The International Business Corporation and Asset Protection Trust are two most popular arrangements for holding overseas accounts. Sometimes, it much more convenient to open a bank or brokerage account in the name of a corporation than in the trust thus the International Business Corporation plays an important role. Corporations are permitted and recognized by law in every country, and they have a standard set of rules which govern the management and operation of a corporation, plus all banks have already in place proper account opening procedures.

For a number of years, many of the major banks were not familiar with or knowledgeable about APT structure and chose that the accounts be opened in the corporation name, although now it is lesser of a problem. The fact that except for the British Commonwealth countries other prevailing civil law in Europe does not recognize the legal entity called trust. Banks who dont have previous relationship with the trust company will insist to have a corporate account opened, with well-established account opening and maintenance procedures. In these situations, an International Business Corporation can be formed with shares issued to or held by the Asset Protection Trust. Most of tax haven jurisdictions have approved legislation facilitating the formation of International Business Corporation.

Banking or conducting business where the International Business Corporation was formed is not necessary; in reality portability is the main advantage of the IBC. A Corporation formed in the Bahamas can open a bank account in any other country including the United States. What the bank will be requiring is the articles of incorporation and a corporate resolution by the directors authorizing the opening of the account and assigning a person to act as signatory for the corporate account. A proper identification of the signatory together with the requirements will enable an IBC account to be opened anywhere in the world.

The International Business Corporation with a corporation set up in the US, must publicly file the names and addresses of the officers and directors of the corporation in the state where it was formed. Shares must be registered in the name of the real owner and a stock registered listing the names and addresses of each shareholder must be maintained, and the stock register can be subpoenaed by any government agency or by the plaintiff in a lawsuit. The people behind any domestic US company are readily identifiable to any third party investigating the matter. The International Business Corporation approach is a well known approach for those with funds or business interests overseas.