Over the past year, the business world sphere has been discussing the fact that banks actively began to “freeze” financial accounts to organizations that are established in offshore zones.
Banking experts are sure that due to more severe regulatory requirements for KYC, the banking sector is not very profitable to conduct non-resident servicing among the client sphere.
Today, banks avoid additional attention to themselves from regulators, so they began to refuse “offshore” clientele. From the perspective of temporary investments and effort, their maintenance has a minimal perspective.
Probable income and benefits are almost not worth it, say experts in the banking sector. However, there is an opportunity to open an account for an offshore company, although now it has become several times more difficult operation.
Ideally, when the state of the bank account is combined with the state of registration of the firm. For example, the Slovak firm opened a financial account in a Slovak bank. But for such firms, offshore Panama, Seychelles or Belize banks are not usually advised.
Here they do not have foreign representation and in themselves are too small. Therefore, to meet with a bank representative, it will be necessary to travel by plane for thousands of kilometers, which is unprofitable – labor-intensive, not cheap and long. In addition, it is unlikely that businessmen will be pleased with the financial indicators of banks in the offshore.
European banks are not willing to open accounts for offshore companies. However, there are exceptions in the form of Latvian and Cyprus banks. However, according to the Directive of July 16, 2018 of National Bank of Cyprus, Cyprus banks must close accounts with all companies that have signs of shell companies.
Under this indicator, all offshore companies and most partnerships fall. If the offshore company is a holding company and the bank will serve several firms, then the probability of opening an offshore account is quite large.
Offshore “purse firms” are always welcome in Austrian, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg banking structures. Only opening an account with such banks will require a deposit of 10,000 USD or more.
The opening of non-commercial accounts for companies in offshore jurisdictions is a difficult task, even – hardly feasible.
Initially, what needs to be done is to carefully study the AML and KYC requirements of an offshore bank for the verification of an offshore account.
Some banks may require proof of the territorial relationship of business activities to the country in which the account is opened. For instance, Czech SeskaSporitelna and CSOB, Polish Rekha, all Cyprus banks).
Estonian banks require that the company has a physical presence in Estonia (company and local employee) or the availability of partners and the introduction of activities in the territory.
In the UK, most banks require a large deposit, which can amount to tens of millions of dollars.
Mashreq Bank in the UAE requires a deposit of $ 50,000.
Swiss banks are still very popular, with a deposit of 10 000 Euros. In addition, a pleasant bonus is that only 1 000 Euro is frozen as a non-surplus account balance, and the client can use the rest of the money.
Another advantage is that the opening is remote and the client does not need to go personally. Eternity Law International will always provide you with more detailed information and help with the opening of the account.
For offshore companies, we can also offer banks in Mauritius, Curacao, Vanuatu, Antigua, Saint Lucia. However, each of these banks has different requirements for opening an account, as well as different amounts of the deposit.
Territorial affiliation is one of the most pressing problems. The bank has the right to close the account even of a company that has been working on the market for a long time if its powers or activities are not confirmed or true.
However, there are also banks that can open an offshore account without contacting the country. For example, Swiss CIM Bank, Bendura Bank (Liechtenstein), Czech FIOBank and Sberbank, Hungarian MKB.
In order for an account in offshore bank to be verified, it is necessary to come to the bank branch or to meet with the person who officially represents it.
For the CIS countries, the difficulty lies in the fact that not all banks can and send representatives of their interests to our country. So the client will have to go to the country of the bank in question. There is a way to open a proxy account, without personal departure.
This option works far from always and preliminary, it is worthwhile to clarify whether there is such a thing in the bank as “withdrawal of the power of attorney”. Some EU countries prohibit the cancellation of power of attorney. So a trustee can manage accounts without the knowledge of the owner.
Be sure to remember that the documents you submit to the bank must be translated into the state language. This is an expensive pleasure, which requires a lot of time. At the moment, on average, banks are considering an application for opening an account for 30 days. In addition, this must be remembered.
Of course, there are banking organizations that offer ultra-fast consideration of an application for opening an account. However, before applying for such a special offer, it is necessary to find out the cost of such a special service and how much this actually accelerates the solution of the issue.
The Bank Сompliance will pay twice as much attention to organizations from offshore countries. In this regard, lengthens the time costs for studying the provided documentation.
Each banking structure has its own characteristics and differences, which should be read in advance – even before the stage of preparation of documentation.
Eternity Law international will gladly help you with choosing a bank to open an account, and our specialists will answer all your questions. Take advantage of our many years of practical experience in opening offshore accounts – save your time and save money.
The international company Eternity Law International provides professional services in the field of international consulting, auditing services, legal and tax services.