IV. Personal Banking Services

Q.What role do we perform for investors?
Under the Offshore Banking Act of Barbados it is the duty of a licensee in carrying on its business to keep all assets held in trust or all other moneys, securities and properties belonging to clients separate from Bank's other assets and further segregated on a client by client basis. This is accomplished by the use of nominee companies with segregated accounts for each client. In particular, section 25 of Barbados Offshore Banking Act states that, "It is the duty of a licensee carrying on its business (a) to keep all assets held in trust separate from its other assets, and (b) to keep separate from those of its other accounts the assets of each trust account unless they are properly identified as the property of the trust account, but subject to section 26." Section 26 deals with the establishment of common trust funds. The Offshore Banking Act applies to protect clients by keeping investor's assets separate from the Bank's assets in the event that the Bank should experience financial difficulties.

Q. What personal banking services do you provide?
The Bank provides credit cards, cash management, multi-currency money market, foreign exchange, bill payment and chequing services. Chequing services are not generally used by clients because cheque clearing is still country-specific and foreign cheques take a long time to clear. As a result we offer to execute transaction payments on behalf of clients.

Q. What credit card services are available?
The Bank offers USD denominated VISA cards. Each card has its own advantages and one type of card may be more suited to a client's needs than the other.

Q. What bill payment services are available?
The Bank can pay any bill on a client's behalf, wherever the funds may be in the world. This payment can be done by bankers draft, cheque or wire transfer.

Q. What are my options when holding cash in an account prior to it being placed in a long term investment program?
We can hold client funds in Money Market Mutual Funds (Unit Trusts) in eighteen different currencies or we can buy specific money market instruments for larger amounts.