While the fictitious days of super spy numbered Swiss banking accounts may be long gone, there is still a world of benefits that offshore wealth management and discreet private banking offer. This industry has only grown from strength to strength, offering a safe haven for people in a constantly uncertain financial climate.

Although there were plenty of publicized government crackdowns on tax evasion globally in recent years, billions and billions of dollars are still heading towards tax safe havens and offshore banks. There are completely legitimate and legal reasons attributable for this.

Now tax evasion is certainly not the only aspect which encourages investors and business savvy people from going offshore. In today’s financial climate there are many reasons to want to go offshore. Although taxes are a big motivating factor, there are many other people that are motivated with different intentions – they simply just have no more confidence in the system. They demand to have full control over their own money. The basic human right to privacy factors largely in the equation, and why should any one’s finances be public record?

Due to recent events bailouts and bank failures are still fresh on everyone’s minds. Any reasonable person would at least explore the possibility of looking to open an account at a reputable bank, in countries which respect the rule of private property and law that do not have liability to this type of exposure.

If you are a European Union country citizen, including the UK, then you can benefit from the European Union Savings Tax Directive. This will rule out Switzerland, Andorra, and the Cayman Islands as possible tax havens, as they are all signatories to this treaty. Panama and Singapore offers a fantastic alternative in this case.

There are more reasons why people are looking to protect their assets from the many perceived injustices of many laws. The decline of the dollar’s value against other currencies like the GBP and EU is just another concern many people have. They are spreading their risk to other currencies if you will, and wisely so. Investing in precious metals such as silver and gold has been made as easy as it ever was thanks to offshore multi-currency bank accounts.

This pays homage to the old adage about it being risky keeping all your eggs in the same basket. So if you are nervous about the current financial atmosphere why not consider placing at least part of your portfolio in offshore banking accounts.