Some Offshore Brokers Belong To The Good Guys
August 2005
There have been many warnings on this website about being on your guard for the cold-calling offshore brokers. The pattern is normally always the same, you're called out of the blue and offered shares (usually in small thinly traded companies) which are 'about to double or triple in price'. If you pay over any money then there's a very high chance it will disappear.
But not all offshore brokers are scams. There are in fact many 100% legitimate brokers who have setup offshore to offer clients the associated advantages and Berkeley (Bahamas) Ltd is one such firm (www.bbloffshore.com) . It's affiliated to the well known London broker Berkeley Futures Ltd who are of course regulated by the FSA.
Last week we received a nice email from the Head of Trading of Berkeley outlining the company and are happy to inform the readers of InvestorProfit.com about their services.
BERKELEY (BAHAMAS) LIMITED
Background
- The firm first started trading in 1999 and is regulated by the Securities Commission of the Bahamas
- The Commission has real powers under an Act of Parliament and has helped clear out of the Bahamas many unscrupulous financial establishments, indeed to such a point that it has, for the short term, adversely affected the local economy
- It is now illegal to offer financial services from the Bahamas unless you are regulated
- The Commission details can be found on www.scb.gov.bs and Berkeley (Bahamas) on www.bbloffshore.com
Services
- Berkeley was originally set up to offer brokerage services to customers in futures, options and foreign exchange but has now expanded to include bullion and CFDs
- Transactions may be conducted over the telephone or online using a variety of trading platforms depending on the customer’s requirements
- Customers are handled by experienced staff with excellent market background from the City of London
- The trading platforms and terms of business are all similar to those used in London and customers have access to all major Exchanges
- Customers can view their account at any time on the Internet and withdraw funds during banking hours, there is no charge to open or close an account and commission charges are in line with our competitors in London
Why Offshore?
Futures and Options are traded on recognised exchanges which supply liquidity and transparency of price, brokers are not allowed to mark prices up or down, so the price we trade at is the same as the customer receives, however, an agreed commission is charged.
Unlike spread betting, future and option trading attracts tax in the UK, so, to avoid such tax many people trade the market using spread betting companies, however the tax advantage of a bet is offset by the increase in the spread. An example would be to look at the FTSE future contract which has a market bid/offer of .5 or £5, a similar spread bet can have an 8 point spread or £80, you can see that frequent traders therefore pay out a fortune in hidden costs if they spread bet.
So, in order to offer customers the choice, Berkeley (Bahamas) was formed to offer offshore, tax free trading to serious investors. Berkeley can only offer this advantage to customers with genuine offshore funds such as expats and foreign companies and non domiciled individuals.
InvestorProfit Comment
Berkeley (Bahamas) Ltd offshore brokerage service looks very interesting indeed especially with it being regulated by the Securities Commission of the Bahamas. Yes, we might go on about regulation but it's so important when dealing with financial institutions.
For anyone interested in dealing offshore or who wants to know more about the advantages and benefits you can get further details by calling Warren Roberts on (001) 242 3938395 or Email trader1@bahamas.net.bs.
See Also
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