Oct/090
Singapore Private Banking Catching Up With Swiss Private Banking
Is it for real?
So Singapore private banking has experienced huge growth over the last 10 years or so. With 300Bn in managed wealth, Singapore is reckoned to manage 5% of worldwide private banking assets.
This has much to do with Singapore’s strict privacy laws, but also just as much to do with the rise in the number of millionaries throughout Asia.
Yet the mass exodus of assets from Switzerland to Singapore hasn’t happened yet. The Swiss stand strong with 25% of the world’s private wealth under their prudent guardianship. 5 times as much as the Singapore.
So what’s the deal? Keep reading this singapore private banking article.
Oct/090
Will Private Offshore Banks Keep Your Account Confidential?
Everyone knows that private banks are supposed to be more ”hush hush” than your average bank. Private banking outfits in countries with strong bank secrecy like the Cayman Islands, Switzerland and Panama are expected to keep a low profile. But is the private bank really as secretive as it appears?
Various factors come into play here.
- Where the bank is located.
- Does the bank have operations in foreign countries (and outside the jurisidiction of its home secrecy laws)?
- The size of the bank
Continue reading this informative article on private offshore banks.
Oct/090
Singapore Private Banking: Clients Prefer ´´Self-Directed´´ Investment
Every savvy investor knows that even the most trusted private bank is prone to plugging its own products. While some private banking clients are happy to take a back seat, more and more are looking to direct their own investments, and take responsibility for risks. This is the message coming from Singapore private banking investors, according to delegates at the Reuters Global Wealth Management Summit held this 5-7th October in international financial centres worldwide.
Singapore Private Banking - Clients Like To Be In The Driving Seat
Excellent financial advice equals financial peace of mind, ideally HNWI´s can invest in creating a secure and comfortable future for themselves and their families - but even investing with notable global private banks might not fulfill that need. Fortunately, by the end of this article you will know exactly how to get private banking that´s not fueled by over-priced, under-performing products.
According to analysts, big banks like UBS are not operating the correct business model, particularly within the Asian market. A focus on product sales rather than improving advice and portfolio performance leads to a failure to build long-term client relationships.
“The challenge is to provide real quality advice that will make the difference,” says Justin Ong, head of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Asia Pacific wealth management in Singapore.
Instead, offshore private banking needs to put more resources into providing top notch trust and estate planning services, a market with great potential for growth as first generation Asian entrepreneurs age, analysts say.
“The challenge is to provide real quality advice that will make the difference,” said Ong.
Additionally Asian clients are looking to make their own decisions regarding FX and the stockmarkets.
“It is very common for us in Asia to have a client who is CEO of a large corporation or a billionaire who takes personal decisions in FX or trades FX actively or trades fixed-income or whatever he is investing in,” said Debashish Dutta Gupta, Citigroup head of investments for Asia-Pacific wealth management.
More standalone, streamlined private banking services are popping up to fill the demand. One example is Capital Conservator, which offers private bank accounts in multiple-currencies with trading facilities, promising total privacy and total investor control. An important benefit is that Capital Conservator does not sell any of its own investment products, leaving the focus on pure banking. With a reasonable 1% entry rate, this self-directed private bank account, may well be the future of private banking.
Oct/090
Mexico Asks US for Offshore Bank Account Data
When the US achieved a degree of success in targeting their own tax evaders with accounts at Swiss private banks, Mexico hoped to do something along the same lines. It may come as a shock to many that the vast majority of foreign deposits by wealthy Mexicans are not stored in Switzerland, Panama or the Cayman Islands, but the US.
In a letter to US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner in Febuary, Mexican Finance secretary Agustin Carstens sought help for his fight against tax cheats. Some wealthy Mexicans had deposited in American banks he said, knowing that it would not be reported.
The US does not tax interest paid to non-resident aliens, and Mexico currently has no way of identifying its citizens with US deposits.
More on this story - usa today article.
