Barclays Card is the archetype for a mastercard provided to depositors by an off shore bank . Since the early days the schemes and methods have certainly grown more sophisticated, but the rule holds true.
It's easy to get money into a foreign clandestine bank account. It is more difficult to get money out and spend it. The master card is ubiquitous and accepted everywhere with out notice. As a matter fact in u-swipe transactions, the merchant never even sees the card.
So what happens is you go to Walmart to buy beer and swipe your Barclays card. Walmart gets paid by transactions with the us branch of Barclays that in turn gets paid internally by the Cayman Islands branch. The entire series of transactions are invisible because the electronic ledgers can't be easily accessed.
So, you go to your local Mercedes dealer and buy a new car. You present the Barclays card in payment. The dealer adds a credit card fee of 2% and you drive away. The distant bank in Georgetown deducts the $60,000 from your account and it is concluded. No sweat, no bother.
