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Tax Engineering

Bank account in Cayman Islands

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How can you protect your money? One of the solutions can be opening a bank account in Cayman Islands with tax-exempt status and facility to repatriate safely your money to your country of residence. 

Reference: CB72386KY


Open an offshore bank account in Cayman Islands

Cayman Islands are considered the "Switzerland of the Caribbean" thanks to the large volume of business operations it has with the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Mexico. Therefore, Cayman Islands banks are considered the most solvent and safest in the world.

The Cayman Islands banking is one of the safest ones in Caribbean but at the same time the expenses and maintenance of the bank accounts are quite economic. Therefore, the banks of this jurisdiction can be a perfect option for small investor, an entrepreneur or professional. In the Cayman Islands the law protects bank secrecy for beneficiaries residents-in-countries that have not signed any bilateral automatic information agreement with the Cayman Islands. If anyone from bank staff violates bank secrecy, they will have to pay a high fine. Another characteristic of the Cayman banking is its sophistication and high technology. Also the country makes large investments in development of telecommunications converting it into a great country to live given its good economic status and its security.

The majority of offshore companies registered in Cayman Islands and bank accounts owned by this companies are specialized in online business activities. Little bureaucracy of legislation, speed in operations, privacy and high level of security can explain it. Cayman Islands, of course, provide secure banking services and have assumed a prominent position as the safest place in the Caribbean to do business; there has been no case of bank failure in last years. Cayman has a highly regulated banking sector, and many of the world's major banks have branches in the country. Opening an offshore bank account in the Cayman Islands without physical presence, can take from 2 to 5 weeks, the quality of financial services provided by banks in Cayman Islands make the difference compared to other jurisdictions.

Banking secrecy and automatic exchange of financial account information 

By now Cayman Islands has signed 44 bilateral agreements of automatic exchange of financial account information. Cayman Islands together with other countries is committed to eliminate bank secrecy for individuals and companies that hold non-resident bank accounts in the banks of all participating countries. What does this mean? On 29th of October 2014, in Berlin an agreement was signed with the purpose to exchange automatically the information on bank accounts opened by non-residents in other countries. By now the automatic exchange of information agreement has been signed by more than 100 countries (the countries that have signed information exchange agreement), however it doesn´t mean that the bank account information will be exchanged between all of them. That is, if two countries do not show a mutual interest in sharing banking information of their citizens between them and therefore do not sign a bilateral agreement, the OECD cannot force them to proceed with the joint exchange of information. For example, Cayman Islands has signed the automatic exchange of information agreement but will not exchange financial account information with all other participants and will only do so with the countries with which it has signed an additional bilateral agreement. Currently Cayman Islands has signed this agreement with 44 countries. You can see the updated information following this link (bilateral automatic information agreements).

The bilateral agreements signed by Cayman Islands will affect the citizens of 44 jurisdictions, in particular those who hold non-resident bank accounts, eliminating completely the idea of financial secrecy and anonymity. The banking confidentiality of the rest of the countries that have not signed the bilateral agreement with Cayman Islands will not be affected, that is, the foreign banks will never report their financial information to the tax authorities of their resident country. The new regulations for the exchange of information have created many problems for and between some of the countries. The intention of European Commonwealth countries such as Germany, Spain, France, Italy and the United Kingdom was that all countries signed bilateral agreements with each other, but after all things did not go that way. In a real world it is hard to imagine Israel signing a bilateral agreement for the automatic exchange of financial information with Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia or the Arab Emirates. Due to the "non-fiscal conflicts" that exist between these countries it makes it very difficult or even impossible for them to work together on elimination of banking secrecy.

Bilateral agreements with Cayman Islands

Year 2017Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Holland, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, Uruguay.
Year 2018No bilateral agreement has been signed in 2018.

