{"id":56421,"date":"2016-08-04T12:40:05","date_gmt":"2016-08-04T17:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/selasite.azurewebsites.net\/belize-bank-hit-by-withdrawals-and-correspondent-bank-de-risking\/"},"modified":"2023-06-28T16:17:34","modified_gmt":"2023-06-28T21:17:34","slug":"belize-bank-hit-by-withdrawals-and-correspondent-bank-de-risking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rmtsolutions.net\/sela\/belize-bank-hit-by-withdrawals-and-correspondent-bank-de-risking\/","title":{"rendered":"Belize bank hit by withdrawals and correspondent bank de-risking"},"content":{"rendered":"

BELIZE CITY, Belize — An offshore bank owned by Britain\u2019s Lord Ashcroft has closed a large number of customer accounts and faced a wave of withdrawal requests after becoming increasingly caught up in a US tax-evasion crackdown and the withdrawal of foreign correspondent banking services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\u00a0\"Lord<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
Lord Ashcroft<\/address>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The value of deposits at Belize Bank International (BBI) shrank by almost three-quarters in the space of just six months, and confidential emails suggest some BBI customers have struggled to recover their cash, the London Guardian newspaper reported.<\/p>\n

So stretched is the position that BBI in April told a court in Belize that it could not pay a $3.3 million judgment against it without liquid assets falling below the minimum amount required by law.<\/p>\n

BBI has denied it was in crisis and said it faced a short-term problem.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, tough US anti-tax evasion laws have increased compliance costs for BBI\u2019s correspondent banking partners, prompting Bank of America and Commerzbank to terminate relationships with the bank.<\/p>\n

The departure of these partner banks has in many instances left BBI struggling to maintain basic services for account holders, the Guardian noted.<\/p>\n

In March, one customer was told: \u201cWe are currently unable to complete or execute wire transfers \u2026 You are \u2026 welcome to visit us here in Belize to withdraw the funds in person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another BBI account-holder to have complained of problems with money transfers was the Belizean arm of Mossack Fonseca, the offshore law firm at the centre of the Panama Papers scandal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Leaked emails show Mossack Fonseca sought advice from a local law firm in Belize last August about its BBI bank account.<\/p>\n

The law firm replied: \u201cBBI is closing all offshore accounts \u2026 It is a shock to us as well especially with the very short time line provided. It is the first time we are experiencing this type of situation \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesman for BBI said only selected accounts had been closed and this was part of a long-planned strategy.<\/p>\n

In April, BBI executives told the supreme court of Belize it had received unprecedented withdrawal requests.<\/p>\n

Its chairman, Lyndon Guiseppi, explained that, while the bank was financially robust, there was a short-term squeeze on cash meaning it would struggle to pay a $3.3 million court judgment.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cIf [the bank] has to make payments due under the order this will have serious consequences for the bank, the wider financial sector and the broader economy of Belize.\u201d<\/p>\n

The crisis is blamed on big overseas banks terminating partnership arrangements, known as \u201ccorrespondent banking relationships\u201d, with BBI and other banks in Belize.<\/p>\n

Ashcroft\u2019s main Belizean business interests are listed on the London stock exchange as Caribbean Investment Holdings (CIH), though three-quarters of the shares remain under Ashcroft\u2019s ownership.<\/p>\n

Belize Bank also maintains an international banking subsidiary in the Turks and Caicos Islands known as British Caribbean Bank Ltd.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Belize bank hit by withdrawals and correspondent bank de-risking<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boletines-regionales"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmtsolutions.net\/sela\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmtsolutions.net\/sela\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmtsolutions.net\/sela\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmtsolutions.net\/sela\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmtsolutions.net\/sela\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rmtsolutions.net\/sela\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56421\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmtsolutions.net\/sela\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmtsolutions.net\/sela\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmtsolutions.net\/sela\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}