Banking

Discover An Alternative Banking Regime

A Reputation of Excellence

The Isle of Man has a reputation as a centre of excellence for expatriate banking and provides a secure location for investments. With 11 banking groups and deposits of £40 billion, the Island specialises in providing banking services to expatriates and international corporates including commercial lending to UK companies and on UK property.

The Isle of Man offers a broad range of practical advantages for banking businesses that operate internationally. We actively help both small private banks and large retail banking groups set up and flourish in the Island through our tailored support and established banking opportunities.

Through decades of experience, we have built an enviable reputation, with a lower cost base than many jurisdictions and favourable tax treatment. You can be assured of integrity with our independent supervisory body, the Financial Services Authority, which regulates banking to recognised international standards for banking supervision and AML/CFT. The Island also offers an affordable depositor compensation scheme for retail depositors.

The Isle of Man has a strong and diverse banking sector that offers a highly developed infrastructure to support individuals and corporations in their global activities.

Building on its reputation and expertise, the Island's banking sector offers all the services that private, corporate and institutional clients may need.

11 Banking Groups on Island

Deposits in Excess of £40 billion

Alternative Banking Regime

International Banking Centre

The Isle of Man is a well-established international finance centre. The quality of its reputation and success to date has been securely established on the foundations of political stability, low taxation and the strength of its fiscal, legislative and regulatory controls.

This has contributed to over 30 years of sustained growth and a AA3 rating from Moody’s. The Isle of Man has an environment in which banking businesses of various types can establish, prosper and sustain growth.

An Alternative Banking Regime

In 2016 the Isle of Man introduced the Alternative Banking Regime (ABR) framework, legislative changes following consultation and industry collaboration, to provide new banking opportunities for businesses on the Isle of Man. The ABR is designed to attract banking operations to the Island, in particular Private Banks, Foreign Bank branches, and Representative Offices.

The ABR expands the existing Class 1 (deposit taking) banking licence to include:

Class 1 (1)

For the typical existing bank and any taking retail deposits.

Class 1 (2)

For non-retail deposit takers - those that provide services to a very limited class of individuals, and corporates.

Class 1 (3)

For Representative Offices of Foreign banks, not able to take deposits in the Island.

*Please note, banks operating under the Class 1(2) and Class 1(3) would not have the protection offered by the DCS in the event of their failure; individuals banking with them are expected to be able to shoulder such losses. Disclosure and transparency rules are included within the full ABR framework. Corporation tax on profits for retail deposit based businesses is set at 10%. All other banking activities are rated at 0%.

The first Representative Banking License has been granted for over 25 years and represents a major step forward in growth returning to this sector.

Depositor Protection Scheme

The Isle of Man has a Depositors' Compensation Scheme (DCS) which may offer protection if the covered bank in the Isle of Man goes into liquidation. An individual depositor may be covered up to £50,000 (£20,000 for other types of depositor). The DCS is established under the Financial Services Act of 2008 with the current version going into effect in 2010.

Banking Services

Banks in the Isle of Man provide the following services:

Retail Banking, Commercial Banking, Private Banking, Expat Banking, International Banking, Deposits, Treasury Services, Foreign Exchange, Trust & Corporate Services, Residential Mortgages, Investment Property Finance, Commercial Finance, Corporate Finance