Where Can I Get A Numbered Bank Account?

There are probably a limited number of numbered accounts left from the days of Austro-Hungarian Empire, but the for the rest of us in the modern age they are inaccessible. Since 1985 you haven't been able to walk into a Swiss bank with a bag of cash and open an account, and since 2004 the "numbered bank account" as we know has been effectively phased out.

Why?

The fight against "money-laundering" started as a way to stop narco-cash flowing around offshore tax havens in the Caribbean. The term was next married to terrorism, and the attacks on the world trade centers helped validate the concept of "money-laundering". Now, authorities are increasingly using the word's criminal connotations to combat tax evasion and avoidance, and generally to find out exactly how much money their citizens have. They certainly don't want you to be able to take a bag full of cash to Switzerland, anonymously, and put it in a secret numbered bank account.

For many, this is extremely hypocritical More illegal money is laundered in New York, Miami, London, Frankfurt, and Milan, than in the rest of the world. At one anti-money laundering seminar on the island of Grenada, a US official was forced to admit that the Caribbean basin only accounted for 1.67% of the money laundering in the world, and yet the United States makes the Caribbean a primary target.

1) You can't open a numbered bank account without any identification, but what you can do is open an account denominated by a number rather than a name. When you send someone money, the bank would see it coming from 0290843532, rather than Mr. Joe Bloggs. Of course the bank still knows your real identity, so it's not THAT secret.

2) Another subtle ploy is to use a safe deposit box. Many deposits are owned by big banks and in this case your safe deposit box would be attached to a bank account. You will have to pay for the privilege since the bank can't invest what is in your box. Private deposits could be less strict with identity requirements but you are also taking the risk that they will go out of business or get robbed. Having said that, there are still some safe, private depositories out there that will ask for no identification. The best ones are found where you might imagine - Switzerland, Austria and Luxembourg.

3) Build your own safe out of iron and reinforced concrete and "bury" the cash.