Corporate Account with Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong

Along with Singapore, Hong Kong is the leading financial center in Asia and one of the world leaders in corporate banking. Hong Kong’s financial institutions provide high-quality services and exclusive customer service, ensuring an extremely high level of security. We always try to take into account our clients’ wishes, so we are honored to offer you a unique service – a corporate account in Hong Kong with Standard Chartered Bank, a branch of one of the leading banks in the UK.

Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) has a very solid reputation and loses just a little (if at all!) to the well-known HSBC, so do not assume that you are offered a half-solution. A corporate account in Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) which can be opened remotely is a real and reliable financial instrument, and we are sure you will not regret not opting for HSBC as some other corporate clients!

Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) Services for Hong Kong Residents

We decided to start the article with an “additional” service, and there are good reasons for that. If you expect a long presence in Hong Kong, you will eventually be able to enjoy significant privileges and enhanced service. One of the most popular options is a deposit account.

It will be a good addition to the corporate account in Hong Kong with Standard Chartered Bank (we will talk about this later). It should be noted that online banking is fully supported, so you will receive not only a first-class service but also an excellent level of comfort.

Non-Standard Chartered Customers and Standard Chartered Customers who have not yet opened a deposit account need to fill in an application form online and submit the required documents at any convenient branch of the bank. The documents required to open a deposit account with Standard Chartered Bank Hong Kong (personal visit required) are listed below.

A – Customer Identity Document

• Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card
• Passport.
• Document of Identity for Visa Purposes issued by HKSAR
• Travel Permits issued by China or Macau

B – Document confirming the applicant’s address for opening a bank account

• Utility bill for the last three months
• Any document sent to you by a financial institution by mail (a letter from a bank regarding a credit card, a letter from an insurance company sent within the last three months)
• Telecommunication services bill (mobile phone, Internet, cable TV) issued in Hong Kong (not older than three months)
• Government Rates demand note / Tax demand note with a payment date within the past six months

Notes:

• Confirmation of the address marked “c/o company address”, “c/o personal address” (commercial address or PO box is not accepted)
• Marriage Certificate and Birth Certificate if you have proof of your spouse’s address
• Proof of temporary address is required, even if it is different from the residence address
• Hong Kong Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) may request additional documents outside of the mandatory package list

Corporate Account with Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong – Forms to be Completed

Of course, it would be naïve to expect that an account will be opened for an offshore company/business on the basis of several documents without verifying the truth of the information contained in them. Hong Kong is not an offshore jurisdiction but a solid and respected midshore, so under-the-counter methods of registration do not work here. Therefore, if you really want to open a corporate account for an offshore company in Hong Kong, the stage of preparing documents should be treated with extreme care.

Bank account opening form

• All fields are in English
• The document is mandatory
• If you are not ready to take responsibility, engage our experts in filling out the form (this is a paid service). We will give you a pleasant bonus and automatically check the correctness of the completed fields when opening a corporate account with the Standard Chartered Bank of Hong Kong.

Mandate

• It is provided by a private entrepreneur, partnership or trust (depending on the organizational and legal form of business).
• The main purpose of the document is to confirm that the provided Resolution of the meeting of shareholders or managers (where the decision was made to open a corporate bank account) is true and comes into force from the date specified in the document.

Application for banking services.

• This is another document of extreme importance for those seeking to open a corporate account with a Hong Kong bank.
• This is a document that lists the services and the desired banking products/services.

Documents Required to Open a Corporate Account for an Offshore Company

Another important point that I would like to draw the readers’ attention to is the list of documents that the Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) in Hong Kong will request from the persons interested in opening a corporate account for an offshore company. The data you will find below (this is the official information taken from the bank’s official website!) refers to the standard case. Potential clients from “risky jurisdictions” whose company structure seems too complex, who make visible attempts to conceal the beneficial owner or work in the high-risk sector may be turned down, or they will be requested to provide additional documents.

