Belizean banks are absolutely safe. The major banks here are First Caribbean, Heritage, Atlantic, Scotia Bank and Belize Bank and we also have a private bank, Caye Bank. Caye Bank is not a consumer bank; it is an investment bank. Caye Bank is a Class A bank. When you call your bank, you get a lot more attention from the private banking officers than you do when you stand in line for 45 minutes and try to talk to someone at customer service. The Central Bank of Belize heavily regulates all the banks in Belize.
 
My husband and I personally have a bank account in Belize with Belize Bank and we have been very pleased with it. There have been no problems at all. We hold funds in Belize currency and have no problems. It is also very straightforward to set up an account with your online banking just like you would anywhere. 

Yes, the banks in Belize are safe; we have no problem at all because they are not so highly leveraged as they are in the states.  However funds are not guaranteed by FDIC. We have money in the banks here and we have money in the States. Most expats who live here have the same.

 

When you come to Belize, you want to be safe and you don’t want to cut off all ties with your US currency but you definitely cannot function if you do not have a Belize checking account.

 

Logo for Central Bank of Belize, pictured.)

Belize has such a great banking financial history, I haven't heard of any fraud in the banking system.  In Belize, we're modeled on the English system, and Canadian politics. Belize just sits under the radar.  Bad things don't just happen because the central bank of Belize so closely monitors what we have going on here. Belize only has five International Banks; you haven't got any banks popping out up on the street corner claiming to be one. They are so strictly regulated that I have not heard of people loosing money. You never hear  "Oh my goodness, I have put my money in that bank in Belize and then I lost it". In the four and a half years I’ve been here, I haven't heard that story.