Switzerland: canton, residence, banks and ownership structures
Three independent layers of any Swiss decision: the canton and the lump-sum regime, the federal residence permit, the bank and its booking centre. A cluster map.
Banks & neobanks
Licensed banks and neobanks for corporate, personal and private banking accounts.
Start with the comparative guides to bank selection and compliance, then move to individual bank and payment-platform profiles. Account availability depends on residence, ownership structure and source of funds, so compare the accepted client profile as well as pricing.
Entries answer different questions: some describe the institution type and regulatory perimeter, while others focus on onboarding, payments or asset custody. A bank, an EMI, a payment platform and an infrastructure provider are not interchangeable merely because their interfaces look similar. Build a shortlist from operating currencies and geography, expected turnover, counterparties, credit or investment needs, and then verify the constraints of each specific profile.
Use the topic as a reading route. Open an overview hub, then two or three closely relevant articles and compare them against one consistent set of criteria. On every page, check the modification date, scope and links to primary sources because rules, pricing and administrative practice change. If the research supports a decision about a specific person, company or asset, turn the shortlisted options into questions and confirm the current conditions before acting.
The catalogue is generated from the current Published corpus. A page appears here only when its public snapshot matches the active index revision; archived and quarantined material is excluded. This is a research map, not individual legal, tax or investment advice.
Start with the hubs
United Kingdom: Tax, Banking and Structures for Private Capital
The UK after non-dom abolition: 4-year FIG regime, TRF to 2028, residence-based IHT after 10 of 20 years, SRT, banks from Coutts to fintechs, visa routes.
US Financial and Crypto Licenses: Three Axes of Choice — Which Door You Need
Three axes decide a US regime: federal or state, deposit status, and Fed settlement access. Charters, ILCs, SPDIs, MTLs and the GENIUS Act from 18 Jan 2027.
Fintech: licences, banking infrastructure, payments and stablecoins
Fintech regulation and operating infrastructure: licence selection, banking and safeguarding, acquiring, sanctions controls, stablecoins, crypto custody and regional regulatory regimes.
China: Company, Banks, Payments, and Residency
China for business: WFOE and regions, a bank map for foreign trade, CIPS payments and SAFE currency control, work-based residency, taxes, and the sanctions layer.
UAE: Residency, Taxes, Companies and Banks
UAE map: golden visa and tax residency, mainland vs free zone vs ADGM/DIFC, banks for companies and individuals, Russia tax treaty from 2026.
Banks by Jurisdiction: Private Banking and Accounts
Bank and jurisdiction navigator for private capital: deposit banks, private banking, settlement hubs and infrastructure choices under sanctions risk.
Luxembourg: funds, holding companies and fintech licences
Luxembourg for private capital: RAIF and SIF funds under a third-party ManCo, SOPARFI participation exemption, PPLI insurance wrappers, tax and substance.
Singapore — Business, Investments, Residence, Banking
Singapore as a hub for private capital: company formation, tax residence, funds, and banking under territorial taxation. Where to start and how to structure.
Hong Kong Hub: Company, Residency, Banking, Licenses
Hong Kong as a hub: company registration, residency, banking and licenses. English common law and territorial tax principle for private capital structures.
Articles
Kazakhstan Banks for Non-Residents: Which One to Choose
Comparing Kaspi, Halyk, Forte, BCC, Alatau City Bank and Freedom for non-residents: entry rules, the 12-month card cap under ARDFM Resolution No. 96, currencies and premium thresholds.
Payouts to Chinese Suppliers: PingPong or WorldFirst
A comparison of the two licensed channels for paying RMB into mainland China: licences, the China leg, adjacent services and which one fits which flow.
Remittances from Russia: Why Corridors Close and How to Check a Route
The four mechanisms that close a remittance corridor into or out of Russia, and a repeatable procedure for checking a route's status on a given date.