You will need this package of documents for the company to open a corporate account with the Standard Chartered Bank of Hong Kong (remotely) for an offshore company (non-resident of Hong Kong):

• Certificate of Incorporation
• Certificate of Incumbency
• Memorandum and Articles of Association
• Business plan and evidence of running a real business

Documents for the applicant:

• Passports of the two company directors, the main shareholders and all managers of the corporate bank account
• Bank statements of company directors and shareholders
• A completed KYC form

Summary of required documents you will need to open an account for an offshore company with Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) in Hong Kong

The Certificate of Incorporation is a document which confirms the following facts:

• The offshore company exists.
• It is a legal entity.
• It observes legal deadlines in the course of business.

Certificate of Incumbency:

• This is a document on the offshore company managers – shareholders and directors.

Constituent Documents – Memorandum, Articles of Association (M&A):

• Specify the rights and obligations of your offshore company’s directors and shareholders.
• Explain the specifics of the company organization and the principles/rules of management.

Business plan of an offshore company in Hong Kong, evidence of doing business:

• Company name
• Type (scope) of activity
• Target market
• Personal professional business experience
• Reason for opening an account with the Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) in Hong Kong
• The purposes of using a bank account for an offshore company, its form of incorporation, the number of transactions per year
• Expected revenue for the first year of the company’s operations in Hong Kong
• Resources (funds) for business
• The main counterparties and the countries from which the account transactions will be conducted
• Contacts and correspondence address

A foreign company (Limited Company) not registered in the People’s Republic of China or in Taiwan will be requested to provide passports of the company’s directors, including the managing director (at least two) and all the company’s main shareholders holding more than 10% of the company’s shares. You will also have to submit copies of the passports for all account managers.

You will need the most recent (no more than 3 months old) bank statements on the company directors’ and shareholders’ accounts (they can replace the bank recommendation in this format).

Some features to consider when opening an account for an offshore company in Hong Kong with Standard Chartered Bank (SCB):

• Banking requirements are constantly changing. Therefore, banks often request statements in addition to the classic mandatory documents to replace the bank recommendation.
• Bank statements are easier to provide than a recommendation.
• If you have a corporate account with a bank in a more high-ranking jurisdiction than the country of your (tax) residency (for example, Switzerland), we recommend that you request the latest statements from the bank.
• The bankers will not be embarrassed by the fact that the statement is from a Swiss bank and the address on it refers to a different country. Choose the bank to provide account statements at your personal discretion.

Other things to consider if you want to minimize the risk of failure when opening an account for an offshore company with the Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) in Hong Kong:

• Due diligence includes a review of the completed KYC form, a detailed business plan, and the reason for account opening.
• The documents help the bank conduct a Know Your Client (KYC) procedure to prevent possible money laundering, terrorist financing, and fraudulent or other illegal activities.
• The Bank calls for understanding and cooperation, but this does not mean that you can open an account for an offshore company with Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) in Hong Kong without any challenges. We are ready to assist in the implementation of the entire procedure, including correct completion of bank documentation and the preparation of all additional documents upon request of a financial institution.
• We will meet with a bank representative in Hong Kong Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) and open an account for you. Also, you do not need to have an interview with a bank representative via videoconference as we will do this ourselves on your behalf.
• Since the account is opened remotely, you do not need to fly to Hong Kong (unless you want to). Trust professionals instead!

Characteristics of the Procedure for Opening a Corporate Account with Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong

We would very much like your order to be fulfilled without any problems, but this, unfortunately, does not depend on us only. The current realities imply that the risk of force majeure will always be there. We can only significantly reduce it, which will require careful preliminary preparation and all the professionalism of our experts.

