A business account with a traditional bank, a payment system or a neobank: what should you choose?

An international entrepreneur today has a good number of options to consider when seeking banking services. Today, the choice is not limited just to traditional banks – there are payment systems (often referred to as Payment Service Providers, PSP, or Electronic Money Institutions, EMI) and the so-called neobanks (challenger banks like Revolut and N26) as well. 

What type of financial institution should you choose for your international business? The answer will depend on various factors, as each business task requires a different solution. However, when looking for a reliable partner, you had better seek professional advice on the matter in any case.

Why you should apply for the services of Offshore Pro Group

Offshore Pro Group has been working in the offshore financial services sector since 2008. We specialize in providing high-quality services to those individuals who would like to set up a business account with a bank, a payment system, or a neobank. Over the years, we have accumulated great experience in selecting the financial instruments that will make your international business highly efficient.

In addition to the vast experience, you will find the following benefits if you choose to cooperate with Offshore Pro Group:

• We constantly upgrade the professional skills of our experts through on-the-job training and continuing education requirements.
• We have stable working relationships with a large number of banks, EMIs, and neobank in many jurisdictions around the world.
• We closely cooperate with international financial service experts.
• We meticulously study the available financial instruments and the methods of their application.
• We tirelessly extend the list of high-quality financial instruments that we offer.
• We follow the principle ‘quality is more important than quantity’.

Offshore Pro Group experts will always suggest the most optimal and the most adequate solutions to your business use case whatever the size of your company is. Collaborating with us will help you save time and your precious nerves… and the high quality of our services will contribute to the growth of your fortune!

The five step process of choosing between banks, EMIs and neobanks

When there are dozens and dozens of options to choose from, we suggest you divide the selection process into several steps to ensure arriving at the right conclusion. That way you can be sure of making the right decision at the end of the road. We suggest that you should follow a five-step procedure when choosing the financial institution where you can open a business account for your international company.

There are a large number of banking institutions in the world and each of them will hold a license of a certain type and each of them will offer its own list of banking services to the clients. This means that making the right choice is not easy and you need professional assistance. If you apply for our services, you will save a lot of time and other resources while ultimately obtaining a financial instrument that will serve you purposes in the best possible way. Our experience in solving various kinds of tasks has taught us to analyze the conditions and choose the financial instruments that suit our clients’ needs perfectly well.  

A business account with a traditional bank

Traditional banks remain the leading players in the financial service market. However, due to the international campaign against money laundering and terrorism financing, the traditional business situation has been turned on its head. While previously, the client chose the bank… now the bank chooses the client. 

How foreign bank accounts can be used

Normally, international entrepreneurs use foreign bank accounts for the following purposes:

• Making transactions required by their export-import operations;
• Accumulating profits;
• Consolidating money flows with investment purposes;
• Managing wealth;
• Attracting investors.

Advantages of a foreign bank account

Having a business account with a foreign bank brings several important advantages:

• It improves the business image.
• It allows diversifying assets and redirecting money flows.
• It gives access to more banking services.

A business account with a payment system

The COVID-19 pandemic has boosted the popularity of remote services. In particular, it has contributed to the growth of multiple payment systems that provide their services remotely. Such systems can be divided into several subclasses depending on what financial services they specialize in:  

• Internet acquiring – some payment systems help accept payments for goods and services via the Internet;
• Payment gateways – some payment systems act as intermediaries in (international) transactions;
• Payment modules – these allow processing payments made with the use of bank cards and electronic wallets;
• Full-fledged payment systems – these provide financial services similar to those that can be found in traditional banks. They open single or multi currency accounts, allow making international transaction, issue pay cards, and so on;
• Electronic wallet operators – these work with electronic money;
• Crypto Payment Systems.

How business accounts with payment systems can be used

Usually, international entrepreneurs use accounts set up with payment systems for the following purposes:

• Redirecting the money flows;
• Protecting the confidential data of the ultimate business owner;
• Accelerating international payments;
• Performing cryptocurrency operations.

Advantages of having a business account with a payment system

Having a business account with a payment system brings the following main advantages:

• Faster account opening: it takes one to two days to set up a business account with a payment system while opening a traditional bank account usually takes months;
• High transaction speed;
• Some fees and commissions are considerably lower than those in traditional banks;
• A bearable level of bureaucracy allows obtaining quick answers and having the documents processed in a fast way.

Unlike with the banks, opening a business account with a payment system is fast and it can be done remotely in all cases.

Offshore Pro Group experts will help you avoid contacting unreliable payment systems, that sometimes verge on being scams. With our assistance, you will not lose any money and you will be able to use very comfortable banking services.

A business account with a neobank

Neobanks are a relatively recent invention. However, the trend is gaining momentum. A neobank is a licensed financial institution that provides services exclusively via the Internet and mobile applications. They do not have physical offices, which lets them seriously economize on the operational costs and they also do not have to hire excessive personnel.

