Warning over ‘fake’ offshore bank
Banking regulators in Jersey have warned consumers and investors not to deal with a bank claiming to operate in the Channel Islands.
Channel Offshore Bank advertises a St Helier address on its website and says it has been in business since 1989.
The Jersey Financial Services Commission says the bank’s claims are false and it is not authorised as required by law.
The bank has not responded to requests for comment.
The bank’s account registration process asks users to input personal details, including current bank account details.
In a notice on its website, the commission said Jersey’s 33 genuine banks were registered and listed on the regulator’s own website.
The statement reads: “COB has not received authorisation to conduct deposit-taking business within the meaning of the banking business law.
“It appears to the commission that COB, as described on the website, is falsely purporting to trade from an address of PO Box 998, St Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands, and is carrying on, or holding out that it is carrying on, deposit-taking business in Jersey when it is not authorised to do so.”
The commission said the bank had never been registered, or applied to be registered, and said any deposits it received would be illegal.
