Things You Must Know While Opening An Offshore Merchant Account

Opening an offshore account makes an important step towards international business setup. So it is a crucial step that should be taken with immense care. Here are a few things that should be in your mind while considering an offshore merchant account:

Jurisdiction should be chosen wisely

Not all jurisdictions are equal and hence you should be careful while choosing one. Every bank in a particular country is governed by the laws there. In addition, it is also governed by a number of other internationally applicable financial oversights. You would want to have an offshore account in a jurisdiction that seems a tax heaven, but the truth may be different due to the above mentioned factors. Well, it is because the bank may be targeted in a way by anti-money laundering laws or restrictions on the methods of conducting business. This may give rise to a financial conflict which you would not want to be a part of.

Geographical area of the bank should also impact your decision. Your country of residence has an impact on where you can bank offshore. Also, the tax-collecting agreements and the information sharing treaties between the countries would affect your decision.

Privacy and anonymity

Banking services should ensure privacy and anonymity while complying with the international norms. However, privacy becomes conditional when it comes to offshore banking. Mostly, banks follow privacy protection measures that may book a bank employee under criminal offence when they disclose any details of a client’s financial conducts.  But, the laws surrounding the privacy and anonymity can be breached by court’s order on the basis of suspect criminal activity. This is not of big concern for those who are not engaged in criminal activities. You should accept that truly bullet-proof private banking doesn’t exist these days.  

Others

Documentation and other things necessary for opening an offshore merchant account should be ready when you are about to proceed. If you have to use credit cards, you should be having good knowledge about it. The offshore country may have different facilities for the same to allow international transactions for hotel check-ins, flight bookings and so on. A few offshore banks offer these services to their clients that you can take advantage of.  

When you are to open an offshore account, you would want to have a multi-currency account for an ease of business operations. Banks providing this facility would make a good choice for making it easier to transfer funds.  

To make the process easier, you can consider taking help from an offshore banking expert who would help setting up an offshore account.