Fall 2010
Banking in Belize
Safe, Stable, and Solvent by Peter Zipper
Belize is a leading Central American international jurisdiction, and many visitors are intrigued about international banking. The growth in international travel, coupled with the increasing use of the Internet to make a living or help manage businesses from afar, have led to growing use of international banking and international trusts. Others have made the same decisions to relocate or diversify their financial affairs and open international accounts.
In addition to commercial banks in Belize serving local customers, Belize has developed a small but growing community of offshore (or international banks as they like to be called) banks. These international banks were authorized by the Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1995, and the introduction of the Offshore Banking Act, 1996, and the Money Laundering (Prevention) Act, 1996. By law they cannot serve customers who are citizens of or legal residents of Belize. The 1995 legislation defines an international bank as “receiving, borrowing or taking up foreign money exclusively from non-residents at interest or otherwise on current account, savings account, term deposit or other similar account and which according and subject to arrangement is repayable on the check, draft, order, authority or similar instrument of the customer, and investing the foreign money so received by lending, giving credit or otherwise exclusively to non-residents; or carrying on exclusively with non-residents such other activities as are customarily related or ancillary to international banking.”
“CAYE INTERNATIONAL BANK LIMITED (CIBL)” was granted an Unrestricted “A” Class International Banking License on September 29th, 2003 by the Central Bank of Belize. The regulatory authority is the Central Bank of Belize (CBB) who set the standards for liquidity and capital adequacy. CBB maintains that CIBL and other International Banks in Belize maintain a liquidity of 24%. This requirement ensures the safety of our Bank.
CIBL offers competitive products to our depositors that are 50 to 100% higher than in the United States and in the absence of an FDIC program, our liquidity requirement is 400% higher as well. (E.g. on a deposit of $500K, we need to maintain 24% or $120K in a liquid form and in effect can only on-lend/utilize $380K).
CIBL is the only International Bank that is headquartered on the beautiful island of Ambergris Caye and our license permits us to carry on business with both individuals and corporations who are non-residents of Belize. We offer a full range of traditional and non-traditional banking services and accounts in United States Dollars (USD), Canadian Dollars (CAD), Great Britain Pounds (GBP), Swiss Francs (CHF), and Euro (EUR) Currencies.
A lot of people want to purchase a second home offshore or even move permanently offshore and find it difficult to get the mortgage loan they seek. That’s where Caye International Bank comes in. We get you financing in USD, CAD, GBP, CHF, and EUR currencies for projects in Belize, Nicaragua, Panama and Costa Rica when your banks can’t or won’t. Our loans are offered at competitive attractive rates for this region and an easy repayment schedule.
Why bank with Caye International Bank, Ltd. (CIBL)?
- Privacy – At CIBL, your banking information belongs to you due to Bank Secrecy Law
- Protection – The legal system in Belize is pro defendant, pro beneficiary.
- Safe – Reserve requirements (24% liquidity) in Belize are three times the reserve requirements in the United States.
- Profitable – CIBL offers competitive interest rates to our depositors that are 50 to 100 % higher than in the United States.
- Security – Caribbean and Central America demographics support a strong demand for our services.
- Access – CIBL opens a world of investments closed to U. S. and small investors.
- Professional – CIBL’s Executive Management Team has over 50 years of U.S., Belize and International Banking experience.
- Technology – CIBL’s Banking System enable technologies that surpass other financial institutions in both Belize and the U.S.
- Warm – Both the climate and the people.
CIBL offers traditional investment products which include:
- USD CD’s from 1 to 5 years with interest rates of 3.00% to 6.50%.
- Savings Accounts with interest rates of 1.25% to 3.50%, and
- Demand Deposit Accounts with interest rates of 0.50% to 1.25%.
Purchase of investments are also offered through relationships with Brokerage firms in Panama, you can purchase of investments on worldwide markets: US, Canada, Asia, UK, etc. such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, structured products, futures, and options.
And through strategic alliances with other offshore providers we are able to offer:
- International Trusts & Trustee Services
- Corporate formations and IBC’s
- Captive Insurance Companies & Annuity Products, and
- Ship Registrations to name a few.
Due to a growing trend in international travel, as well as increasing ease of conducting international business through the internet, international banking and international trusts have become an attractive financial option. Belize can rightly take pride in the steps it has taken to ensure that the expansion of its international services sector is well regulated and that it remains a favorable alternative among the international business community.
|
Peter Zipper is President of Caye International Bank, Ltd., based in Belize. He has been involved in private banking for over 30 years, and is an authority on offshore banking and investment centers. Mr. Zipper has lectured at thousands of conferences and spoken on television and radio shows around the world, in both English and German. Mr. Zipper began his career in banking in Canada in the early 1980’s, before moving to Vienna, Austria. There he was Senior Vice-President for a large private bank for 17 years, and a member of the management and investment committee responsible for a worldwide network of financial advisors.