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List of Banks in Monaco
Principality of Monaco (French:
Principauté de Monaco; Monégasque: Principatu de Múnegu; Italian:
Principato di Monaco; Occitan: Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign
city state on the Côte d'Azur (French Riviera). It is surrounded on
three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about 16 km (9.9
mi) from Italy. Its area is 1.98 km2 (0.76 sq mi) with a population of
35,986 as of 2011. Monaco boasts the world's highest GDP nominal per
capita at $215,163 and is the most densely populated country in the
world. Monaco also has the world's highest life expectancy at almost 90
years.
Monaco is a principality governed under a form of constitutional
monarchy, with Prince Albert II as head of state. The House of Grimaldi
has ruled Monaco since 1297, and the state's sovereignty was officially
recognized by the Franco-Monegasque Treaty of 1861. Despite Monaco being
independent and pursuing its own foreign policy course, its national
defence is the responsibility of France.
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Monaco’s banking sector dates
back to the end of the nineteenth century, when the first
deposit banks opened in the Principality. Most of these
banks were French. The banking industry was very slow to
develop and did not really take off until the 1970s, when
expansion was stimulated by an imaginative and active policy
on the part of public authorities and by the effect of a
long period of economic growth and political and social
stability. Establishing a bank account in Monaco is pretty
straightforward, there are minimum deposits and as with bank
account opening elsewhere in Europe the banks in Monaco will
ask to see your passport. Some of the banks in Monaco will
also ask for proof of your home address - a recent utility
bill is normally good enough
The following is a list of banks incorporated in Monaco:
Free Monaco Bank Requirements Report Monaco Bank Guide
Banque de Gestion Edmond de Rothschild - Monaco SWIFT:
BERLMCMCXXX
Banque Pasche - CM - CIC Private Banking SWIFT:
BPGEMCMCXXX
Banque J.Safra (Monaco) SWIFT: BJSBMCMXXXX
BNP Paribas Private Bank Monaco SWIFT: BPPBMCMCXXX
BSI Monaco SWIFT: BSILMCMCXXX
Credit Foncier de Monaco SWIFT: CFMOMCMXXXX
Compagnie Monégasque de Banque SWIFT: CMBMMCMXXXX
Crédit Mobilier de Monaco (SWIFT: CMMDMCM1XXX not
connected)
Credit Suisse (Monaco) SWIFT: CRESMCMXXXX
Dresdner Bank Monaco SWIFT: DRESMCMCXXX
EFG Eurofinancière d'Investissements SWIFT: EFGBMCMCXXX
Fortis Banque Monaco SWIFT: FTSBMCMCXXX
HSBC Private Bank (Monaco) SWIFT: BLICMCMCXXX
ING Bank (Monaco) SWIFT: INGBMCMCXXX
KB Luxembourg (Monaco) SWIFT: KBLXMCMCXXX
Martin Maurel Sella - Banque Privée (Monaco) (SWIFT:
MMSEMCM1XXX not connected)
Monte Paschi Monaco SWIFT: MONTMCMCXXX
SG Private Banking (Monaco) SWIFT: SGBTMCMCXXX
UBS (Monaco) SWIFT: UBSWMCMXXXX
Based on official lists of banks registered in Monaco
available at the Official Government Portal of Monaco
and Monaco Bankers' Association
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Economy
of Monaco
One of Monaco's main sources of income is tourism; each
year many are attracted to its casino and pleasant
climate. Monaco's own citizens are not allowed to gamble
in the casino. In 2001, a major new construction
project extended the pier used by cruise ships in the
main harbour. The principality has successfully sought
to diversify into services and small, high-value-added,
non-polluting industries, such as cosmetics and
biothermics.
The state retains monopolies in numerous sectors,
including tobacco and the postal service. The telephone
network (Monaco Telecom) used to be fully owned by the
state; it now owns only 45%, while the remaining 55% is
owned by both Cable & Wireless (49%) and Compagnie
Monégasque de Banque (6%). It is still, however, a
monopoly. Living standards are high, roughly comparable
to those in prosperous French metropolitan areas.
Monaco is not a member of the European Union. However,
it is very closely linked via a customs union with
France, and as such, its currency is the same as that of
France, the euro. Before 2002, Monaco minted its own
coins, the Monegasque franc. Monaco has acquired the
right to mint euro coins with Monegasque designs on its
national side.
