Once you decide to incorporate in Panama, you will have the opportunity of choosing what type of corporation you want to establish. Keep in mind that it takes very few days to do this process in Panama, less than a week in fact. Your selection could be:

• A bearer share corporation, therefore the person holding the stock certificates may legally own the Corporation
• You can also organize the IBC Company owned by a Panama foundation.

There are several options for IBCs in Panama, but the most commonly used is the corporation, remember it is not necessary to have more than one registered shareholder (or stockholder). The two types of Panama corporations are:

• Company limited by shares, which are those that have the name of the shareholder. A shareholder may be a Panamanian Private Interest Foundation
• Society of bearer shares, which will appear in the caption "Bearer", instead of the name of a particular person and can be transferred by mere delivery of the document.

In a Panama Bearer Share Corporation no shareholders are registered. There are issuances of bearer shares and whoever owns the shares also owns the corporation. Privacy may be an issue in choosing this option. Panama bearer share companies are highly status and may own bank accounts either in the country or overseas.

A partnership in Panama for offshore/overseas investing and banking is not more advantageous than the standard Panamanian company. In the same way, limited or civil partnerships are not more adequate for offshore banking or offshore incorporation than the general Panama IBC.