a free report on Asset Protection that you can download right now, without any cost or obligation. It focuses specifically on Nevis, the jurisdiction that probably has the best asset protection trusts legislation in the world. Click here now to obtain your copy, so you can become your own expert in asset protection!

Our next project, that we are working on right now, is a report for Q Wealth Members on Private Trust Companies – a great cutting-edge asset protection technique to counteract the hesitation many clients rightly have about trusting other people with their assets. Our New Zealand report, Trusting in Trusts, covers the use of PTCs or Private Trust Companies in some detail already, for anyone who is interested in finding out more.

Peter Macfarlane, offshore asset protection consultant and joint editor of The Q Wealth Report, has recently been visiting bankers in Singapore. Want to know how to open an offshore private bank account in Singapore? Or how to set up a brokerage account in Singapore with online trading, even if you are a US citizen? Here is a brief trip report. More information will be available in forthcoming issues of The Q Wealth Report, and at our Q Wealth Symposium in Hong Kong this October.

Singapore’s investor-friendly climate has consistently earned high scores in global and regional rankings. And it’s getting better.

I was not disappointed on my latest trip this April, as our local partner gave me a detailed explanation of the latest tax incentives over a cup of Chai tea, from his home office with a fantastic panorama of the city. The tax system in Singapore has been designed not so much to collect revenue as to encourage responsible investment. Investment in things like training and IT. Tax deductions of up to 400% are possible on such expenditures, meaning that a company can easily earn millions and legally pay no tax… but it equally means that a company that’s incapable of earning profits doesn’t get any handouts. Our local partner, for example, is just buying iPads for all his staff to claim the deductions.

After a successful trip, including a visit to the Shorex conference at which I had the chance to meet and network with a number of offshore professionals from around the world, I boarded my flight to Frankfurt. On boarding, I was handed a copy of that day’s FT Asia, with the headline: “America Lacks Credibility on Debt, Says IMF.”

We see news like this every day now. And that’s even somebody like me, who doesn’t watch much TV. Another example: US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says borrowing more from China to finance tax cuts for the most affluent Americans would be irresponsible. But even mainstream Bloomberg says Geithner has got it the wrong way around: “The real question is whether Beijing is willing to double down on a nation whose balance sheet makes Italy look good. Holding $1.2 trillion of U.S. debt is a fast-growing risk to China.” This Bloomberg article was widely reported in media across Asia, though it seems less so in the US!

Richard and I have been writing for years about the rise of the east, but now the east truly has risen. Singapore is the financial hub at the heart of this. It’s a well managed place where people are happy and business can flourish. Of course, you need to be a certain type of person to live in a place, and Singapore would probably not be my first choice for a residence flag… but as a business base it’s just great and getting better!

I guess most people reading this blog already know why they want to get their money out of places like the USA and the west, and they are looking for practical information on how to achieve this. In other words, how to go about opening a foreign bank account, or a bank account in non-US currency… Here at Q Wealth we specialize in practical ‘how-to’ information, of the kind you can only obtain through on-the-ground reporting of this type.If this is your first visit here, feel free to browse our site for information on lots of different jurisdictions.

The good news is that if you just want to get part of your assets into Singapore and Asia, you don’t have to understand the complexities of the Singapore tax system, or worry about making deductions or the annual filing requirements. Here’s a hot tip: The easiest thing to do is just take a pure tax-free offshore company and open a bank account with it in Singapore. This is very easy to do. Singapore does not tax non-residents bank accounts. As long as you have no local Singapore income, you are tax free and can gain the full benefits of participation in the Singapore banking system, including excellent multi-currency banking facilities and access to precious metals like gold and silver.

A Nevis LLC, for example, is ideal for this purpose. I talked to banks in Singapore about this structure and the answer was universally “no problem, sir!” You might say as a company formation agent I am biased, but I personally do all my business and banking through corporations. I never hold any serious assets in my personal name. Some people have particular reasons for opening a personal offshore bank account, but I just wouldn’t feel comfortable thinking of my name being passed from bank to bank around the world every time I send or receive money. Much better to do it in a corporate name.

