Offshore Banking and Transparency
Jose Romero
International Tax attorney Jose Romero, who has established a firm in Panama, was the presenter at today’s workshop. He discussed the challenges to the financial sector with regards to offshore banking.
Jose Romero, International Tax Attorney
“It’s a challenge that every single jurisdiction that has faced the advent of this new regulations has had to fight and face it because it’s a change of culture. Before these new regulations were enacted globally, the paradigm was financial secrecy. These new regulations come to change that paradigm and now transparency is the new rule. So this means that every single account holder in Belize, who is not Belizean, who does not reside in Belize for tax purposes will need to provide a cell certification to the financial institution in Belize letting the financial institution know what is his or her tax residence so the financial institution in Belize can report that account to the local competent tax authority in Belize which in turn will retransmit that information to the jurisdiction, to the country that is the tax residence of that particular account holder.”
The banking sector in belize is a joke. Idiots running the show. No person wants to open and run a business here when you cant access capital, every time you do a transaction you have to beg and wait for central bank approval. No access to foreign currency to purchase orders for your business. Non existent foreign exchange forces you to trade on the black market to get usd for a huge premium. most smart people dont bank here at all. Investors cant open bank accounts here without a ridiculous amount of running around. Even the people working the banks dont know what paperwork is required ,Can we say banana republic.