An Offshore Company and A Corporate Bank Account: an Easy Start

Have you ever thought of offshore company formation? This is a perfectly legitimate and popular business structure that helps you to achieve your goals easier and without much hassle involved. Let’s take a good look at setting up a business structure: a non-resident company and a bank account to conduct operations.

Why form an offshore company?

There are many reasons behind offshore company incorporation, and some of them may be of high importance to you. In general, entrepreneurs opt for a foreign company to get the following opportunities:

• This is a Plan B solution: if the situation at home gets worse, you have better protection as you took care of asset diversification.
• You are a digital nomad that travels all around the world and needs a company to provide services to customers from different countries
• You definitely need lower tax rates for your business
• You want to minimize the reporting requirements
• You need enhanced asset protection and confidentiality

And offshore jurisdictions can give it all to you, and much more. In 2023, offshore companies are still actively registered, and this trend is likely to continue for many years ahead.

Best jurisdiction

The question about the best jurisdiction to form an offshore company is asked quite often, and some customers are surprised or even disappointed to hear that it simply does not exist. But how do we choose a suitable jurisdiction to recommend to budding entrepreneurs?

Well, there is no jurisdiction that would be perfect for ALL needs. But people usually have priorities, and these help us shortlist a few jurisdictions that may be suitable for each particular case. Let’s see how you can choose a jurisdiction with your top priority in mind:

• Do you have major counterparties in China? Consider company incorporation in Hong Kong or Singapore as these are the best jurisdictions for this particular case.
• If you are targeting the US market, the most suitable destinations are located in the Caribbean. You can also think of Costa Rica or Panama, or even form an offshore company within the USA (in Wyoming, Nevada, or Delaware, which offer really good conditions for business)
• Is asset protection your top priority? You will not find any better than Belize or Nevis to set up an offshore company.
• If you want to easily obtain a gambling license, look no further than Curacao or Costa Rica.
• A start-up in the financial sphere will be most welcome in Luxembourg, Ireland, Estonia, or the UK.
• Finally, you may need a banking license. The best destinations where you can get it hassle-free are Panama, Vanuatu, St, Lucia, and Puerto Rico.

As you see, any destination is good if it fits the purpose – and our consultants will help you with the choice by analyzing all the factors you can provide.

What about a bank account to launch the operations? Well, there are two options for setting up an offshore account:

• Open it in the same country where you’ve established your company
• Open it in a different country

We usually recommend diversifying risks, but situations may differ. The best decisions are made on a case-by-case basis.

Open an offshore account easily

What should you do to open an account easily? Look at two things:

• Choose the right jurisdiction and bank
• Prepare all the documents you will need

Choosing a bank is not an easy procedure and we strongly recommend that you hire a consultant to help you. You will have to pay attention to three criteria:

• Amount of investment required: the cost of opening, maintenance fees, and minimum balance requirements.
• Currency in which accounts can be opened. You may need a particular currency or a multi-currency account to work with different counterparties.
• Jurisdiction. It has to be on the FATF white list – otherwise, you may have trouble with payments.

Once the bank has been chosen, you will need to carefully prepare your documents. Let’s see what the bank needs to make sure you are a good customer that will not bring any trouble to the institution:

• The bank needs to know that the origin of your funds is legitimate. This requires the submission of different documents, like those regarding the account’s principal holder.
• KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure is mandatory for all banks, so you will have to provide due diligence and other documents that the bank may require.
• Compliance procedures that may differ from bank to bank and from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Anyway, your documents will have to be impeccable to meet these requirements.

What is the safest way to prepare the documents? Engaging a consultant would be a good idea as you will not have to restart the application process if you fail. Consultants know the perfect wording that the banks understand and will give you recommendations on how to best fill out the forms.

Remotely or in person?

Most of our customers want to open an account online. No wonder: offshore jurisdictions are often located half the world away, and flying there just to show up at the bank may be something you cannot afford. 

Can you open an account remotely in any country? Unfortunately not: the list of them is limited. However, there are enough good jurisdictions there, including Switzerland, Belize, Nevis, Curacao, and the Cook Islands, to name just a few.

We have local agents in respective countries that will be your representatives at the banks, and this helps us open accounts with a 99% guarantee (well, let’s leave 1% to the bank) and spare you the cost of travel and accommodation. Our agent will also have an interview with the bank employee instead of you, which will save you the effort of proper preparation.

Neobanks and payment systems are a good opportunity to open an account online, but you need to see the conditions they offer before making a decision.

What documents do you need to prepare to set up a company and open an account? Well, the list differs in each particular case, so follow the link above and contact us to ask any questions you may have, and we will be glad to answer them!