Many jurisdictions from around the globe offer tax incentives to individuals who wish to diversify their portfolio and save some money at the same time, but few of these jurisdictions give you the opportunity to open a bank and start a business in the ever expanding banking industry.
There are some great options for you in this sector, see Puerto Rico, but some of the best places to open a bank are located in the caribbean. For example, the beautiful and tropical island of Belize.
Belize is one of the best kept secrets of the banking industry and one of the best places where an American can open a bank license without that much hassle and that much capital. If you don’t know about Belize’s banking industry, then I recommend you to investigate because the potential is infinite in the island.
At this moment, there are seven licensed banks in Belize meaning that there is an absurd amount of potential for growth and that the country is welcoming any interested parties who are looking to be number eight with open arms.
Here is a brief timeline of the steps you will have to take in order to get a banking license in Belize:
- Introductory Meeting
- Pre – Filing Meeting
- Application Accepting and Processing
- Central Bank Reviewal
- Due Diligence Analysis
- Organization of the New Bank
Belize offers two types of licenses, a Class A bank license which has an estimated cost of $250,000 dollars and a class B license which costs about $100,000 dollars and takes about twelve months to process.
There are a few differences between the Class A bank license and the Class B. A Class A bank license has almost no operational restrictions but it does require a minimum capital investment of $3,000,000 USD.
A Class B license requires $500,000 in capital investment as a minimum, but as opposed to the Class A it does offer some significant restrictions. For example, with this license you cannot offer checkbooks to depositors.
Before your banking license is approved there are some basic requirements that must be met, including:
- A registered company office
- Bank Account
- Website
- Share Capital
- Qualifications
- Experience
- Registered Agent
One key thing that you must know before you start your application for a banking license in Belize, is that the owners of the bank must all be individuals and not a corporation or a financial entity of any kind.
The only exception being if you already have a license in another jurisdiction. Then, your domestic bank can obtain an international license in Belize. This process is much faster, but you must still comply with the minimum capital requirements stipulated in the guidelines.
Some of the documents that will be asked of you when you start your application to open a bank in Belize include:
- Information regarding the Directors and the Officers who will make up the Board
- Financial Report of said Directors and Officers
- Character References for each Director and Officer
- Police Report of every Director and Officer from each country they lived in the last 5 years
- Letter of Recommendation from a Banking Institution for each Director and Officer
- Audited Reports of the Company that is to be established in the country
- Application for the preliminary work and submission of the Company
- Application for International Business Company
- Detailed Business Plan
The entity that will regulate all of this is the Central Bank of Belize. There are two documents that need to be reviewed as they include all of the financial laws that regulate the banking industry in Belize, the BFIA and the IBA.
This same entity also has the task to inspect all banking activities in the country, and can even perform unscheduled inspections at any given moment. It is important to make sure that all due diligences are in order as any fault can cause any approved banking license to be approved.
Banking activities that you can perform once your license has been approved include the following:
- Trading in Foreign Exchange
- Payment Processing Services
- Consulting and Advisory Services
- Asset Management
- Money brokering
- Accounting Services
- Trading in futures, options, interest rate, shares, stocks, contracts, and other securities
- Money lending and pawning
- Currency Exchange
I hope you’ve found this article on the requirements to open a bank in Belize to be helpful. For more information, or for assistance in starting a bank in Puerto Rico or Belize, contact us at info@premieroffshore.com or call us at (619) 550-2743.
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