Although an offshore bank might call to mind secretive companies looking for a method to hide their funds on foreign shores, for the majority of regular people, having an offshore bank account is often a quite necessary thing when there's business to be done in another country. Writing a check for the rent on an apartment that happens to be in another country might be difficult without having a bank account in that country. In addition, for anyone who travels to a different country often, it can usually save a huge amount of banking fees if a traveler works in the country's native currency.