What you need to know regarding a Bank Account in the Seychelles

Seychelles is a group of exotic islands off the coast of Africa and originally famous for its granite beaches. Seychelles has however amassed a lot of popularity over the last decade for its progressive offshore laws and regulations and is widely considered as a jurisdiction of choice for operating an offshore business.

Banks of stature such as Barclay’s have opened up in Barclay’s for offshore business showing the level of demand for an offshore account in the country. Seychelles is one of the few countries that still offer numbered accounts thereby providing complete secrecy to the holders of the account.

The account holders can benefit from all modern tools like E-banking, credit and debit cards due to the excellent information technology infrastructure established by the Government of Seychelles. The modern and highly developed network developed to support the financial institutions and E-Commerce businesses has attracted many foreign firms and especially E-Businesses to open an offshore account and start E-business in Seychelles.

As per the laws of the government, An information regarding an offshore account in the country cannot be disclosed to the public unless an order from the court in Seychelles is obtained. The Seychelles court only orders to disclose information if there is a case of serious nature involving terror financing, drugs or arms trafficking, child pornography or embezzlement. However, the banks in the country are required by law to conduct complete due diligence before opening any new account. By conducting the necessary due diligence, they effectively ensure that most of the shady businesses of this kind, which can tarnish the international reputation of the country as a secure and clean offshore facility, is rejected at the ousted. The information that is required from the account holders during the due diligence is kept completely confidential by the officials of the bank under the law.

This progressive legislation in the time, when the pressure from USA is at its highest on all offshore companies to disclose information to clamp down the networks of terrorist financing has ensured that Seychelles does not have to compromise the secrecy of its clients. By ensuring a code of ethics and governance for conducting an offshore business which is accepted generally in the world, Seychelles has so far not faced any enquiries or any enlistment in any negative list of OPEC.

The interest on the fund kept in account is completely exempt from taxation. Furthermore, there is no tax on incomes generated by the account holder from outside off Seychelles. This allows the Seychelles offshore accounts to be used for investment in mutual funds and various financial and investment instruments around the world. Exemption on capital gains and inheritance taxes also makes it a very feasible place to keep the family wealth.

Furthermore, the government does not have stringent exchange control legislation and the offshore accounts can move various currencies in an out of their accounts easily. This is of great advantage to the people who are involved in international business and require regular transactions in foreign currency.

Overall Seychelles continues to be at the forefront of development of the offshore business as it continues to offer products required by investors worldwide in the changing times.

About the author: 

This article is brought to you by the DeltaQuest Group. For more information regarding a Seychelles Bank Account, please visit My Offshore Accounts.