The Dutch or Netherlands Antilles are a group of five islands located in the Caribbean Sea. The five islands of the group are Saint Eustatius, Saba, Saint Maarten, Curacao, and Bonaire. These five islands are spread throughout a wide geographic are in the Caribbean. Saint Eustatius, Saba and Saint Maarten are located in the Lesser Antilles island chain, slightly to the East of Puerto Rico. Bonaire and Curacao, on the other hand are located several hundred miles to the South west, just north of Venezuela.
The five islands of the Netherlands Antilles are considered an independent nation that is part of the Kingdom of The Netherlands, like Aruba. This arrangement is similar to the way that Scotland is anintegral part of the Kingdom of Great Britain. The neighboring island of Aruba was a member of the Netherlands Antilles until 1986 when its population voted to become a separate independent nation within the Kingdom. The current status of the Netherlands Antilles is not set in stone. Referendums on the relationship each island has with the Netherlands have been held in recent years. Although some of the islands voted for greater autonomy within the kingdom and some voted to become separate countries within the kingdom, no island voted for total independence from the Kingdom of The Netherlands.
The banking system of the Netherlands Antilles is supervised by the Central Bank of Netherlands Antilles (www.centralbank.an). The Central Bank of the Netherlands Antilles also carries out monetary policy for the islands as well as acting as the treasury. The Central Bank also collects tax revenues and issues refunds. As of this writing, there are a total of ten licensed banks and credit institutions in the Netherlands Antilles. Four of these banks are foreign owned banks operating in the islands or are the subsidiaries of foreign banks. The remaining six banks are local to the Netherlands Antilles. Current lists of these banks as well as contact information for these institutions can also be found on the website of the Central Bank of the Netherlands Antilles. Banks can be found on the islands that are willing to open accounts for foreign nationals. You will need to submit a militarized copy of your passport as well as a bank reference letter.
Accounts can be opened in USD or the local currency, The Netherlands Antilles Guilder Due to the fact that the United States is the dominant trading partner of the Netherlands Antilles, the Netherlands Antilles Guilder is pegged to the USD at 1 USD = f 1.79
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