Sep/090
Uruguay Bank Secrecy
The recurrent theme of bank secrecy in Uruguay continues to surface as Presidential elections in the country draw closer. For those with an eye on Uruguay private banking this will prove interesting..
Uruguyan newsportal espectador.com reports left-wing Presidential candidate Jose Mujica indicating that he is open to discuss the future of bank secrecy within the Mercosur.
”Son cuestiones que habrá que negociar dentro del Mercosur: cuál va a ser el modelo financiero que vamos a llevar, si vamos a mantener o no vamos a mantener el secreto bancario o secreto tributario” -
Presidential Candidate Jose Mujica is Ready To End Bank Secrecy In Uruguay
”These are questions which will have to be negotiated within Mercosur: which financial model which we are going to use, and whether or not we are going to maintain bank secrecy or tax secrecy,” said Mujica in an interview pulished by reuters.
It is not the first time Mujica has threatened to change bank secrecy, an issue which had previously provoked differences in primary elections between himself and aspiring Frente Amplio candidate Danilo Astori.
Uruguay is being pressured by neighbours Argentina and Brasil to water down bank secrecy. Argentina especially is concerned that its wealthy citizens have made high-value property purchases in Uruguayan beach resorts like Punta Del Este, without reporting them to authorities.
Opposition candidate and former President Luis Alberto Lacalle has pledged to keep bank secrecy for the forseeable future. Recent polls show the two candidates benefiting from equal support ahead of elections scheduled for October.
Sep/090
UK and Switzerland Amend Double Taxation Treaty
Swiss Bank Secrecy Threatened Again - What Are the Alternatives?
Swiss and UK authorities added to an existing double taxation treaty on Thursday by agreeing to OECD standards for transparency and information exchange. It is expected that the new treaty, if and when it comes into force, will be used to help combat tax evasion.
The agreement is part of a worrying relaxation of bank secrecy in Switzerland, coming after the release of confidential account details to both France and the US. This latest agreement has the capacity to affect even those who have no relation with the UK, if the UK manages to pass on information which it has discovered about the citizens of other countries.
Since March, Switzerland has operated a new policy concerning international cooperation in tax matters, and agreed to adopt article 26 of the OECD Model Double Tax Convention.
Despite the worrying signs, there is still hope. Although the Swiss government has agreed this treaty, it must still ratified by the Swiss internally. Furthermore, laws in Switzerland are subject to a referendum and repeal with a petition of 50,000 signatures. For Swiss citizens, it must seem the benefits of keeping bank secrecy surely outweigh the disadvantages.
Even so, privacy-seekers are constantly on the lookout for alternatives which might still keep their identity confidential where a Swiss bank account fails. At the forefront of developing viable financial alternatives are offshore financial companies such as Capital Conservator - which manage to keep customer identities confidential irrespective of changes in bank secrecy.
Find out more about about confidential private banking and private bank accounts.
Aug/090
Private Banking In Uruguay
Plaza Fabini, Montevideo - home to Uruguay's petite private banking district.
Uruguay had a number of problems a few years ago but its problems were based on a defective banking system that was totally reliant on its next door neighbor Argentina. So when Argentina´s economy went under it pulled the private banks in Uruguay under.
That situation has been largely rectified to a great extent by bringing in foreign banks but at the same time by bringing in foreign banks, Uruguay has lessened his effectiveness as an offshore center, because each one of the foreign banks are headquartered in a high tech country that wants to know what´s going on in Uruguay. Despite it’s impressive bank secrecy record, ultra-secret private banking in Uruguay is hard to find.
Here’s a list of foreign banks operating in Uruguay:
Sud Bank & Trust Company Limited
SG PRIVATE BANKING S.A.
UBS AG
HSBC Bank USA, National Association
Credit Suisse Schweizerische Kreditanstalt
Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild S.A.
Bank Of New York-Inter Maritime Bank
Man Investments AG
Lloyds TSB Bank Plc
Bank Leu AG
Santander Bank & Trust Ltd.
BSI S.A.
Crédit Agricole S.A.