The great thing about LLCs is that they keep things simple – tax transparency* means that an LLC need not have any impact on your tax situation. By using an LLC you won’t be paying more or less tax, but for the few thousand dollars it will cost you, you will receive a substantial degree of privacy and asset protection. (Of course I am only talking generally here… different countries have different tax systems, so check with your advisors) If you are interested in learning more about Nevis LLCs, check out my free report Untouchable Wealth that covers them in detail.

For Americans, there is a special additional benefit to using an offshore LLC for banking in Singapore: and that is access to ‘forbidden’ investment markets. Very few international brokerages these days will accept US clients. The ones we work with in Switzerland, for example, won’t accept US citizens or residents, even if they are operating through offshore companies. We have one brokerage in Panama that accepts American beneficial owners, but they are – frankly – expensive, and they can no longer guarantee client confidentiality since Panama signed its tax information exchange agreement with the USA. Good news: in Singapore, it is possible for US citizens to control brokerage accounts. You cannot open a brokerage account in Singapore directly in your name as a US citizen, but an offshore LLC solves this problem rapidly and simply. We won’t name specific banks here because we don’t want to draw undue attention to the banks and brokerages that offer this, but if you are a Q Wealth member please feel free to contact the office for referrals to our recommended service providers who can help you out, or contact the office of Peter Macfarlane and Associates. Remember, provided you are a Q Wealth member we do not charge a penny for referrals.

So what about the practicalities of opening a bank or online brokerage account in Singapore? I wrote more than a year ago an article on How to Open an Offshore Bank Account in Singapore. Since then, things have moved on a bit, but read it for background info if you haven’t already. The constant is that you do still have to visit Singapore to get your account set up. Thereafter, of course, you can control it via highly sophisticated internet banking. I did hear that some banks are making moves towards opening accounts via video-conferencing, as the small Swiss private bank we work with now does, but this has not been fully implemented yet. HSBC seem the most advanced on this, perhaps unsurprisingly: they already have plenty of branches around the world equipped with video-confercing facilities.

The best offshore banks in Singapore for westerners are probably the ones with more of an Asian focus. In particular we like DBS Bank, formerly the development Bank of Singapore, set up in 1968 by the Singapore government but now present all over Asia. There are Chinese banks like OCBC if you are bullish on China. If you are more European in your investment outlook, you could choose the Singapore office of one of the Swiss banks. And then there are always the global banks with an international outlook such as HSBC and Standard Chartered. South Africa’s Standard Bank would also fit into this category.

I’ll be publishing more information on Singapore banking, including direct contacts, in the newsletter over the next few months. Remember you can either sign up for our free weekly Q Bytes newsletter, or go straight for the premium paid subscription that costs only $87: check out the list of benefits and order form here.

* What is a tax transparent entity? It’s an entity which is not taxed either in representative capacity or in its own capacity as a tax paying entity, but the tax is levied on the participants in the entity based on their share of income in the entity.

Once you’ve secured your assets offshore in a protected structure, what next? How do you put them to work for you? How do you really ‘create wealth offshore’?

Certainly there’s no point in keeping much cash in an offshore bank account. Interest rates are at record lows, and offshore banks typically pay lower interest rates even than what you are used to offshore. Precious metals like gold and silver are an essential part of any portfolio… but you don’t want to keep all your assets in those, either. Stock markets are good for speculation with a small amount of capital, but frankly they are so manipulated that you as a small player will depend more on luck than judgement.

That leaves one asset class that we haven’t covered for a while: alternative offshore investments, like private offshore hedge funds. I’m moved to write about these because in the last week I’ve come across a couple of interesting opportunities from people I trust.

A WARNING AND CAVEAT FIRST
Those last three words are very important: ‘people I trust.’ Offshore investments are generally subject to little or no regulation. They are intended for sophisticated investors. Unfortunately there are some people out there who are just bad investment managers, and worse are outright offshore investment scams, so you need to go with people you trust.

The good thing, however, is that with alternative investments you can have a much greater involvement with management. You can typically get to interact and meet with managers. One of the opportunities I heard about this week even includes the fringe benefit of being able to use properties owned by the fund in South America.

