October 2007 Archives

Some people really get the wrong idea about Uruguay, maybe it's the name, or maybe it's a Latin American stigma but most likely it's just that it's so far away and most people know so little about it. Having been there I can tell you that it's unlike any other place I've seen in South or Central America. It's actually so safe and civilized to be almost boring. Yes, even San Jose, Costa Rica feels more threatening and dangerous than Montevideo.

Know Your Customer (KYC) is the due diligence and bank regulation that financial institutions and other regulated companies must perform to identify their clients and ascertain relevant information pertinent to doing financial business with them. Typically, KYC is a policy implemented to conform to a customer identification program mandated under the Bank Secrecy Act and USA PATRIOT Act

My experience with offshore banking dates back to the early 80's while living as an Expat in Australia and requiring access to funds from Canada. However, it wasn't until early the next decade, while living in Florida and working in the Bahamas that I opened my first corporate bank account and began to learn the intricacies of Offshore Banking. Nowadays much has changed but one thing remains the same; you need a good adviser.

Having met dozens of people claiming to be offshore banking experts from many countries, I can say that there's one piece of advice that's consistent, each will tell you; "there's no one-size fit's all solution". 

Is it any wonder that Gibraltar is a preferred Tax Haven for On-line Gambling companies? Now here's a jurisdiction with a tradition for providing services to whomever rowed ashore. Legend has it that this was the first tax haven, as being a massive ship yard and major port to the British Naval fleet, it was customary for merchant ships returning from India via the Suez Canal laden with gold and gems made from selling opium to the Chinese, to off-load the assets with bankers in Gibraltar before returning to London for inspection by the King's tax man. Hence, the entire concept of "offshore banking" was born in Gibraltar.

In preparation for an article on the growth of Ghana as an African Tax Haven I've been filtering news about the dark continent. Never a shortage of intrigue on this topic, today I noticed an article in the BBC about the passing of French Mercenary Bob Denard. Now here was a man who believed that If you don't like the laws or the law makers of a jurisdiction then you should just take action and over-throw them.

In 1968 Denard and several hundred fighters tried to invade Katanga, in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, by bicycle.

His 1995 coup attempt in the Comoros involved arriving with 30 men in inflatable boats.

Source: BBC News

Which offshore jurisdiction is the best for setting up a company to conduct business in the burgeoning I-Gaming Industry? This was the topic of a conversation recently in Barcelona, amongst a group of foreign entrepreneurs attending conferences related to Internet Gambling.

At a glance the I-Gaming Industry is over $10 Billion USD per year in gross revenues, probably just in Poker and Casino because Sportsbetting is more difficult to properly quantify, as much of it happens over the telephone and is so globally pervasive as to be in a category all of it's own.