Business accounts stall when the story of the company and the story of the people diverge. A certificate from one country and directors who live and decide in another is exactly that divergence. You can make it intelligible. You cannot make every bank comfortable with it.
Write the true operating story
Where the company is incorporated. Where directors live. Where contracts are negotiated. Where staff or contractors are. Which countries customers pay from. A bank that asks these questions is doing its job. An answer that puts ‘management’ in a country where nobody ever meets will be tested. Do not invent substance. Describe what you do.
People and ownership
Expect identity documents, proof of address, and a chart of who ultimately owns the company. Complex ownership is allowed to exist and is slower to explain. If a shareholder is another company, be ready to look through it. If a director will not share documents, the application is not ready.
What the account is for
Incoming payments, payroll, tax and suppliers are a clearer purpose than ‘international flexibility’. Say which currencies you need and why. A multi-currency feature is a tool inside an account, not a reason a bank must open one. The business banking page covers the operational questions once an account exists.
The bank is assessing the company and the people who control it
Opening a business account when directors live in another country is usually slower than opening one when everyone is local, because the bank must identify the company, the directors, the owners and often the source of the company’s money, across more than one set of documents. Ask, before you apply, whether that bank will consider a company with directors resident where yours are resident. A refusal at that first question saves a month of gathering papers for an application they will not read.
Ask what they need for each person: identity, proof of address, and sometimes a tax number. Addresses that are new, or documents in another language, may need a form of certification they specify. Ask what they will accept rather than commissioning the most expensive version of every page. If ownership runs through another company, expect to be asked for the people at the end of the chain, not only the first shareholder on the register.
Explain the business in the same words on every form
Write a short description of what the company does, where its customers are, and which countries money will move between. Use it on the application and in any later review. Inconsistencies between a website, a form and a director’s email are a common reason an ordinary business looks unclear. If the company is new and has no trading history, say so, and ask what they accept instead of accounts.
Personal accounts are not a substitute you should improvise. Taking company money through a personal account because the business account is slow can breach the bank’s terms and will confuse the company’s records. If timing is tight, ask the bank what a limited facility would look like while checks finish, and ask your adviser before you route money around the delay.
Before you act
Ask about the practical running of the account, not only the opening. Who can approve a payment, from which country, and what happens if one director is travelling and a salary must leave today? Dual approval is a nuisance until the day it is the reason a fraudulent payment did not leave. Ask whether the bank’s security codes will work on the phones you actually have, in the countries you will be in. If the company will receive payments from customers in a third country, mention that at the start. An account opened for a tidy story and used for a broader one is how reviews start. Tell the bank when the pattern changes. Surprises are their job to notice and your job to explain.
A practical checklist
- Incorporation documents.
- A one-page description of where work happens.
- Director identities and addresses.
- Ownership through to natural persons.
- Evidence of how the company is funded.
- A reason for this bank, in this country, that is specific.
Questions to ask
- Do you onboard companies whose directors live where we live?
- Which entity of yours would hold the account?
- What do you need on ultimate owners?
- Which currencies and payment types are available if you say yes?
- How long do you take when the file is cross-border?
- What would make you decline, so we do not pretend otherwise?
Common mistakes
- A registered office described as the place of management.
- Missing a director’s documents.
- Applying to many banks with inconsistent stories.
- Assuming a personal account’s bank will take the company.
- Forming a new company solely to obtain an account.
WiT Access provides general information and comparison resources. Nothing on this website constitutes financial, tax, legal or investment advice. Always consider obtaining advice from an appropriately qualified professional.
