Banking in Belize

We've had an account at Atlantic Bank since 1998.
Pros - online bill payments, third party transfers, debit card for ATM withdrawals (all no fee), wires from outside of Belize to our account.
Cons - Nothing more than what we would experience at our bank in Canada.

Was there any trouble creating an account as an expat?  I heard stories : )

Things have changed lots since we've opened an account. And yes...lots of stories. Central Bank approves new accounts.
All I can suggest is a trip to a bank to find out. Make sure you have references from your banks at home, utility bills, land title certificates etc.

Can you tell me what kind of bank references they would require?  We would only have utility bills from Canada , would that apply? Thanks your help.

We set up an account with Belize bank we got the application form from their website. After filling in the paperwork sending it by mail  and on line from the states Belize bank submit it  to be approved by Central bank. in total it took us about 10 weeks. they accepted a simple letter on Bank stationary from our personal banker in California saying we had a good history of managing our accounts with them here in the states. There is also some paperwork we had to fill in for the US government, they supplied this, all to do with money Laundering. A bit tedious but on the whole painless and we have had no problems in the last 15 months.

we have an acc. at Belize bank , +5 yrs. , I don't recommend them . every time we deposit a sizeable sum , towards our house construction , they treat us like we're laundering money , & they charge you a conversion rate to BZ$ . last transfer cost us $ 6,000  vs. street value   . We are switching to atlantic bank which deals in $US . As a U.S. citizen you will be required to fill out  FATCA  paperwork . They will only accept  original or notarized  copies of any verifying required documents . They will require this for each person listed on the ACC.

In Belize can not open an account that is not linked to another account. For example abroad. No link to the old bills is a problem. Expect a transfer from abroad is not a deposit.
If you want to create a new account.
  live in Belize 6 months
Work in Belize Belize for your company - unlikely.
Mat self-employment
It is important to demonstrate regular income from Belize
Supported by invoices for electricity, water, telephone, some of that which is the address in the US
Time for a new account is a disaster.
For comparison, in Mexico it is an account opened for two hours. ATM card to pass the next day. As in Europe.

We have an offshore account with Caye Bank in San Pedro. Not terribly easy to set-up in terms of documents and paperwork, but not insurmountable either. Took us about 1 month to get everything finalized and money wired/deposited. They have been excellent to work with, and we have not encountered any problems with transactions. Reasonable service fees. You can request a 'check' from your account to pay anyone in Belize (in BZ currency or in any currency), for services and goods.
Until you are a permanent resident or citizen of Belize, I don't believe you can open a local "Belize" bank account. If you have an ATM card and a bank account virtually anywhere in the world, it is easy to get to cash from your account electronically - maybe not really large sums though.