It is completely legal to open an offshore bank account in Cayman Islands. An individual or a company that wants to develop an international business or simply to move its money offshore in order to achieve more security will not be committing any crime. If a physical person is a citizen of a country that has signed a bilateral agreement with Cayman Islands, it is advisable for him/her to inform his/her tax authorities about the intentions to open a non-resident account in Cayman Islands, and then through the double taxation agreements deduct the income taxes in his country of residence. If, on the other hand, the bank account has been opened by a resident company (registered in Cayman Islands) or non-resident company (for example, registered in Belize) the beneficial owner will not be obliged to repatriate the dividends of the company annually and therefore will be able to keep all the generated earnings on his offshore bank account in Cayman Islands without paying income taxes. The owner of the company will have to pay the income taxes only when he transfers the money to his country of residence but in case if he wants to keep it on the account for further business investments or just as a security deposit legally the generated profits will still belong to the company and the beneficial owner doesn’t have to pay tax on this amounts. With time the company might go through the international expansion requiring corresponding expenses. Consequently, the dividends would decrease and logically the income taxes that the beneficial owner will have to pay in his country of residence would decrease correlatively.

Advantages of opening a bank account in Cayman Islands

The main advantages of opening a bank account in Cayman Islands are the following:

  • Opening an offshore bank account Cayman Islands is legal.
  • Bank secrecy and anonymity are guaranteed for the citizens of those countries that did not sign a bilateral agreement with Cayman Islands. 
  • The possibility to open business and personal offshore bank account in Cayman Islands remotely.
  • High expertise level, online banking platforms with the possibility to request any type of financial service: foreign currency accounts, credit cards, letters of credit, accounts to invest in the stock market, payment gateways, credits.
  • Professional financial advises for great fortune owners.
  • Low maintenance rates
  • Banks in Cayman Islands are extremely regulated.
  • Once the requirements are fulfilled it takes 2-5 weeks to open the account.

Bank commissions in Cayman Islands

Approximate bank commissions and minimum deposit
Maintenance of bank account
200 Euros/year
Wire Transfer IBAN/SEPA
55 Euros
Wire Transfer SWIFT
55 Euros
Debit or Credit card
60 Euros/card
Customer support in following languages
English, Spanish, French, German
Minimum deposit
2.000 Euros

*The customer can open a bank account in any international legal currency they want, (Euro, Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Australian Dollar, British Pound, Japanese Yen, Swiss Franc etc)

*All the management at the opening of bank account do not need a physical presence in the country, all efforts will be made through e-mail and / or registered mail.

    in Cayman Islands
    with or without physical presence
    with online banking 24/7 included
    in the name of the individual or company
    in English
    to any part of the world
    certified by a notary
    certified by a notary
    electricity, water, gas, telephone or bank statement
    in English
    Articles of incorporation of the company, memorandum of association, register of directors, registered shares certificates and for companies registered more than one calendar 1 year ago "Certificate of good standing"
Ricardo Santana
For a comapny in USA need to open a company in Cayman Island or is not necesary . Can open an business account with out comapny in Cayman .
Guillermo Herrera
Good Morning, I am interested in opening a bank account in Cayman Island for my company that is newly incorporated in Panama and I wanted to consult you: 1. would the time to open the account be 2 to 3 weeks? 2. If I travel to introduce myself to the bank to open the account, could it be faster? 3. In addition to the company and personal documents, would I have to fill out bank forms? What information should I submit? Thanks, Guillermo Herrera

In reference to your questions I make the following clarifications: 1- Usually it's 3 weeks 2- If you physically travel to Cayman Islands the process is faster 3- Yes, you will have to fill the bank forms. Please check the following requirements

Arvind Patil
I am Indian resident and I am looking to open an offshore account. 1. How long will it take to open bank account? 2. What different type of personal accounts are available? 3. What document do I need to submit? Indian passport also contains the address, so will that suffice? 4. Which bank shall be the account be opened? 5. Will I be able to do SWIFT transfer online? 6. I need account in USD dollars. Thanks
Dear Arvind. 1. Depending on the bank and it's requirements it can take from 2 to 3 weeks to have the account and online banking activated. 2. Since you don't have financial history in the bank the only type of the account that can be opened is a current account. Once you have been working for some time with the entity you can apply for a saving account also. 3. You can find a list of the requirements following this link: 4. Depending on your profile, documents provided and the reasons of opening a bank account we will choose one bank or another. 5. Yes, you will be able to do SWIFT transactions. 6. An account in USD can be opened in any jurisdiction. All the banks offer accounts in several currencies. Please don't hesitate to get in touch with us for more information.

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