Montana's first foreign capital depository may be established on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Browning.
Glacier International Depository Ltd., chartered last November by the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council, hopes to begin accepting deposits later this year.
Unlike foreign depositories allowed under state of Montana banking laws, Glacier is not obligated to pay the 1.5 percent fee on total deposits to the state because the reservation is sovereign. Instead, the reservation's goal is to encourage depositors to invest in tribal development projects.
In addition to building an office complex in Browning, Glacier has opened offices in Australia, the Middle East, London, Tokyo and Hong Kong to attract foreign depositors. The company eventually plans to locate the depository in the Babb-St. Mary area on the eastern edge of Glacier National Park.
Glacier would be the first foreign depository established in the United States. Since Montana passed a law allowing such tax-sheltered, safe havens for foreign depositors a few years ago, there have been inquiries from abroad, but no company has yet requested a charter to establish this kind of bank.