We recommend paying attention to the following:

• Under normal conditions, the entire process of opening a corporate account with Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) remotely takes 3 weeks.
• The cost of opening an account for an offshore company in the basic version is USD 2,000.
• We open savings, deposit and combined deposit accounts.
• You can also order an ATM bank card.
• There is no additional/hidden fee for opening a corporate account in Hong Kong (Standard Chartered Bank). As long as we do not have to take any additional steps to manage your particular case, you pay only the above amount.
• The monthly minimum balance on the corporate account with the SCB bank should not be lower than HKD 50,000 or USD 6,500.
• We can open accounts remotely for Hong Kong and offshore companies.
• Opening accounts for natural persons remotely is not possible in principle.
• The process of considering an application to open an account for an offshore company is individual, and the list of required documents may vary.

Services of Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) in Hong Kong and Standard Rates

The full list of the bank’s services is available on request (it can be provided to you at an individual consultation), so we will limit ourselves to the most important information. We would like to note that the bank’s rates are quite affordable (by appropriate standards), so any claims of individual “experts” that the services of Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) in Hong Kong are very expensive are devoid of any grounds.

Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) rates for corporate clients, transactions between banks:

• Urgent transfer – HKD 160
• An additional fee for telex transfer for urgent foreign currency transfers abroad – HKD 50
• Local transfer of CHATS/RTGS – HKD 150
• Cashier Order (LBC) – HKD 40
• Direct Credit (ACH)* – free of charge
• Book Transfer** intra-bank payment – free of charge
• Payroll services*** – HKD 0.35
• Correspondence by e-mail and fax –  free of charge

The monthly rates of Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) for corporate clients:

• Straight2Bank for SMEs (cash, trading) – free of charge
• Online service for treasury department (OLT) – free of charge
• One-time payment for 3 (three) token keys (Vasco Token) – free of charge
• An additional Vasco Token – HKD 300

* – transfer of funds to accounts with other banks in Hong Kong.

** – transfer of funds to cSCBHK bank accounts

*** – the bank requests to contact them personally to find out the cost of service provision.

Services of our experts related to opening a corporate account for an offshore company at Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) in Hong Kong:

• Checking all the banking forms that the client fills out
• Transfer of all application forms required to open a corporate bank account with Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) of Hong Kong together with the company’s certified incorporation documents plus Due diligence for the persons entitled to sign
• Preparation of a business plan that explains the reason for choosing Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) in Hong Kong
• An interview where our experts will talk about the activities of your business (offshore company) and justify the need for a corporate account with a bank
• Placement of an initial deposit in the Hong Kong Standard Chartered Bank (SCB)
• Emailing a scanned deposit slip as proof
• Filing an application for corporate Internet banking (if necessary)
• Applying for a corporate ATM card and a checkbook (if necessary)

Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), available account types with indication of currency (there are restrictions related to your legal status):

• Savings account – HKD
• Savings account in foreign currencies – USD, GBP, JPY, AUD, NZD, CAD, CHF, EUR
• Current account – HKD

The integrated deposit account (savings/current) is opened in many currencies:

• Time deposit account – HKD
• Time deposit account in foreign currencies – USD, GBP, JPY, AUD, NZD, CAD, CHF, EUR
• A swap deposit account – USD

Other things you should know if you intend to open a corporate account for an offshore company/business in Hong Kong with Standard Chartered Bank (SCB):

• We open savings, current and deposit accounts for non-residents.
• Checkbooks are issued for the current corporate account.
• Overdraft Protection is a credit limit protection against unauthorized use of a bank card.
• “360 Rewards program” is a savings program offered by Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), which is the best one in Hong Kong. Joining it enables you to receive bonuses for expenses on your bank card and rewards for using banking products, including deposit programs, structured investment services, premium deposits, investments, insurance, and mortgage. You can redeem credit card bonuses for airfares and cash coupons. You can easily transfer bonuses to friends and family and enjoy all the banking privileges in SCB, Hong Kong.

If you have any questions about opening corporate bank accounts in Hong Kong banks, please contact us at info@offshore-pro.info.