Finance Blog

An offshore bank is generally in a low tax jurisdiction (or a tax haven) that provides financial and legal advantages. These advantages typically include:....

Starting one’s own business can be the fulfillment of the American Dream. But it’s also a risk that should be carefully calculated. According to the Small Business Administration (SBA), more than 50 percent of new businesses fail in the first five years. The SBA cites reasons such as lack of experience, insufficient capital and poor credit arrangements as some of the problems that plague new business owners. ....

However it is worth remembering that more than half the world’s wealth is held via offshore companies, if not necessarily in offshore banks! Offshore accounts are simply accounts held in banks located in tax havens such as Seychelles, Mauritius, British Virgin Islands or Dubai or Ras Al Khaimah [RAK] in the United Arab Emirates [UAE] or others.....

With the advent of today’s mobile technology, options in banking are continuing to develop with exciting possibilities. In just a few short decades, banking has evolved from strictly brick-and-mortar operations to include phone transactions, ATMs, the Internet, and now mobile phones and devices. With each progression, clients have the ability to conduct their financial business from greater remote locations.....

Since the early 19th century, businesses and consumers have made use of credit in the place of currency. But credit stretches even as far back as ancient Babylon. History has recorded individuals who set up payments in exchange for goods that they could not afford to purchase outright. ....

ATMs, or the automated teller machine, were the brilliant brainchild of several inventors who each capitalized and improved on an idea far ahead of its time when it was first conceived. An early and not-so-successful prototype was first conceived in the late 1930s when the idea of a hole-in-the-wall machine that would allow customers to make financial transactions was conceived. This invention was tested for approximately six months at a bank in New York City. However, it was determined that demand for such a service was low and the field test was discontinued. ....

For check cashing businesses there is great new technology to stop thieves in their tracks. There is a payroll check cashing system available that scans a person’s fingerprint to identify them and serve them quickly and confidently. ....

When people start searching for online banks to transact any type of banking business, they will find a large variety of financial institutions that are willing to provide a variety of financial services. Some of these online banking institutions offer only one type of service and it pays for consumers to shop for bargains in online banking needs just as aggressively as they would online shopping deals.....

There was a day when personal banking required a trip to the bank, standing in often long lines, and making a transaction via a bank teller. Money was accessible only at a brick and mortar location. Any financial needs not taken care of by the end of the business day would have to wait until the next. Access to one’s money was dictated largely by the bank’s hours of operation.....

It’s hard to believe that not all that long ago - in the distant past - there was no such thing as e-commerce. There was no place to sell goods to an international audience via the World Wide Web. All the consumer goods that are marketed and sold online today could only be purchased through a catalog, strictly to local consumers, or perhaps not at all.....