Offshore Panama Bank Accounts - In 5 Days
by Ronald Edwards


You can obtain a Panama Bank Account without having to come to Panama!

Documents Required - A copy of a Passport, letter of reference from a recognized bank that is able to send and receive international wire transfers and a letter of reference from an attorney, accountant or company you do business with on their letterhead. Any bank in the modern world using the international wire system will require at least this much documentation from a foreigner opening up a bank account in their jurisdiction. For Bank Secrecy information and corporate privacy read below.

Panama Banks - Panama banks do open offshore bank accounts. Panama asides from being the number one retirement haven in the world is also the world's foremost tax haven and offshore bank accounts in Panama are the most coveted in the world today. All the banks we use have online banking including sending of international wire transfers, checking of balances, history and other information. You can get an ATM Debit card that is good worldwide for ATM withdrawals and it works for some Point of Sale Purchases. We work with several different banks and savings and loans in Panama. We do not discuss names of banks until after a person becomes a paid client, and all the required documents have been provided, please do not ask. Same applies to sending out bank forms, signature cards, etc. We have a list of banks that we have a working relationship with where we are able to have accounts opened without the need for the parties to come to Panama. Some of these banks are large multi-national conglomerates with assets in the 100 Billion Dollar Range and others are small Panama only Banks that offers a more personal touch and banks with everything in between. We have never had a customer leave us because we could not get them an account with a bank or savings and loan they felt was not suitable. Savings and loans in Panama insure account balances up to $10,000 through the National Bank, something like the FDIC in the USA but with lower insured amount. We can normally have an account opened within 5 working days of the receipt of our fee and the required documents.

The Process - Making a trip to Panama is not necessary. Panama Banks never accept cash to open an account. Some customers wish to come to Panama to meet the bank, etc. This is fine but we will NOT introduce a person to any bank until after they are a paid up client and we have done our due diligence having their reference letters, passport copy etc. The banks rely on the law firm to do the required due diligence in the area of know your customer which is the same as required by the banks. The banks in Panama have no shortage of customers since a Panama Bank Account is the most coveted in the world right now. The banks do not wish to have potential customers contacting them directly before the law firm has completed their due diligence. The banks are not fond of foreigners calling on the phone about opening up an account. If you are coming to Panama which again is not necessary, we suggest you do the formation of the corporation or foundation before you come and we can get the bank account approved by the new account committee before you arrive so basically you just meet the bank manager, sign the forms and signature cards and then are free to depart and your account should be functional the next day. We can assist with corporate rates on a hotel; get you an English speaking driver with a car, etc. Some banks will provide an ATM card with the account immediately. The ATM card is usually in the name of the corporation if it is a corporate account. Some do not want such an ATM card because the corporate name can have associations regarding the wire system from wires being sent and received and thus violate their privacy. This brings up the option of a third party ATM card that has numbers only, no account name at all on the card. There is also the option of having a MasterCard or Visa debit card (not credit card) for an extra fee. The Visa or MasterCard debit card also can function as an ATM card.

Stock Trading - The savings account can also be directly tied to a stock trading account. This allows one to trade online around the world. There is a $50,000 minimum to open such an account. The clearing agent is top drawer. We can also arrange for you to have a separate brokerage account in Panama with minimums as low as $25,000. USA passport holders can not have a personal stock trading account – corporate or foundation only.

Type of Account - Offshore bank accounts in Panama can be opened for a corporation or a foundation. Accounts can be opened for personal, corporate or for a foundation. USA passport holders can not open personal bank accounts unless they actually reside in Panama and can document this. We always suggest the offshore bank account in Panama be opened using a Panama corporate structure. This way when wires are sent or received it can not be seen that you are the person(s) behind the corporation. When you use an anonymous Panama Bearer Share Company the ownership of the company is not recorded in any registry or public record database so no snooping entity can determine who is actually receiving the funds, and this makes for very private personal banking. Recently there was a scandal in the media where it came out that the USA was monitoring SWIFT wire transactions for some years. Monitoring a wire transaction to an anonymous corporation is fairly meaningless since nothing is known about the ownership of the corporation. If the sending entity was also an anonymous corporation that would be a good working definition of a dead end both ways. We always advise against personal offshore bank accounts in Panama for these reasons in addition to the fact that a corporate or foundation bank account greatly enhances asset protection but will work on personal accounts at the client’s request. We can not get personal bank accounts for USA residents/citizens. As an additional option one can open an offshore Panama bank account using a Panama Foundation which is also anonymous.

Bank Account Signatory Verification – You or your designated signatory(s) will be the only person(s) with access to your offshore Panama bank account. What we do is have the bank opened up as a zero balance account; no money is in the account. Before you load the account with any funds we will show you how to securely contact the bank by phone and verify that no one else can sign on the account or otherwise access the bank account. After the account is funded online banking information will then be emailed to you directly and you reset the password securely online immediately upon receipt. ATM card will be sent by courier directly to you.

Number of Bank Accounts - You can open up more than one Panama offshore bank account in different banks using different corporations or same corporation or a corporation and a foundation. Sending funds from one corporation or foundation to another for payroll, purchases or other reasons can easily be accomplished using the ACH system in Panama which 30 large banks use. This is not a wire transfer and the data is covered by Panama Bank Secrecy laws and only entities covered by these laws have the data. It takes one to two days for the ACH transfer to be completed and the cost is about $1.00 per transaction.

