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Regulators Probe US-owned Stanford Offshore Bank in Antigua
By admin | February 14, 2009
I don’t know if Friday the 13th followed by Valentine’s Day is the cause of so much excitement in the Offshore World this weekend. No sooner did Q Wealth Report publish my blog entry on the lessons to be learned from the UBS Swiss banking case (in a nutshell the advice was not to do business with offshore banks that have a presence in the USA) than news comes in to reinforce just what I was saying.
“It’s not a Friday afternoon cocktail any more. It’s taking off the gloves. We have a job to do to protect our jurisdiction.” Those are the words of Antigua’s banking regulator talking yesterday about Stanford International Bank. Stanford is an offshore bank owned by the flamboyant Texan billionaire of the same surname, who is also the biggest foreign investor on the island of Antigua. His other business interests in the US and the Caribbean include airlines, hotels and controversial cricket tournaments!
I won’t repeat the news on Stanford because you can read the full story in Business Week’s article Antigua Takes a Look at Stanford Bank. The International Herald Tribune also published a piece that goes into more depth called Scrutiny of Stanford’s bank spreads to Caribbean.
Stanford Group has long targeted American citizens along with wealthy Latin Americans (Venezuelans for example) and is now accused of taking unnecessary risks to pay rates of return above market average on Certificates of Deposit. By the way, Stanford Group also owns a bank in Panama, Stanford Bank S.A. and a second bank in Antigua known as – drumroll! – Bank of Antigua. Not forgetting either Stanford Bank Venezuela, a Venezuelan commercial bank. They also own a coin and bullion dealership. But, like the Marc Harris Organisation ten years ago that I wrote about just a few days ago following a CNBC documentary that visited Panama, Stanford Bank is one of those organizations that my readers and clients don’t usually hear about because I simply didn’t feel comfortable with them. My motto is “you don’t know until you go.” I went – and now I know.
Stanford’s head offices are quite a sight to behold for anyone flying in to our out of Antigua (most likely on a plane partly owned by Stanford), taking up virtually the whole Airport Boulevard. And Stanford certainly don’t spare expenses when it comes to trying to impress clients. I have also visited a couple of other of their offices in Latin America, which are decorated according to the Marriott school of interior design.
However, when I talked to and visited Stanford Bank I found their staff plain arrogant. There I was, walking in as a potential client who could bring a lot of business to them, and they made me feel like they were doing me a favor by taking the time to talk to me. So I simply decided to pass on that opportunity and steer my consulting clients in the direction of other, more discreet and low profile private banks in more traditional havens in Europe.
Stanford’s US presence, however, was always my major concern – just like with UBS. Wealthy individuals do business with offshore banks for privacy and security. An offshore bank headquartered in the USA cannot offer either of those two things. Unfortunately wealthy Latin Americans, in particular, still tend to look at the US as a bastion of security. Big mistake.
I was not over impressed by the Antiguan banking scene generally. There are some good offshore banks in the Caribbean region, and there are many banks still based in Antigua, but I certainly did not find any worthy of recommending. That’s why you are only reading my opinions of Antigua and Stanford Bank now that you might be interested for other reasons.
If you are interested in my recommendations for secure, conservative offshore banks – whether for private banking services or for international commercial banking services – I can do no better than refer you to my Practical Offshore Banking Guide 2009 that is available for instant download to members of The Q Wealth Report. Q Wealth Report is a small but powerful private membership organization dedicated to asset protection, offshore banking, wealth creation and the search to regain lost financial privacy for sovereign individuals.
And remember that lesson I mentioned at the beginning of this little piece. The ground rule is not to do business with any bank that has offices in either the USA or your home country!
Signing off from somewhere offshore, this is Peter Macfarlane wishing you lots of love on Valentine’s Day!
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Topics: Banks and banking offshore, Cautionary tales and real cases, Privacy and protection | 2 Comments »
2 Responses to “Regulators Probe US-owned Stanford Offshore Bank in Antigua”
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February 14th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
Peter you mention offshore banks you would NOT recommend, can you name names?
March 2nd, 2009 at 7:17 pm
[...] wrong with the financial health of Stanford Bank Panama, the local operation here associated with Stanford International Bank of Antigua. They estimate that, despite the liquidity problems caused by the run on the bank that caused the [...]