Royal Bank of Canada de Montreal
Coutts Bank von Ernst Ltd.
UEB United European Bank
Safra National Bank of New York
Bank Hofmann AG de Zurich
American Express Bank Limited
BBVA S.A.
HSBC Private Bank S.A.
LGT Bank Ltd.
LGT Bank in Liechtenstein Ltd.
Mizrahi Tefahot Bank Ltd.
Uruguay also has a decent selection of home grown banks. The fees are not extravagant and often there will be a fairly low minimum deposit.
Banco de la República Oriental del Uruguay and Banco Hipotecario del Uruguay are government-owned.
Privately owned banks include:
Banco Bandes Uruguay S.A.
Crédit Uruguay Banco S.A.
Nuevo Banco Comercial S.A.
Discount Bank S.A.
Banco Santander S.A.
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria Uruguay S.A.
HSBC Bank S.A.
Banco Surinvest S.A.
Banco Itaú-BBA S.A. Sucursal Uruguay
Citibank N.A. Sucursal Uruguay
ABN AMRO Bank N.V. Suc. Montevideo
Lloyds TSB Bank plc
Banco de la Nación Argentina
From personal experience with both Nuevo Banco Commerical and Banco de la republica oriental de uruguay (BROU) i can say that they are both safe, friendly institutions, with modest and sensible due diligence. I did not need a bank reference letter to open an account (at HSBC this WAS required), just the passport and proof of residence. They will ask you what you want to do with the account and roughly what figures you expect going in and out. If you stick to within the guidelines there are few problems.
Another great source on Uruguay private banking.
Aug/090
Swiss Private Bank UBS Reveals 4,450 Private Bank Accounts To IRS
The Swiss government has agreed to lift bank secrecy on 4,450 private banking accounts in order to settle a tax evasion dispute with US authorities. The accounts as Swiss Private Bank UBS had been the subject of protracted legal wranglings.
Swiss Bank Secrecy - Still Gold Standard?
The IRS had alledged that up to 52′000 wealthy Americans were dodging taxes by parking funds in secret private accounts at the bank.
The Swiss government was resistant to handing over names of account holders since tax evasion is not a crime under Swiss law. It was argued that handing over confidential records without actual evidence of a crime would break Swiss bank secrecy laws.
However, in order to prevent continuing bad press both towards the Swiss government and UBS (in which the government has a stake), the Swiss agreed to hand over a certain number of clients, allowing the American government to save face at the same time.
This agreement prevents US authorities from gaining knowledge of every US account holder, but it is expected that the largest tax-evading accounts will be among those revealed.
While media are keen to signal the agreement as an “end” to swiss bank secrecy, it is only Swiss banks with US operations that were targeted in the IRS probe. Swiss private banks without US operations are under no compulsion to hand over confidential information except with proven evidence of crime.
Aug/090
More than 300 Banks Forced to Disclose Private Offshore Bank Accounts to HMRC
A court ruling has obliged 308 banks with operations in the UK to hand over information on their clients’ private offshore bank accounts.
HMRC Believes British Tax Payers Are Concealing Billions Offshore
In concert with a forthcoming tax amnesty set for this Autumn, the judgement will help HMRC reveal 1000’s of offshore accounts that hold secret wealth not reported to tax authorities.
Although a list of the banks has not been published, is it thought that many are established banks with offshore branches in tax havens and offshore financial centres like Switzerland. Others will be foreign banks that have opened UK branches.
Affluent offshore account holders who choose not to reveal their private accounts will face a penalty of 30% and a greater risk of criminal prosecution if government investigators discover that they evaded tax.
The UK government believes wealthy British citizens are concealing billions offshore, and is determined to recoup unreported wealth.
Aug/090
Opening a Private Bank Account Online
Capital Conservator Private Banking have launched a cutting-edge priority banking service, following increasing inquiries from very large depositors. Features include extreme privacy, close personal attention and the ability to open private bank accounts remotely. The service expects to attract entrepreneurs and business owners along with selected wealth managers….
More about online private banking
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