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Home > Offshore Company > Offshore Bank Account > Bank in Belize

Our company offers introduction services for opening corporate bank accounts in Belize.

If you would like to open a personal offshore bank account, please contact our office.

About the Bank

This bank is the largest bank in Belize. It offers a full range of banking and financial services to both domestic and international customers.

The bank started his business in 1903.

Currently the bank has over 710 million dollars in assets, 122 million dollars of capital reserves and about 50% market share in Belize banking industry.

Banking Secrecy and Tax Treaties

Banking secrecy in Belize is strictly enforced by law. Belize authorities have no direct access to bank information. Court order is required to get such access.

Belize has double tax treaties with UK, Denmark, Sweden and the CARICOM countries.

Belize has signed Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEA) with Australia, Belgium, Netherlands and UK. The agreements with Aruba, Denmark, Faro Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Sweden are pending ratification.

Required Corporate Documents

All required corporate documents are prepared and submitted to the bank by our Belize agent.

Required Personal Documents

The bank requires the following personal documents from each beneficial owners and authorized signatories:

• A notarized copy of the valid passport (pages containing photo, signature and personal details)

• Bank reference from a bank, which knows the person over 2 years

• Second reference from a professional (lawyer or accountant) or another bank, which knows the person over 2 years

• Proof of residential address (original utility bill with individual’s name and residential address).

Personal Visit

Our clients, who use the bank introduction services are not required to visit the bank in person.

Client has to send his personal documents and completed and signed bank forms to our Belize office. The office submits the application to the bank and monitors the account opening process.

Initial Deposit

The minimum amount required for the establishment of a current account is US$1,000. When the account is opened, a client receives an email from our company confirming account details.

The bank does not have a specific deadline for the initial deposit. However, our company recommends our clients to send their initial deposits within one month.

Upon receiving the initial deposit the bank makes the account active and ready for business.

Minimum Balance

A minimum balance of US$1,000 is required to be maintained at all time.

Online Banking

The bank offers advanced online banking including:

• Access to account balances and account transactions

• Transfer money between accounts in the same bank

• International wire transfer payments.

Clients have access to their accounts 24/7.

Debit and Credit Cards

The bank offer Visa Debit Card and credit cards Visa Classic Card, Visa Gold Card and Mastercard.

The debit card provides direct access to the bank account. Each debit card payment is automatically deducted from the bank account.

There are no credit limit and security deposit for debit cards. As soon as a client has a positive balance on his bank account, he may use the card.

Security deposit is required for credit cards. The amount equal to 150% of the credit card limit must be held in a secured US dollar bank account opened with the bank. Credit card limit may be from a minimum of US$5,000 up to US$25,000.

Debit and credit cards provides the following advantages:

• 24/7 access to funds in any place of the world

• worldwide acceptance for any online or in store purchases

• worldwide cash withdraw.

Time Required

The bank usually opens a corporate account in 1 to 2 business days after receiving completed application forms, corporate and personal documents and verification of clients personal documents and business information.

Currencies

The bank opens accounts in USD, EUR, GBP and CAD and issue credit cards in USD.

Bank Fees

Bank Account Fees:

• Maintenance fee payable monthly: US$10.

• International wire transfer fee:

  • Incoming payments: $20.

  • Outgoing payments: US$75.

• Fee for the issue of a bank draft: US$10 per draft for all accounts

• Cheque book: US$3 for a 50 page cheque book for all accounts

• Internet banking: free of charge

• Bank's fee for opening a current account: free of charge.

Credit Card Fees:

• Issue Fee: free of charge

• Annual Fee: $100.00 and $25 for each additional Card Holder

• ATM cash withdrawals: 1%, minimum $5

• Currency Conversion Fee: 2.5% if non-US currency transaction

• International Service Fee: 1% for all transactions outside of Belize

• Over Limit Fee: $25 each time cardholder goes over the limit

• Card Replacement: free of charge.

Debit Card Fees:

• Issue fee: free of charge

• Annual fee: $50 and $25 for each additional Card Holder

• ATM Cash withdrawal: 2 %, min $3

• Currency Conversion Fee: 2.5% if non-US currency transaction

• International Service Fee: 1% for all transactions outside of Belize

• Card Replacement: $50.

Feedback of Our Clients

Our company introduces its clients to the bank and constantly monitors clients experience with the bank's services.

The bank's new client acceptance rate is around 98%. About 2% of applications are declined due to inability of the clients to provide required personal documents or confirm their references.

Our clients, who have accounts with the bank have high level of satisfaction by the banks services. Especially, they admit excellent online banking system, which is very user friendly and reliable. Clients also like that the bank informs about each transaction via email.

Our company highly recommends this bank.