Panama Bank Secrecy - Panama has strict banking secrecy laws better than any jurisdiction we know of. Panama has no tax treaty with any other country. This is not the case with tax havens like Switzerland, Belize etc. who do get into tax treaties with numerous countries. Tax treaties are the legal basis for government fishing expeditions. Fishing expeditions do not happen in Panama. If a bank employee or officer violates the bank secrecy laws they can go to prison, get fined and of course you can sue the daylights out of the offending bank. The bank secrecy laws are statutory in Panama. Did you know for instance that the so called bank secrecy laws of Belize are not actually written in their law books? Panama is the best jurisdiction for asset protection. Panama Bank Accounts are most desired bank accounts in the world today. The banks are solid, the US Dollar is the national currency of Panama (we can also get euro accounts), the government is stable and the corporate privacy, bank secrecy and attorney privacy is the best there is anywhere.

Click here for a complete list of countries with tax treaties with the U.S.

Violating Panama Bank Secrecy - Getting into your bank records in Panama would require a court order from a Panama Court which is a seldom seen event, very rare and is usually reserved for simply awful large scale bad guys engaged in one of these four areas of criminal activity: child pornography, narcotics trafficking; real terrorism and serious real large money laundering (think millions of dollars). In the most unlikely event such a thing did happen here is how it would take place. The country requesting the information would first need to have a criminal case on file in the national criminal courts of their country against the persons in question that hold the bank accounts and they would have to have specific bank accounts in their request not a fishing expedition. Requests can only be made by a national government, not a city, county, state, territory, parish etc. The request must be based on an existing open criminal case in their national courts. Through diplomatic channels they would make a formal written request for the information with numerous details provided. They would have to show why they need Panama to supply this information and that it is not obtainable any other way and is also necessary for them to make their case and that the information contained in the bank records would be what they need to make their case and why this is so. Panama has the right to ask questions, get clarification and even refuse the request. These requests can go back and forth and years can go by before the information is provided or a formal denial of the information is made. Based on the request as a legal option available to them Panama could seize the bank records not turning them over to the requesting government and conduct their own investigation first if they felt Panama law was violated and thus deny the request until their investigation was completed which could take years. Of course various statues of limitation could expire before this information request process was completed. Panama does not get interested in Fiscal offenses especially those pertaining to taxation. Taxation violations in Panama are only civil offenses and the offense needs to be a crime in Panama for the bank secrecy to be violated not just a crime in some other jurisdiction. Panama Bank records being turned over to another government for civil offenses (bankruptcy, family court, divorce, civil judgments etc.) is something not seen in Panama. Remember if Panama was not private and protective there wouldn't be 135 large international banks in Panama many with their own 40 story modern skyscraper and 400,000 corporations domiciled in Panama. Each corporation pays an annual tax of $300, which brings the total revenue from corporations to $120,000,000. In addition to this revenue there is additional revenue in the form of fees to nominee directors, resident agents, associated bank accounts, etc. The net revenue from the Panama Canal is only about $335,000,000. This is for a country of 2.9 million people. Today roughly 20% of the Panama work force is employed by the banks. Most people do not know this but Panama is a neutral country. Welcome to Switzerland's replacement which is going to be around for many years to come.

Collecting Civil Judgments – If you are worried about a judgment from a civil court being l evied against your Panama bank account, relax. If the civil offense in question occurred outside of Panama and the order was not from a Panama court it would most likely get kicked out of Panama court if the other party was even determined enough to try and collect the judgment in Panama. The court in Panama would probably rule that they have no venue or authority over the matter since it was a not a dispute about events that occurred in Panama and thus dismiss the case. The other side would post money for court costs and incur high attorney fees after being told their prospects for success were either extremely slim or none. This is something rarely seen in Panama. In Panama your personal assets and debts are not the same as those of a Panama corporation or a Panama foundation so levying a civil judgment against your corporation or foundation is a somewhat difficult matter with again an unlikely chance of success combined with court waits of years and high legal fees. Remember ownership of Panama Corporations and Foundations is anonymous so how would a financial enemy even know the corporation or foundation was yours and even if they could prove this (how they could prove this is an interesting question unless you told them it was yours) there are still massive legal hurdles to overcome to show you made a fraudulent conveyance to avoid creditors. There is a three year window concerning fraudulent conveyance and the court wait could easily be five years which is another not insignificant hurdle to overcome. What if you do not own the Panama Corporation, a Panama Foundation owns it and a Panama Foundation really has no owner, or we could insert another entity to own the foundation, etc. etc. etc. Panama is not a litigious society and aggressive civil collection practices from other countries are seriously discouraged.

Panama Taxes - In Panama income tax offenses are all civil. Panama has no taxation for offshore income so unless you operate a brick and mortar business in Panama. Your income will be offshore derived and not taxable at all even if you have a Panama Corporation, Panama bank account, office address in Panama, phone in Panama, web site located in Panama, etc. If all your income is offshore derived you do not even need to file a Panama tax return. Panama also has no capital gains if you like stock trading and this of course means your bank interest is not taxed either. Panama has no probate, no inheritance, and no estate taxes.

About The Author

Ronald Edwards is a researcher, with years of experience in finances and real estate. For more information, please visit:www.panamalaw.org

email at: panamalegal@hush.com