US Bank Charter Applications: Tracks, Statuses and Grounds for Denial
Who has filed for a US bank charter and where each stands: Utah and Nevada ILCs, the federal de novo, the OCC trust charter. Capital, leverage and the Wise and bunq denials.
Wholesale DLT Settlement: Choosing the Settlement Asset
Fnality, Partior, deposit tokens and wholesale CBDCs compared on the one axis that matters: whose obligation the ledger entry is, and what that does to credit risk and supervision.
Dominica Offshore Banks: One Licence, Four Products
EQIBank, The Kingdom Bank, Nodabank and Sentenor Bank: one statute, the Offshore Banking Act 1996, a separate virtual asset regime, fees and no deposit insurance.
The UAE's Four Classic Banks: FAB, Emirates NBD, ADCB and Mashreq
The four classic UAE banks on one set of axes: published entry thresholds, scale and ownership, depositor protection under Decree-Law 6 of 2025, and product differences.
Second-tier Swiss private banks: EFG, J. Safra Sarasin, Vontobel
How EFG, J. Safra Sarasin and Vontobel differ from each other and from the big three: business model, booking map, licences, and why no entry threshold is published.
Priority Banking in Singapore: The Tier Ladder Below Private Banking
Singapore's affluent tier ladder: S$200–350K entry minimums, the S$1.2–1.5M middle step, the Accredited Investor gate, and what happens when a balance falls below.
Banking in Spain: Accounts for Residents, Non-Residents and Mortgages
Opening a Spanish bank account: non-resident status and the NIE, major banks and neobanks, fees, the Ley 5/2019 mortgage procedure, wealth tax and Modelo 720.
Banking in Turkey: Non-Resident Accounts and the FX Perimeter
Opening a Turkish bank account: tax number and residence permit, TRY 1.2m deposit insurance, the closed KKM scheme, the USD 500,000 citizenship deposit.
Banking in Portugal: Accounts for Newcomers and Investors
Opening a Portuguese account: the NIF and fiscal representative, banks and neobanks, remote opening, accounts for golden visa and D8, mortgages and IFICI.
Banking in Latin America: Accounts for Residence and Capital
A Latin American account follows residence: local identifiers, deposit cover across seven countries, FX regimes, Argentina in 2026 and CRS status.
Offshore Banking Jurisdictions: Cayman, Jersey, Guernsey, Bermuda
Trust and fund accounts in Cayman, Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Bermuda: licences, the £50,000 limits and why structures fall outside them.
Hong Kong vs Singapore: Banking Access for Non-Resident Owners
Hong Kong or Singapore for a company account: deposit protection of HK$800,000 vs S$100,000, bank licence types, and what HKMA and MAS require at onboarding.
Japan and Korea: payment and crypto licences
Licensing in Japan and South Korea: the three funds transfer tiers and the empty third one, prepaid issuer thresholds, electronic payment instruments and the JPYC and JPYSC stablecoins, crypto moving into FIEA, Korea's VAUPA, EFTA capital ladder and real-name bank account gate, foreign entry routes and 2024–2026 enforcement.
Change of Control and Buying a Licensed Company
Change in control and qualifying holdings across the UK, EU, US, Canada, Singapore and Hong Kong: thresholds from 10% to one-third, indirect control and acting in concert, when the 60 working days start and how they restart, the shelf life of an approval, split criminal sanctions under FSMA s.191F, MTL and RPAA mechanics, and what diligence on a licensed target must cover.
Licence Withdrawal and Wind-Down: What Happens to Client Money
What happens to money held at an EMI, payment institution, MSB or crypto platform when the licence goes. Licence withdrawal, solvent wind-down and insolvency compared; wind-down plans and resolution packs; how the safeguarding pool is built, who pays the administrator and why clients recover less than par. FCA data on the 65% average shortfall, the UK special administration regime and its independent review, Ipagoo, Allied Wallet, Premier FX and Ziglu, plus EU, US and Canadian rules, MiCA and the GENIUS Act.
