How can a foreign company get access to a multi-currency account in London and Europe? Today it is extremely difficult to open an account for a non-resident company. Especially considering some constraints that are connected with non-financial and non-business areas.
Of course, you can find a simple solution and create a business account in another country, including offshore jurisdictions. But in some cases a business owner needs a European account, which is used as a confirmation of the reputation of the business or in order to establish relationships with foreign partners.
We would like to offer you a non-standard solution – opening an account for a foreign company with a financial institution in Great Britain! Contact our experts to take advantage of this unique offer today!
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Payment System vs Bank: Profitability and Safety
According to the latest trends in the development of the UK banking sector, financial institutions cooperate with clients who are classified as working in risky segments. This includes businessmen whose activities are incomprehensible or not entirely transparent to bankers, as well as foreigners from the black and sanctioned list of countries.
Even if you are lucky enough to open an account in Europe, you should be prepared for regular inspections of all your transactions and questions about the origin of the assets. This is connected with the new and existing rules for information exchange between countries and the reluctance of banks to fall out of favor with the world regulators.
But where there is demand, there is always supply! Against the backdrop of the global fight against financial fraud and terrorism, some fintech companies got a real kick start in product development. In this connection, we are also seeing significant modernization of the legislative systems of each jurisdiction where electronic money and providers of such services and assets are officially recognized today.
Most of the turnover of electronic assets is provided by payment services, EMIs (electronic money institutions), which are eligible to make transfers to third parties at the request of their customers. At the same time, these organizations themselves are not considered banks, so they do not need the corresponding licenses.
For reference: In the UK, EMIs operate according to EU Directive 2009/110/EC. The regulator is the UK Financial Conduct Authority.
Benefits Offered by a UK E-Service Provider
If we compare a standard bank in Europe with an electronic money institution (EMI) managed and controlled by UK regulators, then the second option will certainly appear more preferable for foreign corporate clients for a number of reasons:
- Minimum requirements for opening a personal or corporate multi-currency account;
- Clients are accepted even from sanctioned countries;
- Working with high-risk businesses, with some exceptions;
- All customers’ finances are held in segregated accounts with leading banks. The company maintains 100% liquidity;
- Low interest rates.
We recommend our clients to use the services of a reliable payment system in London. This EMI has been operating in the UK since 2009; it has a good reputation, uses advanced financial technologies, and maintains an individual approach to its clients.
The distinctive feature of the procedure of opening an account in the recommended payment system is that it operates according to the club principle. Among the traditional banking services it provides, there is also a special service for the members of the community of individual cross-border companies, whose representatives are accepted in the club by invitation only.
Corporate or Personal Account in the London Payment System: Key Benefits for a Non-Resident
There is an endless list of benefits the owner of a foreign company or a non-resident businessman receives when they open a corporate or personal account in the London payment system:
- Notifications about services through an accessible website in English;
- Multi-functional Internet banking;
- Multilingual customer support service;
- The procedure for opening an account is simplified, compared to traditional banks;
- Fast international payments within the SEPA zone;
- A UK account and multi-currency IBANs for sending and receiving funds;
- SWIFT payments;
- Electronic payments via Target2;
- A personal IBAN account for receiving and sending payments;
- Favorable terms of service;
- A personal manager;
- Multi-user access to the account;
- Traditional service and support provided by consultants, not chatbots;
- Secure and uninterrupted work of payment services due to the use of DUO Security two-factor authentication.
The payment system provides in-demand online banking services focused on international trade (traders, holdings, and financial institutions). Payments are processed on the same day not only within the UK, but also throughout Europe, Russia, China, and EMEA.
Who Can Open an Account in the London Payment System?
Any company that meets certain (quite reasonable) requirements will be able to open a corporate and personal account in the London payment system.
However, there are some preferable areas of activity:
- Importers/exporters. Special attention is given to traders working not only on international trading platforms, but also on “emerging markets”;
- Digital service providers: IT developers, digital advertisers;
- Holding companies providing liquidity, earning interest and returns on their international assets;
- Financial institutions: asset managers, investing and distributing profits.
The British payment system carefully studies the corporate applicants before making a decision to open an account. This is especially true if the applicant does not have the recommendation from a business partner who already happens to be a client of the British payment system. Due diligence control of the company, its typical operations, and main counterparties is carried out to get the profile of the applicant’s activities.
When analyzing the prospective customers, the payment system applies modern KYC tools. Opening an account takes up to a week (if there are no problems with the documents and the scope of activity), and a personal interview with the head of the company is of particular importance.
Limitations
In order to see if your business vision matches the preferences of the owners of the payment system, you need to pay attention to some of the established restrictions:
- Accounts can be opened by people from more than 190 countries (not only the EU).
- Businessmen whose companies earn profit on transactions in unregulated areas, including forex, crypto, and gambling industry, will not be allowed to open an account.
