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Private Bank International provides comprehensive investment planning for
its clients designed to enhance their wealth and ensure peace
of mind for them and for their heirs. As an important element
of this investment planning, the Bank offers off-shore fiduciary
services through its Bahamian affiliate, BIE Bank & Trust
Bahamas Limited.
BIE Bank & Trust Bahamas Limited,
a bank and trust company organized under the laws of The Commonwealth
of the Bahamas, is located in Nassau, Bahamas, a prime center
for Caribbean-based off-shore banking services. BIE Bank &
Trust Bahamas Limited counts on a legacy of 20 years of tradition
and experience. We offer establishment and administration
of both Trusts and Bahamian International Business Corporations
tailored to meet each client's financial needs and objectives.
What
is a Trust?
A Trust is a fiduciary relationship
calling for a Trustee to hold the title to assets for the
benefit of a Beneficiary. To create a Trust, the owner of
investment property (generally referred to as the Grantor)
and a Trustee (typically a bank or trust company) enter into
an agreement - known as a Trust Deed or Trust Instrument -
under which the Grantor agrees to transfer title (i.e., legal
ownership) of the investment property to the Trustee and the
Trustee agrees to hold, administer and disburse the property
in accordance with the terms of the Trust Deed. The Trust
Deed usually provides for the property held under the Trust
to be invested in a certain manner and disbursed to the Beneficiaries
of the Trust at a particular point in time. The Grantor designates
the Beneficiaries - and in many cases the Grantor designates
himself as a Beneficiary.
Reasons
to build a Trust:
The Trust’s main objective
is to act as a “Successor Plan Instrument” allowing
clients actively participate in the distribution of their
assets, including financial and non financial assets, in accordance
to the predetermined clauses stipulated on the Trust Agreement.
In this way, clients have totally Will freedom, avoiding extensive
legal procedures and its expenses.
On the other hand, the Trust offers several additional benefits
such as confidentiality and provisions to the asset management
in case of incapacity by the client. In this case, the Trustee
will be responsible to warranty his/her well being as the
beneficiaries’ well being.
Benefits
of a Trust are:
- Flexible
control of assets
- Enhanced
Confidentiality
- Improved
estate planning
- Reduced
exposure to liability
- Continuity
in the management of assets in the event of incapacity
or death of the Grantor
- Consolidation
of assets
- The
management and distribution of Trust assets to be controlled
far beyond the Grantor's lifetime
- The
ability to manage assets under an English Common Law jurisdiction
with a long history and tradition of protecting trust
structures
- Asset
protection in circumstances of political and economic
uncertainty
What
is a Bahamian International Business Corporation?
An International Business
Corporation is a private investment company (PIC) organized
under Bahamian law as a holding company for international
investments. A PIC has all of the characteristics of a corporation,
i.e., it is a legal entity with continuity of life and limited
liability. An owner of investment properties may establish
a PIC, have the shares of stock of the PIC issued in his name
(or in the name of a nominee shareholder or Trust) and then
transfer ownership of his investment properties to the PIC.
As owner of the shares of stock of the PIC, the investor retains
ownership of the property transferred to the PIC.
Reasons
to build a PIC:
When a client transfers his/her investment assets to a PIC,
these assets pass to form the Offshore Company capital and
are represented by the registered shares.
The PIC will act like the legitimate owner of the assets,
while the client will be the Beneficiary-Owner of the company’s
shares (in case of a Managed PIC) or Direct Shareholder (in
case of a Non Managed PIC).
Advantage of having an Off-Shore company
- Flexible control of assets
- Enhanced Confidentiality
- Reduced exposure to liability
- Consolidation of assets
- Asset protection in circumstances of political and
economic uncertainty
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