If you are a corporation and tired of the government taxing you and regulating your banking then Belize is one of the best havens around for offshore banking . Here you can set up offshore bank accounts, offshore company formations, offshore trusts, and private bank accounts. The offshore banking is attractive here because the government is stable and the laws and regulations are written in English.

1n 1996, the offshore banking laws were strengthened with the Belize Offshore Banking Act along with the Money Laundering Act. These two acts tightened the requirements for a business to meet the offshore banking requirements thereby making it safer for all who do business here.

If you are an ex-patriot here and just want to do some regular banking, you will find things to be just a little different here. You can't just go strolling down to the local Belize bank and open up and account with a minimum deposit and be on your way. For starters, you are going to be asked for references as well as a letter from your previous bank in your homeland. The letter from the previous bank needs to be on that bank's letterhead and state that you were a good depositor and state the value of current deposits on the previous account. and the commercial banks will also require that you have legal residency in Belize before they will let you open an account. This is in contrast to the offshore accounts which require that you not be citizen.

If you are a resident, Belize banking requirements will aliow you to try to get a loan through a bank here, be prepared to pay some high interest rates as the deposit to loan ratio is not favorable. Banking hours typically end around 1:00 PM or 2:00 PM each day and they usually close during the lunch hour. The ATMs tend to use only ATM cards issued from banks in Belize and sometimes tourists will actually go into Mexico so they can use their ATM cards tied to American banks. Belize is trying to improve the ATM situation.