For over 35 years OCRA Worldwide has been assisting clients to establish and administer offshore and international bank accounts and has developed useful expertise in identifying and working with suitable offshore banks and international banks. By the very nature of our business we are exposed to a wide range of offshore banks and international banking activities and we aim to learn from these experiences.
The factors to consider include:
In general the banks we work with seek to provide services to some or all of these types of clients:
These services are provided from both offshore banking and international locations.
Although private banking is not a simple business, there is a very simple business model to keep in mind: "keeping rich people happy". The definition of "private banking" varies from bank to bank but is generally taken to mean investment management offered on a personalised basis by a bank to an individual with disposable wealth of more than $100,000 (although some banks do not offer private banking services to clients with disposable wealth less than US$ 500,000 or US$ 1 million). Private banking is obviously not synonymous with "offshore", but the costs of a personalised relationship begin to be worthwhile at the $100,000 + level in the light of the superior gains to be realised from offshore investment. Private bankers probably prefer themselves to be approached and considered as objective financial advisers rather than as an investment-provider, and consequently private banks may not be the most effective choice for a reasonably sophisticated investor who wants to play an active role in the management of his investments.
Numerous offshore banks have sought to specialise in the provision of banking services to expatriates as they perceive such business as being relatively risk free, easy to "systemise" and profitable. In essence, expatriate services encompass managing accounts for people resident outside their home countries who may or may not be employed. The focus of expatriate banking providers is online banking, call-centres, relatively low levels of expertise and the provision of "packaged" investment and protection products, such as life insurance. Whilst the service offered should be professional and "smooth", the relationship between an expatriate client and his expatriate banking provider could not be characterised as personal or in any way similar to the relationship between a client and a top-flight private bank.
Many of our clients utilise the companies we administer for commercial purposes, such as trading. In such circumstances an offshore bank that specialises in private banking or expatriates will be unsuitable. Our commercial clients seek similar services to an onshore commercial bank and will require access to some or all of the following services:
The availbility or otherwise of online bank statements and reports. We have considerable expertise in assisting clients to establish relationships with reputable offshore banking institutions as well as a wide range of international banks.
Over the last 35 years we've developed close working relationships with many international banks. In selecting a bank, clients should consider service, credit worthiness, reliability and competence.
All of these banks provide the high-quality service that our clients expect: