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Montana's Foreign Capital Depository Act, David Aronofsky

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In 1997, Montana attracted national and world financial attention when Montana Governor Mark Racicot signed into law Senate Bill 83, the Foreign Capital Depository Act (Act), creating the first U.S. state-chartered financial entity designed solely for attracting non-U.S. capital. Depicted by skeptics as an unworkable "Panama without the Canal," "Switzerland of the Rockies" and "Rocky Mountain High," Montana is nonetheless pursuing a creative approach to increased state revenues that capitalizes on the state's unique privacy laws as well as innovative statutory drafting. The Act warrants attention from offshore assets owners and managers who seek U.S. stability in a state committed …