Ecuador Banking

Introduction - Many of our clients are looking for another secure and private banking jurisdiction unlikely to share information regarding you and your account with other privacy invasive countries. Our research led us to Ecuador. Ecuador is in South America between Peru and Columbia. Ecuador has a fully dollarized economy like Panama. This means the national currency is the US Dollar. If you bank in dollars there is no conversion fee and no worries about the local currency being devalued.

Ecuador Legal Environment - Ecuador is considered the fifth largest oil producing country. It is a country of almost 15 million people. Several cities in Ecuador have in excess of two million people. They are a democracy. There is very strong banking secrecy. Ecuador will not cooperate with any civil matter of any sort form any other country. There are no fears concerning fraudulent conveyance lawsuits from civil creditors trying to recover funds from other countries. Ecuador will cooperate with other countries conducting criminal investigations concerning: child prostitution, exploitation of children like pornography, slavery, kidnapping, blackmail, bank fraud, and terrorism. Tax only matters will not get cooperation. There has not yet been any money laundering convictions in Ecuador although it is on the books as an illegal activity. It is not a vague, easy to prove blanket offense as in some countries. There needs to be an underlying crime and the money laundering funds have to be the fruits of the crime. We do not get involved with large cash transactions, so please do not ask. Ecuador is a privacy haven, and a tax haven but it is not a criminal haven at all.

The Ecuador Bank – The bank we use is an Ecuador bank that is family owned and has been in business for over 100 years. Not a new bank. They have over $100,000,000 in assets. They have competitive rates on CD’s (think 5% is not hard to get).

Ecuador Bank Account Opening Requirements – They are simple. You need to send us a notarized copy of your driver license and passport that can be done by scan in email. You do need the passport. The passport must be current. The only passport from Africa that we accept is from South Africa. The passport needs to be a machine-readable passport with the bar codes. No hand written passports. If you do not have a valid passport we cannot work with you, no exceptions. If you do not have a driver license we can substitute a government issued photo ID like a residency card, a EU residency card or government issued photo ID for other purposes. A driver license alone is not enough to open a bank account. You do not need any reference letters or utility bills. The account can be open based on a scan of the notarized copy of the passport and driver license sent by email as a 300 DPI JPEG. The account will be opened in 24 hours, weekdays only of course and not counting holidays. You can deposit funds in but cannot remove funds until we receive the hard copy of the notarized passport and driver license by courier. The Visa card takes about two weeks after the regular account is opened. The fees the bank charges are similar to fees charged by Panama Banks or major banks in UK or USA. No unusual or extraordinary fees. The minimum deposit is $5000 for each bank account. Euro accounts are possible as well.

Ecuador Bank Account Setup Fees- The fee is $2250 which includes an off the shelf or custom formed anonymous Panama Bearer Share Corporation or anonymous Panama Private Interest Foundation and the bank account in Ecuador.

Bank Account Opening Time - We have ready to go shelf corporations and shelf foundations so one could western union us the fees which takes an hour, run out and have a copy of your passport and driver license notarized and send us a scan and then have the bank account in 24 hours ready to receive wires. You would need to send us the hard copies of the notarized copies of the passport and driver license by courier before you could withdraw funds from the bank and also before we can send you the corporation documents.

Prohibited Businesses - We do not accept illegal businesses. We do not take online pharmacies, replica or copyright violating businesses or unlicensed gambling sites. We do not accept virtual gold exchange merchants, ewallets like paypal, or auction sites, Swedish Credit Unions or banks or pseudo banks. You cannot operate a bank within a bank in that it violates international law.

Forex – We do allow Forex brokers to operate bank accounts if they are in a jurisdiction where a license is not available and/or not required. The set-up requires a corporation and there is a special fee of $6000 which includes a corporation. The Forex broker tends to receive funds on one day and then wires them out for investment the next day. The Ecuador Bank requires that 30% of the deposits remain in the bank for 90 days, rolling. This means that if you receive on January 1st $100,000 that $30,000 must remain in the bank until April 1st. You would be free to transfer out $70,000 right away. This formula would apply to all the deposits.

Online Banking - They do have online banking including the ability to launch international wires.

Checking Accounts – You can get checking accounts. You are able to write USD checks in other countries. It is up to the person or entity in the other country as to whether or not they want to accept the check and wait for it to clear. The Ecuador bank has no issues with this.

Savings Accounts – CD’s are available. Please inquire as to rates. 5% is possible on USD accounts.

Credit Cards – A secured Visa card is available with just the corporate name on the credit card. The security deposit is 130% of the credit line. A $1000 credit card requires a $1300 deposit, which pays interest, but expects a lower interest rate on the deposit. The Visa card will work in ATM machines around the world. There is also an ATM card that is available as well.

Merchant Account – We can get you a merchant account through the Ecuador bank. They are selective. If your only motive is to get a merchant account please do not proceed. Many applicants will be turned down. The business must be billing $20,000 a month in credit card billing now. We cannot take a start-up business. Certain businesses do not qualify. We do not take online pharmacies, replica sales, illegal businesses etc. Feel free to fill out an online application:

Merchant Account Application

Ecuador Taxes – There is no tax on offshore-derived income in Ecuador. There is a tax on outgoing funds of .5 of 1% (1/2% of 1%). So on $100, the tax would be $0.50, and on $100,000 the tax would be $500. This tax does not apply to payments for personal services. If you had to pay a marketing company which is a Panama Corporation banking in Panama a payment, this payment would not be taxed. One should collect an invoice for this documentation.

Trust Account Banking – If you would like to bank in Ecuador and not be known to the bank it is possible. The Guatemala Law Firm will act as the signatory and beneficiary owner on the bank account. They will enter in a trust agreement with you to protect you. There please inquire for fees.

Bank Safety – If we felt the Ecuador bank was not safe and secure we would say so. We believe Ecuador to be very safe and secure. The customer service is excellent. There are numerous English speakers. Anyone wishing to visit the bank in Ecuador is most welcome.

Further Information – Questions welcome anytime.