International banking and trust company licences are granted under the International Banking and Trust Companies Act, 2006.

International Banking is the carrying on of business in or from within Montserrat in a currency other than Eastern Caribbean dollars (EC$) with a non-resident of Montserrat.

A non-resident of  Montserrat is

(i)  an international business company;

(ii)  a company or  LLC formed, or  continued under the Limited Liability Company Act (Cap. 11.14) which at the relevant time is  not carrying out any revenue generating activities in Montserrat

A licence will be issued if  the Commission is satisfied that:

• shareholders, directors, and controllers are fit and proper persons;
• Maintenance of Reserve;
• Minimum capital of US$1,000,000;
• adequate capital is maintianed;
• that licensees are audited in accordance with internationally accepted auditing standards (IAAS);
• that auditors report to the Commissioner any matter it is required to report on any licensee to any investigative, regulatory or other institution, within a reasonable time of reporting to that licensee.

It is the Commission’s policy that it will only grant licences to applicants that are:

• branches or subsidiaries of banks with a well-established and proven track record which are subject to effective consolidated supervision.
• banks which, although not subsidiaries, are closely associated with an overseas bank, and which, by agreement, will be included within the consolidated supervision exercised by the overseas bank’s home supervisory authority.
• wholly-owned subsidiaries of acceptable non-bank corporations whose shares are quoted on a recognized stock exchange, where the objective of the subsidiary is to undertake in-house treasury operations only, and where such operations are fully consolidated within the published financial statements of the parent company.

In addition, international banking licences will only be granted if the applicants’ place of incorporation, mind and management are within the same jurisdiction or, in the case of a subsidiary, if the mind and management is located in the jurisdiction in which consolidated supervision is being exercised.

Applications for international banking licence must ensure that their  applications;

(i) contain the required information and is in the prescribed form as noted by the International Banking and Trust Compannies Regulations;

(ii) is accompanied by the prescribed fee.