India and Brazil: the RBI and BCB payment regimes
How the RBI Payment Aggregator Directions 2025 and Banco Central's 2025-26 resolutions reshaped market entry: PA and PA-CB licensing, the four Brazilian payment institution types, UPI and Pix access, zero MDR economics, RBI data localisation and the new PSAV regime for virtual assets.
UK: the FCA Authorisation Map — EMI, API, PI and the Small Regimes
Every door into the UK payments perimeter: authorised EMI, small EMI, API, small PI, RAISP, agent, appointed representative and credit broking. Euro thresholds, initial capital, own funds methods A, B, C and D, application contents, real FCA determination times and approval rates, safeguarding from 7 May 2026, the cryptoasset boundary and post-Brexit entry routes.
Issuing ARTs and EMTs under MiCA: the Token Issuer Regime
Titles III and IV of MiCA from the issuer's side: the ART/EMT classification test, Article 21 authorisation versus the Article 48 EMI requirement, own funds and the 30% deposit floor, redemption at par and the interest ban, significant tokens, the Article 23 and 58(3) caps, recovery and redemption plans, and what the ESMA registers show in August 2026.
Card Scheme Rules: Chargebacks, Interchange and Merchant Monitoring
How the Visa and Mastercard rulebooks create obligations: dispute cycles and deadlines, who pays fees at each stage, 2026 VAMP, ECM and BRAM thresholds, interchange caps in the EU, US and UK, scheme fees, and where 3-D Secure liability shift stops working.
Hong Kong vs Singapore for Private Banking: Thresholds, Investor Status and Onboarding
Private banking in Hong Kong vs Singapore: Professional Investor and Accredited Investor regimes, published bank entry thresholds, onboarding and source of wealth practice, and the sanctions frame for Russian-passport clients.
Sentenor Bank: Public Status, Licence and Service Availability
Sentenor Bank Corporation in Dominica: claimed FSU licence, current account availability, onboarding, published services and undisclosed client-money protections.
RPAA: Bank of Canada Supervision of Payment Service Providers — the Second Regime on Top of FINTRAC
1,562 registered PSPs as of 13 Aug 2026, end-user fund safeguarding, penalties up to CAD 10m and the FINTRAC overlap — how Bank of Canada supervision actually works.
Hong Kong: the Stablecoins Ordinance — the HKMA Issuer Licence and the Limits of the Regime
Cap. 656 since 1 Aug 2025: HKD 25m capital, one-business-day redemption, 36 applications and two licences by 10 Apr 2026 — who must license and who may sell.
PayFac, ISO and Merchant of Record: Who Carries the Risk in Acquiring
Visa Rules of 18 April 2026: the USD 1m sub-merchant threshold, VAMP at 150 bps from 1 April, assessments to USD 250,000, and where a platform's licence actually starts.
NYDFS: BitLicense and the New York Trust Charter — Two Doors Into US Crypto
26 BitLicenses and 13 trust charters as of August 2026, an eight-coin Greenlist, 226.5m in penalties and the OCC charter migration reshaping New York after the GENIUS Act.
Travel Rule: Two Regimes, Divergent Thresholds and the Data That Travels With a Transfer
Two Travel Rules, not one: a zero threshold in the EU since Dec 2024, £800 in the UK since June 2026, USD 3,000 in the US since 1996, zero in Korea from Feb 2027.
Money Transmitter Licenses in the US: Fifty Licenses Instead of One
No federal money transmission license exists in the US: MTMA implementation, state exemptions, bond and capital rules, crypto regimes and 18 U.S.C. 1960.
Singapore's PSA Payment Licences: Money-Changing, SPI, MPI and the Seven Regulated Services
How MAS sorts payment firms into three licence classes, what the 3/6/5 million SGD thresholds really measure, and what safeguarding, capital and security actually cost.
Singapore's DTSP Regime: Why a Singapore-Registered Crypto Company Must Licence or Leave
Since 30 June 2025 a Singapore entity serving only offshore crypto clients needs a DTSP licence MAS says it will generally not grant. Routes, costs, penalties.
