(This is from the Rocky Mountain News.)

Swiss-style bank gets green light

By Erika Gonzalez,News Staff Writer

Swiss-style banking has arrived in Colorado.

The Colorado State Banking Board has approved the charter for First Colorado Depository Corp., which will specialize in serving wealthy foreigners seeking privacy and protection for their assets.

The private bank, known as a foreign capital depository, expects to open within 90 days.

"This is probably one of the most unique opportunities I have seen in my history in the financial services business," said First Colorado President Robert Inman. "This has not been done before in the United States, and there is an enormous market out there."

The Colorado legislature paved the way for foreign capital depositories in a 1999 law. Such institutions are common in countries such as Switzerland, but have never operated in the United States. The FCDC will be the first U.S.-based Swiss-style bank.

The potential for institutions specializing in offshore accounts is huge. The FCDC could have assets in the billions, considering that state law requires customers to place a minimum deposit of $200,000.

Inman estimates the offshore banking business is worth $6.5 trillion today and could grow to $10 trillion within the next five years.

Colorado charges a $96,000 initial charter fee to foreign capital depositories. Much of that money is used for background checks to ensure the bank's clients don't use the institution for money laundering. There's also an annual charter fee, not to exceed $10,000 a year.

FCDC is being funded by Inman, CEO Pierre Boisse, and other local investors.

Inman, a former banker with Boettcher & Co., said he plans to attract investors through international contacts and trade association conferences.

Those high-wealth individuals could bring big bucks to Colorado. The state requires depositors to pay fees totaling 1.5 percent of the value of their deposited assets annually. That means a depositor with a minimum account balance of $200,000 would pay $3,000 to the state. A $1 million account holder would pay $15,000.

But a bill proposed in the legislature could reduce those fees to one-half of 1 percent because of competitive pressure from other jurisdictions.

"Most of the governments don't charge a fee," said Don Childears, who serves on the FCDC's board.

Although the FCDC has the potential to raise Colorado's international profile, not all of the state's banking community supported the legislation that created the new institution.

"We just didn't think this kind of depository was necessary," said Barbara Walker, president of the Independent Bankers of Colorado. "We thought that our current financial institutions could fill the need."

But Walker wishes the FCDC luck.

"We certainly have no opposition to it now," she said.

Contact Erika Gonzalez at (303) 892-2631 or
gonzaleze@RockyMountainNews.com.

February 2, 2001

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