So it’s all about finding people you trust. The very best way to do this is to get on a plane and do your due diligence in person, seeking second and third opinions along the way. Fortunately, there are people who can point you in the right direction by providing you with the benefits of their research as you start off. In this week’s free Q Bytes newsletter that has just gone out to subscribers, I mention three such people. I won’t name them here because I want to respect their privacy, but if you don’t want to miss out in future, be sure to sign up for Q Bytes.
FOR SOPHISTICATED INVESTORS ONLY

When investing in this kind of opportunity, who you know is everything. Funds like this don’t accept investments from the public, and even less from US residents unless they can certify themselves as sophisticated investors. Fortunately, such limitations don’t apply to participations from entities like Panama offshore corporations, Panama Foundations, or offshore LLCs, though entry levels are typically six figures.

I’m keen on Latin America not least because of resource investment opportunities. And earlier this year a number of Q Wealth readers got involved via Linda Dixon, our long-time  friend from Canada who moved into the gold and silver business in Peru and few years ago, with an alternative investment in a silver mine. These investments are coming to fruition now with huge returns. I talked to Linda a couple of weeks ago and she is preparing some interesting articles and videos for us, that will be available shortly in the Members Area.

If you don’t yet have access to our Members Area, you can see a summary of benefits (in essence, a list of all the info and tools you are missing out on) right here
Another trusted friend who has made a detailed study of alternative investments in frontier markets lately founded Alternative Latin Investor. Nate has been based in Buenos Aires for quite some time, and is just back from a four-month stint in Africa seeking to expand coverage of frontier markets over there. I’m trying to persuade him to join us on our residence, citizenship and investment trip to Paraguay this coming January.

Nate is putting on a very interesting webinar with some big-name experts on alternative investments in Latin America. It is scheduled for November 10th and requires advance registration – with an early bird discount before November 2nd.
NEW PETER MACFARLANE INFO SITE
Finally, just a notification that the new Peter Macfarlane & Associates site is finished. It’s nothing flashy or exciting, but explains a little more about why my consulting firm does in terms of corporate structuring, precious metals and second citizenships. Feel free to check it out at http://www.petermacfarlane.info

by Peter Macfarlane

There’s a lot of misconceptions out there about offshore banking and investing. Newer readers especially may believe a few of the myths exploded below! Even if you’re an old hand at offshore banking, I thought you might enjoy this brief list of some of the most common offshore banking myths…

1. Offshore banking is illegal. The Facts: Granted there are a few countries in the world that outright prohibit their citizens from holding accounts abroad. But very few – even those with strict controls like South Africa, Venezuela and Russia don’t ban their citizens outright from holding offshore bank accounts. Most countries do however have laws insisting that you report your offshore bank accounts to the tax authorities. You can easily verify these requirements with a local professional.  For sure there are some illicit funds deposited in offshore banking havens, but they constitute a small percentage of total criminal proceeds held in banks within high-tax jurisdictions. Bank secrecy laws these days definitely do not protect criminals. The idea of associating offshore banking with crime is all about trying to persuade people to leave their funds where their governments can get their hands on them!
2. Offshore banking is only for tax evasion. The facts: Recent campaigns by major governments and left-wing think tanks try to tar everybody with the same brush. Most people who bank offshore these days are not evading taxes. They are looking for legal tax planning and asset protection strategies – for example: currency diversification, and protection against political risk factors.
3. To have a bank account offshore you need lots of money. The facts: Yes, there are many obscure but very good private banks that won’t be interested in a relationship under a million or two. But there are also plenty of banks, large and small, that are still interested in the regular middle class customer.  At some of the best offshore banks in the best offshore banking countries, you can easily open a bank account with a deposit of $500 or less. There are plenty of options and you will find details in the Q Wealth Practical Offshore Banking Guide.
4. Offshore banks are situated in remote corners of the world or obscure islands, thereby making it difficult to manage the account. The facts: While many offshore jurisdictions are indeed small islands, they are all connected by fiber optic cables! Today, the physical location of the bank is not really important. You can deposit funds electronically and manage them over a secure internet connection. For withdrawals you can wire money out using the internet banking, or you can have an internationally recognised debit or credit card like Visa, Mastercard or American Express.
5. You have to travel to the bank personally to open an account. The facts: The best offshore banks do not require this. They have procedures in place to open accounts either entirely by mail, using copies of documents certified locally, or you can open accounts through other representatives or offices that may be closer to you. Often, if you pay the travel expenses or you are investing a larger amount, you can even have a bank officer travel to visit you.
6. Offshore banking is tax-free. The facts: In most cases you don’t have to pay taxes in the bank’s jurisdiction. The notable exception is Switzerland, which does charge Swiss withholding taxes on the income of foreign account holders. What you do have to remember is that many high tax countries tax the worldwide income of their residents, and one – the United States of America – taxes the worldwide income of their citizens even if they are not resident.
7. Offshore banks open anonymous numbered accounts. The facts: It is still possible in some banks to open numbered bank accounts. Most Swiss banks, for example, offer this facility for a small annual charge. A numbered account is where your name does not appear on the title of the account. However, they are not technically anonymous, since the bank will still need to know who you are. Normally your real identity will only be accessible to a few high-ranking bank officers, and your passport copy will be held in a paper file in the bank’s vault, rather than on a computer where a data or identity thief could potentially download it. So whatever account name or number you are assigned, you will not remain fully anonymous to the bank. It is also no longer permitted to send or receive wire transfers without fully identifying the legal account holder.

