The idea that comes to mind when thinking of offshore banking is that it is a tax haven. Banking by such individuals provides a way to hide income and therefore not be liable for any taxes in the local region. A recent law has placed in motion the workings to reveal confidential information for banks located in the European Union. Thus formerly popular tax haven banks in Switzerland which have been made popular in the media are set to disclose their clients’ information leading to the levying of the appropriate taxes. However there are still a few international banks that do not fall under these laws such as based in Panama and Latvia.

There are other advantages asides the use of such banks as Tax Havens. The inherent secrecy involved when dealing with such banks means that funds can be hidden from one’s spouse. So that in case of divorce or trouble with marriage the funds cannot be claimed by the spouse as he/she does not know about the secret bank account and does not have access to it under the local laws anyway. This is the second important reason to use an offshore bank account and by the example of court settlements where rich husbands/wives lose a large portion of their savings and income to their divorced spouse this form of banking has become a popular safety measure.

Another use for such bank accounts is for the deposit of income from illegal or questionable sources. Companies that provide dubious services such as Soldiers for Hire, international weapons dealers, recreational drug dealers regularly use offshore bank accounts to hide their income and save for their future. If they are detained by law enforcement officials or one of their goverment’s agencies their foreign offshore banking account will be untouchable as it would probably be based in a country where their goverment has no juresdiction over the funds placed there. They can use their bank account in the case of any emergencies that befall them.

Offshore banks very normally provide debit cards that can be used with any ATM machine in the world. This means that funds can be withdrawn from the offshore banking unit from any location in the world as long as the debit card is on hand. The Cirrus Card is commonly used for such situations but there are others available.

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