Buying a bank in another country with another language and another legal system is a risk that few want to take.

ECONOMIST: Folie de grandeur

Belize, which used to be called British Honduras, has English as a national language and has a legal system based on England just as ours is.

FORBES: Building And Retiring In Belize: Technology Is Still A Problem

For one of the very reasons that these markets are in the Anglophone countries is not so much the shared language as it is the shared legal system.

FORBES: Posner's FDA for Financial Innovation: A Truly Terrible Idea

Other recently expired empires, such as the British, Dutch, French, had left some residue for locals grudgingly to admire: habits of administration, a legal system, even just a useful language.

ECONOMIST: Welcome to the new world disorder

We looked at Costa Rica and Panama first, but both countries speak Spanish as their national language and, as with most South American countries, the legal system was based on Napoleonic law.

FORBES: Building And Retiring In Belize: Technology Is Still A Problem

Not knowing the language very well, however, makes both of this initially risky and once you learn how a legal system works unlearning it can be a serious problem.

FORBES: Building And Retiring In Belize: Technology Is Still A Problem