Sanctions Screening at a Financial Operator: The Discipline That Holds Payments Together
The EU's 21st package of 23 July 2026, OFAC's sham-transactions guidance and a USD 275m penalty: how sanctions screening works and why payments stall.
Compliance Stack for a Licensed Operator: Roles, Policies, Systems and Audit
Four AML programme skeletons instead of the "five pillars", BWRA as the load-bearing element, NYDFS Part 504 certification, MLRO pay of £140–300k and the 2024–2026 fines.
Banking for a Licensed Operator: How MSBs, MSOs, EMIs and PSPs Open and Keep Accounts
The operator account stack, why banks refuse, the 2026 provider map, CASS 15 from 7 May 2026 and a 90-day notice right from 28 April 2026.
The MiCA CASP Licence: Procedure, Cost and Choosing a Jurisdiction
Annex IV capital of €50k–150k or 25% of overheads under Article 67, a 25+40 working-day clock that runs 9–18 months in practice, and 325 CASPs on the ESMA register.
CBDCs in 2026: the Digital Euro, the Digital Ruble and the US Fork
The digital euro pilot in 2027, a mandatory digital ruble from 1 September 2026 and a US CBDC ban: what the CBDC map means for banks and private clients.
The OCC National Trust Charter: a Bank Without Deposits for Crypto and Fintech
Fiduciary powers, preemption of some 50 state MTLs and life without FDIC: how Ripple, Circle and Morgan Stanley take a national trust charter — and what it buys.
Swiss fintech and crypto licences: Fintech licence, DLT trading facility and crypto institutions
Swiss financial and crypto licensing under the Banking Act, DLT Act and FINMA practice: Fintech licence, bank and securities-firm status, DLT trading facilities, crypto custody, stablecoins, capital and substance.
Endowus: the Fee-Only Wealth Platform of Singapore and Hong Kong
Over $10 billion in client assets, 100% trailer fee rebates and private markets: inside Asia's largest independent digital wealth platform.
Stablecoins in Asia: Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Korea and the Yuan Question
Hong Kong issued 2 licences out of 36 bids, Japan launched JPYC, Singapore awaits its law, Korea is split, China bans: Asia's stablecoin regimes compared.
PSD3 and PSR: the EU Payments Overhaul — One PI Licence and the End of the EMI
One PI licence replaces the EMI regime: re-authorisation within 27 months, verification of payee, TARGET access and new capital floors — the EU payments reform calendar to 2029.
Finom: the European Business Account Built by Ex-Modulbank Founders
An Amsterdam-based EMI fintech with Russian-speaking roots: accounts and AI accounting for EU SMBs, a €115m Series C — and the honest limits of a non-bank.
Compound Planning: the $5 Billion Digital Family Office
An SEC-registered RIA with $5 billion in AUM growing 75% a year: how Compound Planning's digital multi-family office works — model, fees, who it serves.
EU Banking Licence Through the ECB: Requirements, Capital and Timing
€5m on paper versus €20–50m in practice, 12–24 months, the choice of entry country and the buy-a-bank alternative: the credit institution route under the SSM.
SG-FORGE: Société Générale's MiCA Stablecoins
The only global systemically important bank issuing MiCA stablecoins on public chains: how EURCV and USDCV work and why Euroclear is testing them for settlement.
Lithuania: EMI Licences and the Specialised Bank — the EEA's Second Door After the Clean-up
80 EMIs, 43 PIs and a bank for €1m: how Lithuania's door into the EEA works after the Bank of Lithuania clean-up — capital, timelines, substance and the PayrNet lessons.
US MSB Registration and Money Transmitter Licences: FinCEN plus the State Map
FinCEN MSB registration is not a licence: a US payments business needs MTLs in up to 49 states. The MTMA map, exemptions, timelines, budgets and federal alternatives.