The Bahamas is one of the largest financial centers in the Caribbean and Central America, boasting a substantial presence of 245 financial institutions. These entities are overseen by the Central Bank of The Bahamas for banking and trust services, and by the Securities Commission of The Bahamas (SCB), which regulates securities and investment business activities.
Banks in the Bahamas may hold an international banking license or domestic banking license.
Banks with an international banking license are authorized to engage only with foreign residents, foreign companies, and Bahamas International Business Companies (IBCs), conducting transactions solely in foreign currencies. These include both well-known large publicly-traded banks such as UBS, as well as privately-owned banks.
International banking license holders offer corporate bank accounts to Bahamas IBCs and offshore companies incorporated outside of the Bahamas indistinctly. The jurisdiction of incorporation is generally not relevant in this context.
International banks’ main focus is to provide trust and wealth management services tailored for both personal and corporate clients.
Such wealth management services may include self-managed securities accounts (brokerage/trading account), discretionary management mandates (portfolio management) and family office services.
Most Bahamian international banks also offer trust services to ultra high-net worth individuals and families, including acting as trustee of trusts whose proper law is the law of the Bahamas; as well as institutional banking services such as fund services to both Bahamian-domiciled funds and foreign funds.
Opening personal accounts and corporate accounts for day-to-day banking generally require maintaining a significant cash balance or operating large transactional volumes, or otherwise to maintain a relevant securities portfolio with the bank.
Minimum initial deposit requirements for opening accounts are typically set at a relatively high level to align with the aforementioned criteria, they can be anywhere from USD 100,000 to USD 10,000,000 depending on the bank.
Virtually all banks serving nonresident businesses and individuals allow opening accounts remotely, without needing to travel.
The Bahamas has also been recently known for being one of the few jurisdictions where there are a number of banks that open accounts for both companies and individuals whose activities, sources of wealth and funds are related to cryptocurrencies.
There are several crypto-friendly banks in the Bahamas, which not only provide traditional banking services but also offer crypto trading accounts and crypto custody services.
Notable banks serving the cryptocurrency industry include Deltec Bank, which has gained attention due to its banking relationship with Tether (USDT), the largest stablecoin by both trading volume and market capitalization.
Capital Union Bank and Equity Bank are also known for their crypto-friendly approach, catering both clients operating crypto asset services and clients involved in cryptocurrency transactions and investments.
Domestic banks can onboard both resident and nonresident individuals and companies and may transact in foreign currency, and also local currency - the Bahamian dollar. These include government-owned banks such as Bank of the Bahamas and Commonwealth Bank, as well as subsidiaries of large Canadian banking groups, such as Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), and the American Citibank.
Domestic banks serve the local retail market i.e. resident individuals and companies engaged in business within the Bahamas under domestic business licenses that have a physical presence in the country.
A number of domestic banks such as CIBC FCIB also serve IBCs conducting business offshore, outside of the Bahamas, and nonresident individuals. However, for offshore businesses and foreign residents, such banks are considerably more demanding when it comes to the financial relationship maintained with the bank than with local retail clients.
Our services in the Bahamas focus on assisting offshore companies (both registered in the Bahamas and outside of the Bahamas) and individuals in opening bank accounts for both transactional banking and wealth management without needing to visit the Bahamas.
The above also includes assisting our clients in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry facing challenges with opening bank accounts to open bank accounts in the Bahamas, including in the aforementioned banks.
We work with 6 different banks in Bahamas, each bank has different eligibility requirements, types of accounts available and onboarding processes.
We invite you to carefully review each banks requirements and services to better understand if their banking services meet your needs.
The Commonwealth of the Bahamas consists of more than seven hundred islands (of which 24 are inhabited and more than 700 uninhabited), cays and islets in the Atlantic Ocean, is located to the north of Cuba and Dominican Republic, northwest of Turks and Caicos Islands, to the southeast of the state Florida and east of the Florida Keys. Geographically the Bahamas form, along with the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Lucayan Archipelago, also denominated by extension Bahamas.
It has a population of almost 400,000 inhabitants. Its capital and the most populated city is Nassau, located on the island of New Providence. Its official language is English, although the Bahamian Creole is widely spoken. Its official currency is the Bahamian Dollar, pegged to the US Dollar at an exchange rate of 1:1.
The Bahamas is a hereditary constitutional monarchy belonging to the Commonwealth of Nations. The British monarch, as head of state, appoints his/her representative, the Governor General. Executive power is exercised by the Cabinet, headed by the prime minister, an institution that appears in 1955 with the first parliamentary elections in the archipelago.
Legislative power rests on a bicameral parliamentary system. It is composed of sixteen members of the Senate (appointed by the Governor General) and forty members of the House of Representatives, elected directly by the population.
The Bahamas has an economy based on imports, tourism, and banking. Tourism alone accounts for more than 60 percent of GDP and employs directly or indirectly half the workforce of the archipelago.
Financial services are the second most important sector of the economy: about 15% of GDP.
Industry and agriculture contribute about one-tenth of GDP.
Our banking support service is not just a mere introduction to the bank. We assist you in filling out the business questionnaires appropriately and help you understand and provide business details, commercial information and purpose/use of the bank account that a given bank wants to know in order to approve your account application. Banks want certainty and clarity on how the account will be used. Everything must be watertight. We will work with you to make sure there is minimal 'back and forth' and a smooth account opening process.
Bank Account opening requirements are subject to change at the discretion of the bank. There might be additional fees charged by the bank itself. Bank account opening is not guaranteed and is subject to the bank policies and compliance department. There might be restrictions on UBO nationalities, business activities and/or jurisdictions. A refund is available if the account is not successfully opened subject to our terms of service (20% to partly cover service and payment processing and administrative costs apply).