Further resources:

For further reading you might enjoy learning about the best offshore banks. If you would like to know more about offshore banking and more generally how to protect assets through international investing, check out our free five part ‘Secrets of the Super Rich’ course. We will be happy to send it to you free and with no obligation whatsoever. We also guarantee not to spam you – we hate spam as much as you do. To receive your free course, sign up here right now: Free Secrets of the Super Rich course

If you’ve ever considered going offshore, banking, living, investing or doing business internationally in Latin American offshore financial centers like Panama and Uruguay,  or on one of the Caribbean islands (Cayman, Bahamas etc), I’ve got some important news for you below.  As Swiss banks are under pressure as never before to lift the veil of bank secrecy, places like Panama have become to look like more attractive options. But how does this work in practice? What is going on today in the secretive world of offshore banks?

The following missive was sent out in our free Q Bytes newsletter a week ago. Response from readers has been phenomenal so we decided to publish it here on the blog, in order to make it available to a wider audience. (If you would like to receive news like this in advance, directly in your e-mail box, be sure to sign up for Q Bytes – remember it’s free!)

As we noted in our last article on the benefits of Panama Corporations and Bank Accounts, Q Wealth has quite a strong Latin American bias when it comes to investing and carrying out offshore business. Although this may surprise some readers, especially in the face of the world-shaping events and undeniably huge money-making opportunities in the Far East that we’ve also recently covered in Q Bytes, we can assure you that ours is a well thought out and considered policy.

Some places in Latin America are very liveable – Panama, for example, for those who dream of living tax-free near a tropical beach, or Uruguay for traditional European style city living at a fraction of the cost of the original version.

This week we are pleased to announce a brand new report prepared by Alternative Latin Investor magazine in association with Peter Macfarlane and The Q Wealth Report. This brand new report covers in-depth the state of offshore banking and wealth management in Latin America and the Caribbean – from a completely new, independent perspective.

It’s based on exclusive interviews with hands-on people in the know, movers and shakers like top bankers and business leaders. And best of all, this report is available entirely free of charge to Q Wealth members. You can download your copy right now in our Members’ Area.

If you have ever considered setting up a Panama bank account, retiring to a vineyard in Argentina, or opening an offshore internet  bank account (or an e-commerce offshore merchant bank account), then you need to read this report. It will help you understand how offshore banking in Latin America and the Caribbean works today – not so much the nuts and bolts of how to do it that you can already get from our Practical Offshore Banking Guide, but things like why different jurisdictions offer different services, how and what the local people, expat bankers and retirees are thinking right now, how governments in the region are reacting to political pressure from the USA, G20 and OECD, and how to ensure the security of your bank deposits… this report will give you the geopolitical depth behind the headlines, essential information for anyone considering living, investing or doing business in the region. You might also enjoy reading our post on the best offshore banks.

We would especially recommend this report as essential background reading alongside our Practical Offshore Banking Guide 2009.