- The UK payment system does not work with enterprises registered in Afghanistan, Crimea, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Myanmar, Nicaragua, North Korea, Palestine, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.
We invite you to explore other existing opportunities for corporate clients in the UK. Open a corporate account with the support of our experts!
Corporate and Personal Account in London for a Company Owner: Conditions
The fintech company we recommend specializes in international merchant payments and cross-border transactions. The company will ensure fast and convenient money transfers in accordance with the clients’ needs and orders. Timely delivery of payments to business partners is guaranteed, despite long distances and time zone differences. This is very convenient for those traders who want to have their businesses operating smoothly.
The fees of the UK system are particularly advantageous in terms of the cost of servicing payments:
- No additional payments for the speed of transactions. They are all carried out on the same day if sent before the deadline;
- All incoming transactions are free;
- The fee for all outgoing payments is 1 USD (+1 USD for transfers to Zone 3 countries).
Business account registration fees are variable and the amount is charged individually, depending on the nature of the applicant’s business.
Currency for account opening and transfers
Clients can freely carry out transactions in EUR, USD, GBP, as well as in other currencies (up to 65 options) upon a separate request. Rare or not widely-used currencies are also available for both savings and payouts.
The payment system supports real-time currency conversion and offers wholesale rates for large transactions.
Types of Accounts
The London payment system offers the following account types to its customers:
- Standard international business account is suitable for importers, exporters, manufacturers, professional service providers, and e-commerce businesses. The number of account users – up to 10.
- Individual (personal) international business account is good for the owners of complex businesses, holding companies, family offices, asset management trusts, and investment funds. The number of account users – unlimited.
A prerequisite for clients opening a corporate account is a minimum deposit of $300 and a service fee, which for a business account amounts to $100 per month.
Payment System Fees 2023
Payments within the UK:
- Time: instant;
- Amount: up to £250,000;
- Supported countries: United Kingdom only;
- Incoming payments: free;
- Outgoing: £0.60.
Payments in the SEPA zone:
- Time: up to 1 business day;
- Amount: unlimited;
- Supported States: European countries;
- Incoming transactions: free;
- Outgoing: €1.
Quick international transfers:
- Time: 1-5 working days;
- Amount: unlimited;
- Supported countries: worldwide;
- Inbox: free;
- Outgoing: $1.
An additional fee of 1% of the transaction value is charged from all incoming and outgoing transfers to and from countries of Zone 3, regardless of the sum total of transactions per year.
For reference: Zone 3 includes offshore countries and territories, countries under the EU sanctions or on EU black list, as well as Russia, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia.
Opening a Corporate and Personal Account in the London Payment System
To open a corporate account in the London payment system, a foreign company owner will need to fill out a questionnaire.
The whole process of opening an account includes several stages:
- Preliminary assessment of the company’s profile and getting approval for opening the account;
- Filling out an application for participation;
- Interview with the beneficial owner;
- Sending scanned copies of documents by email.
What can clients expect after expressing their interest in opening an account in London? This multi-step procedure will include several steps, as described below.
Step 1. Registration
To start the process, you first need to register in the system. A link for registration will be provided by a personal manager.
Please note that registration must be completed by a person authorized to open an account on behalf of the company (by proxy or according to the decision of the board of directors). This person will later sign the KYC form and manage the account. If another person registers or fills out the KYC form, that fact needs to be reported in advance.
Step 2. Risk assessment
Once registration is complete, you will receive an email with a unique link to the KYC form that you need to fill out. Under normal circumstances, filling out the form does not take more than half an hour.
At the bottom of the form there is a list of required documents that the owner needs to provide. This list includes:
- Shareholders register;
- Proof of funds – bank statement, tax return, stock sale document, etc.;
- Detailed information about the commercial activities and the location of the company;
- Information about upcoming transactions (countries of recipients and senders).
Also, in order to open an account, the company owner needs to provide documents proving the identities of the main ultimate beneficial owners, directors and authorized signatories, as well as confirmations of their residential addresses.
It is important to note that the compliance department may request other documents, and in some cases, it will be necessary to get some of the papers apostilled. All additionally requested documents must be submitted as soon as possible.
Step 3. Interview
The final stage is a personal interview, which will be conducted by the manager of the London payment system.
Procedures for Opening a Corporate and Personal Account with Expert Support from Offshore Pro Group
- Contact our experts via email at info@offshore-pro.info;
- Pay for our professional services. We accept payments in whichever ways that may be most convenient to our clients: bank transfers, bank cards, PayPal, WebMoney, or Western Union. The cost of opening an account in the UK payment system starts from 2999 EUR.
- With our help, get a complete package of documents prepared in English.
The term for opening a corporate and personal account in the London payment system starts from 5 business days.
If you have any questions regarding the UK payment system or if you are ready to open a corporate multi-currency account in Great Britain quickly and safely, please contact our specialists using the contact information on our portal.