Gambling IndustryCasino gambling was initially legalized
during the reign of Florestan I in 1846. At the time,
the monarch hoped the newly legal industry would help
alleviate the crushing debt the royal family had
incurred due in part to economic interference from
Sardinia--which had received Monaco as a protectorate
under the Treaty of Vienna (1815) and was attempting to
destabilize the principality in order to annex it.
Monaco's first casino would not receive a royal
concession to operate, however, until after Charles III
assumed the throne in 1856.
The grantee of this first royal concession was unable to
attract enough business to sustain the operation and,
after relocating the casino several times, sold the
royal concession to French casino magnates François and
Louis Blanc for 1.7 million francs. The Blancs had
already set up a highly successful casino in Homborg and
quickly petitioned Charles III to rename a depressed
seaside area known as "Les Spelegures," or "Den of
Thieves," "Monte Carlo," or "Mount Charles." They then
constructed their casino in the newly dubbed "Monte
Carlo" and cleared out the area's less-than-savory
elements to make the neighborhood surrounding the
establishment more conducive to tourism.
The Blancs opened Le Grand Casino de Monte Carlo in
1858, and the casino benefited from the tourist traffic
the newly built French railway system created. Due to
the combination of the casino and the railroads, Monaco
finally recovered from the previous half century of
economic slump, and the principality's success attracted
other businesses. In the years following the casino's
opening Monaco founded its Oceanographic Museum and the
Monte Carlo Opera House, 46 hotels sprang up and the
number of jewellers operating in Monaco increased by
nearly 500 percent.
Today, Le Grand Casino still operates in the original
building the Blancs constructed and has been joined by
several other casinos, including Le Casino Café de
Paris, the Monte Carlo Bay Casino, the Monte Carlo
Sporting Club & Casino (Summer Casino) and the Sun
Casino. The most recent addition to the list—the first
casino to open in Monte Carlo in 75 years—is the Monte
Carlo Bay Casino, which sits on 4 hectares of the
Mediterranean Garden and, among other things, offers 145
slot machines, all equipped with "Ticket-In, Ticket-Out"
(TITO); it is the first Mediterranean casino to utilize
this technology
Monaco Tax
haven
Monaco levies no income tax on individuals. The absence of a personal
income tax in the principality has attracted to it a considerable number
of wealthy "tax refugee" residents from European countries who derive
the majority of their income from activity outside Monaco; celebrities
such as Formula One drivers attract most of the attention, but the vast
majority of them are less well-known business people..
This applies to all residents of Monaco of any nationality except French
citizens whose residency started after 1957. These French citizens still
must pay French income tax.
Monte Carlo CasinoIn 1998, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) issued a first report on the consequences of the
tax havens' financial systems. Monaco did not appear in the list of
these territories until 2004, when OECD became indignant regarding the
Monegasque situation and denounced it in its last report, as well as
Andorra, Liechtenstein, Liberia and the Marshall Islands, underlining
its lack of co-operation as regards financial information disclosure and
availability.
In 2000, a report by the French parliamentarians, Arnaud Montebourg and
Vincent Peillon, alleged that Monaco had lax policies with respect to
money laundering, including within its famed casino, and that the
government of Monaco had been placing political pressure on the
judiciary, so that alleged crimes were not being properly investigated.
In 2000, the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF)
stated: "The anti-money laundering system in Monaco is comprehensive.
However, difficulties have been encountered with Monaco by countries in
international investigations on serious crimes that appear to be linked
also with tax matters. In addition, the FIU of Monaco (SICCFIN) suffers
a great lack of adequate resources. The authorities of Monaco have
stated that they will provide additional resources to SICCFIN." The
Principality is no longer blamed in the 2005 FATF report, as well as all
other territories. However, since 2003, the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) has identified Monaco, along with 36 other
territories, as a tax haven.
The Council of Europe also decided to issue reports naming tax havens.
Twenty-two territories, including Monaco, were thus evaluated between
1998 and 2000 on a first round. Monaco is the only territory that
refuses to perform the second round, initially forecast between 2001 and
2003, whereas the 21 other territories are implementing the third and
last round, planned between 2005 and 2007.
However, Monaco has high social insurance taxes payable by both employer
and employee. The employer's contribution is between 28%-40% (averaging
35%) of gross salary including benefits and the employee pays a further
10%-14% (averaging 13%). Social insurance contributions, amounting
to nearly 50% of salary, are a major disincentive to the hiring of staff
and in many ways detract substantially from the advantageous income tax
regime which exists in Monaco
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