HERE’S WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN OFFSHORE BANKING LATIN AMERICA 2009

Will reading this report be a good investment of your valuable time? I’m sure that’s what you want to know. So here are a few of the key points and quotes specifically covered in this report, that I thought you might find particularly interesting. I’ll try to expand on these in future articles, but in the meantime you can read the details in this Offshore Banking Latin America 2009 report…

• Diversifying location for capital is a significant trend in both the Americas and Europe. Those new to offshore banking may be thinking twice about moving in that direction, but those familiar with its mechanisms feel it is a haven in the present climate. You’ll find out why.
• Whereas before most people thought the worst couldn’t happen, now smart people are planning for worst case scenarios. For Americans, that means a total collapse of the dollar. While inexperienced investors may feel that foreign markets are risky during times of crisis, smarter investors are well aware that risk can be substantially reduced by diversifying offshore.
• Instability provoked by the financial crisis could spark the return of economic nationalism like currency controls or even expropriation around the world. This may be carried out via the back door. Learn how investors and banks in the region are protecting themselves and their assets. For example, learn why corporate accounts at Brazilian-owned banks in New York and Nassau have grown ten-fold since the beginning of 2008.
• Find out more about the breakdown between corporate and personal accounts, and how clients typically achieve stronger asset protection through the use of corporate structures
• Read candid interviews with bankers about how European tax directives could affect European banks with branches in Latin America… this is stuff you won’t read on banks’ corporate websites.
• Why Panama is “not so artificial” and has “a solid economy” – compared to certain Caribbean jurisdictions that might look great on paper, but where the rule of law may not be respected. What image do you want to project when people do due diligence on your offshore corporation? One offshore provider gives a few warnings about things that don’t appear in the official brochures, and names a couple of jurisdictions (including one island that is particularly popular with Americans) that have a less than positive reputation.
• Learn more in-depth about the Panama banking system by reading interviews with local bankers and business people. Legally speaking, there are three different types of banks in Panama – what are the differences? Which should you choose, if any? How does Panama provide security for bank deposits?
• Why asset protection is so important: “If you want to sue someone in the States it doesn’t cost you anything but you can go bankrupt defending yourself.” Learn how Caribbean jurisdictions easily prevent this kind of fantasy lawsuit from ever being filed.
• “Before you had to be a multi-millionaire to make it worthwhile. Now there are people with $100,000 looking to diversify into foreign currencies or invest overseas. This has been made possible by offshore internet banking.” Read about the latest internet banking technologies, debit and credit cards, and multi-currency accounts in the region.
• Read an exclusive interview with Gaetan Bucher, Swiss-Dominican banker and the founder of the $850 million ‘International Financial Centre of the Americas’ – the first financial free zone in the world. This is literally a new ‘financial city’ due to start construction by the end of 2009 with completion scheduled for 2012. IFAC will offer real time offshore banking as well as an electronic clearing and settlement house LAIFEX – backed up by sophisticated financial services from big names. The regulations are being drawn up by Washington law firm Patton Boggs and Deloitte Consulting in London. Lloyds of London are also involved in the project.  Crucially, it is completely aligned with ‘best practice’ guidelines from the OECD and G20. This interview in my view represents a fascinating vision of the future of offshore banking and investing, where borders become insignificant. What will the offshore landscape look like when IFAC opens in 2012? Anyone thinking of going offshore now should think very seriously about this last question.
• Discover a new free online networking opportunity aimed at Baby Boomers retiring offshore, where they can search for international real estate, ask questions of experts, and meet people with similar interests. It’s a chance to connect with people who have ‘been there and done that.’
• Nothing beats doing your homework on an offshore jurisdiction before you finally select. One banker comments how smaller banks are often more orderly than big banks. He says, “Look for a historic bank that has worked well for many years, that has a strong balance sheet and doesn’t do strange things.” And you’ll learn other due diligence tips too.
• Do people who are retiring in the region need offshore accounts, or can they get better services from local banks? An important question for those applying for residence or buying property. It’s answered in this report.

All the above and more is covered in Offshore Banking: Latin America 2009, available free for download in Q Wealth’s Members Area. If you are not yet a member, you can buy access online now for just $87 for a year’s membership. Sign up now and get this info while it’s hot of the press!

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.