Neobanks offer services that are very much similar to the services that can be found in traditional banks. You can put money into your neobank account, use it to make various transactions including international ones, get a loan, and so on. However, the list of services that a particular neobank can offer directly depends on the national legislation. Laws in some countries prohibit neobanks from providing certain types of banking services.

Advantages of having a business account with a neobank

Neobanks are less bureaucratic than traditional banks are and they are more functional than payment systems are. Normally, international entrepreneurs use neobank accounts for the following purposes:

• Redirecting the money flows for improved efficiency;
• Gaining access to more banking services;
• Accelerating international payments;
• Improving the confidentiality of the business owner.

If you apply for our assistance, you can minimize the risks associated with dealing with digital banks and acquire a reliable financial instrument.

Client’s capital protection in EMIs and neobanks

Clients often wonder, and rightly so, about the security of their funds. The client’s money is protected anyway thanks to the following factors:

• These financial institutions have to meet the regulatory authorities’ requirements just like traditional banks. They have to ensure that the client’s account is protected, that there is a security deposit, that the individual and the company’s money is separated, and so on. There are also liquidity norms that they have to comply with. Besides, all their managers must be “fit and proper” people with a good track record, and the right qualifications and experience.
• In particular, EMIs are required to keep 100% of their clients’ funds in special segregated accounts. These must be in major banks like Barclays or Citibank, or in national banks such as the Bank of LIthuania, which is part of the European Euro-Zone Central Banking System. Since EMIs are not allowed to make loans or investments using client money, in many respects they can be considered as safer than traditional banks.
• The requirements to the payment systems are neobanks on the part of national Central Banks and other financial authorities are toughening still further.
• Inspections come to EMIs and neobanks on a regular basis.
• Their licenses have to be renewed periodically and every time the license is extended, the EMI or the neobank has to meet stricter requirements.

These factors as well as the constant extension of the network of correspondent financial institutions affects the costs of services. When the EMI or neobank fees and commissions are relatively high, it is an indicator of the high quality of services provided there and the presence of a long-term development strategy.

What should you choose?

Offshore Pro Group will be happy to help you set up a business account with a traditional bank, an EMI or a neobank. With the view of the vast number of financial institutions in the modern world, making the right choice on your own is a difficult task indeed. You can spend a lot of time investigating the issue and never find a suitable option. However, you can save time and money if you rely on Offshore Pro Group experience.

Our experts monitor the situation in the financial service market on a permanent basis, we are aware of all the latest trend and events in the industry, we know which payment systems and neobanks are secure and which of them may be about to lose their licenses. In addition, we receive feedback from our clients who inform us about the level of comfort that they find dealing with this or that financial institution. We take our clients’ feedback into account very seriously.

Why is it so important to seek professional advice? Offshore Pro Group experts know exactly how the reliability of your prospective financial partner can be ascertained. With the proliferation of online services, the number of financial fraudsters has also increased. If you ‘buy’ from an attractive ad without checking the information carefully, you may end up losing money. Unfortunately, there are fake financial institutions online that open for the sole purpose of collecting people’s money and then vanishing without trace. 

What you should pay attention to when choosing the bank, the EMI or the neobank 

The following characteristics should make the financial institution attractive for cooperation:

• Good reputation;
• A history of operations of at least one year;
• The availability of a license (a banking license or another type of license);
• A wide range of services (single- and multi currency accounts, different currencies, pay cards, SEPA, SWIFT, etc.);
• Remote account management opportunities (Internet and mobile banking);
• Strict requirements to the clients;
• The ease of making international transactions and withdrawing money from the account;
• Affordable fees and commissions;
• A high level of security protection (the use of cipher keys, passwords, two-factor authentication, modern security protocols);  
• A high level of confidentiality protection;
• Round-the-clock client support;
• Client support in your native language (if necessary);
• The possibility to use cryptocurrencies and electronic wallets.

Of course, each financial institution will have its own set of services that it offers to clients but in the modern world, the choice of such institutions is large indeed. Opening a business account with a foreign bank, a payment system or a neobank will facilitate managing your money flows and contribute to making your international transactions more secure.

Traditional banks are highly reliable financial institutions to cooperate with but you have to realize that the opportunities for non-resident banking are becoming less available these days. We highly recommend that you should give a close look to the possibility of setting up a business account with an EMI or a neobank. We will be happy to advise you on a trustworthy and a well-established financial institution that you can safely collaborate with.

Please click on the ‘Contact us Now’ icon at the top of the page and choose the means of communication that you prefer. We can be reached by email, live chat or a messenger. If you need a secure financial instrument, please apply for our assistance without any hesitation. We always reply promptly!