The Cook Islands Banking System is one of the four leading income generators on the Islands: tourism, fishing, financial services, and agriculture. The Cooks are all a global pioneer of an offshore finance business with the laws made to establish a regime of offshore banking, international companies, offshore trust, and partnerships by protecting the foreigner’s assets from their legal claims of their houses.
While it is still not illegal to set up the Cook Trust, it must be noted putting money in such accounts doesn’t always eliminate one’s responsibility of paying tax on those assets. This mainly means that you will have to follow all of the tax laws in place. You also can’t ignore them as it is an offshore account.
What kinds of an offshore business bank account are offered in the Cook Islands?
Different banks in the Cook Islands are offering different kinds of bank accounts.
The most common kind of bank accounts are:
- A term deposit account that offers a great investment opportunity. You may pick to get interest payments annually, half-yearly, monthly, and quarterly. Your investments may be automatically invested in a long-term deposit account to boost your return.
- Savings accounts also let you access your money as many times as you need, with EFTPOS making all international transactions very easy to carry out.
- Investment accounts are also the most popular ones for giving security bank card application and secrecy to all of your assets. These accounts offer different investment products such as mutual funds, bonds, stocks, and gold and silver.
- Real estate accounts for transferring and protecting the value of your real estate to the offshore account.
What are the steps of opening a Cook Islands Offshore Bank Account?
- Some banks may need you to open up an account under the offshore companies. This is suggested to make sure that your assets are all protected.
- Personal details such as name, DOB, address, citizenship, and occupation are needed. But it is again the Cook law that identifies the owner of accounts and any of the information that is about them or gives information about the total value of assets.
- Then you will need a notarized copy of your passport
- Some of the banks will need a utility bill that shows your name and also your home address
- Some of the banks will also need a personal or a professional reference letter
- Finally, you will be given a legal trust deed.
Do you also have to visit the Cook Islands to open your bank account?
To open an offshore stock trading account, you will have to go to the Banking Solutions Cook Islands to open up your bank account. You may open cash or investment accounts online or carry out transactions electronically without being present in the Cook Islands. A few banks also accept notarized copies of the needed documents and original account opening forms through courier or post.
While your money is also safe from all other people, you are given international access to your assets through Visa Network such as debit and wealth cards.
What are some of the average interest rates offered by banks in the Cook Islands?
The interest rates differ based on your account and the bank you would go for. Following is a breakdown of Offshore stock trading account and different accounts for which you can have interest rates chosen:
- Personal current account accounts $251 – $500 1.50% p.a., $501 – $2,500 2.50% p.a and over $2,500 3.00% pa
- Term deposit account $500-$50,000 will give you 4.30% pa for 12 months and $50,000 – $100,000 has 4.5% for 12 months.
