Should you invest where you bank or not?
In general we advise you not to invest via your local bank, especially if your investment portfolio is large, but to choose an alternative custodian such as an international insurance provider. The reason for this is twofold, first of all the local banks only offer limited capital protection. Can you remember what happened during the crisis in Cyprus? All account holders lost all their money over the 100,000 Euro protection limit. The second reason is that the political sentiment is changing towards more taxation on wealth. During the Cyprus crisis the authorities initial idea was to force all depositors to ‘bail-in’ towards saving the bank. In the end, that didn’t happen, but surely this idea will be floated again if needed.
You need banks for day-to-day payments, small saving accounts for household emergencies and mortgages, but not for investing. To mitigate the risks we recommend to use dedicated life insurance companies. They are based on the Isle of Man and Guernsey and their only business is to store and invest their client’s capital. They do not lend out any money and have a unique investor protection system, without any upper limits.
Benefits:
Via these insurance plans the investor can access the entire investment market. Equities, Bonds, Mutual Funds, ETFs and Structured Notes can be held within one account, thus facilitating management. The tax-efficient location provides further benefit for the investor compared to investing locally.
A lifetime benefit is that the insurance wrappers are internationally portable. Should you decide to move country, emigrate or live an international lifestyle, you know that your capital is in a secure location. Well protected under English Law and that only you decides what will happen to it, not a local government or a country you may not even live in anymore.
We trust the above clearified that you better invest via a life insurance platform, rather than your local bank. If you would like to learn more about investing in general why not check out the relevant articles in the knowledge center? Or, save yourself some time and contact our founders directly. It’s easy to discuss your options with them at a convenient time for you. We would like to hear from you so that we can understand your situation and offer you some personal recommendations.
