Open a Corporate Account with the BTA Bank in Belarus in 2020 Remotely

The idea of opening a corporate account with the BTA Bank is a conscious and justified step. It will require a standard package of documents and very little time. This financial institution offers good conditions of account maintenance to all of its customers, provides a very high level of reliability and a wide range of extra services. And recently this bank, one of the first in Belarus, started opening accounts for its business clients remotely. That is what we are going to talk about today.

But before moving directly to the subject of this article, it is worth finding out why the Republic of Belarus recently became considered a new business center of the post-Soviet countries? And what about the common misconception that Belarus is a jurisdiction under an authoritarian governance, closed for business opportunities?

We do not consider it appropriate to discuss any political issues that are, in fact, virtually unrelated to the economy. But it is unlikely that a “banana republic” (according to the report of the World Bank Group) could rank the 49th among 190 countries of the world in the “Doing Business 2020”. This means that its current management model is quite efficient. And criticizing it is completely pointless. We hope that we will not have to return to this issue any more.

Why Belarus should be chosen to do your business?

• It has an attractive business climate.
• Its financial system stability level is high.
• Its economic growth demonstrates positive dynamics. For example, in 2006 the country ranked the 120th among the countries of the world (see above). It went up, and now it is the 49th. And this is not the limit.
• In Belarus you can enjoy simplified administrative procedures. Ideally, the country’s leadership strives to fully implement the formula of “one task , one visit.” There are also plans to transfer all of the customer-regulator relationships in the online mode.
• Preferential conditions for serious investors are also worth considering.
• The country’s geographical position is extremely advantageous. Belarus lies between the EU area and the CIS countries. Thanks to this, any and all goods pass through the Republic of Belarus, so Belarus may well become the most important transit hub.
• The Republic of Belarus also has special business-friendly regions: A SEZ (special economic zone), High-Tech Park, the Great Stone Industrial Park that is jointly developed by the Republic of Belarus and China.
• Belarus also offers businessmen a preferential treatment if they work in small towns or rural areas.
• You can find a highly skilled workforce in this country.
• Belarus has a developed industrial sector.

It seems to us that all of these factors clearly show that the Republic of Belarus is an extremely beneficial jurisdiction for doing business. And it has everything that is necessary for that. This is especially true when it comes to the service we wanted to tell you about today. After all, the remote format was not available in the Republic of Belarus just until recently. But now this restriction has been lifted!

Open a Corporate Account with the BTA Bank: General Information

The bank is focused on business customers and provides them with a full scope of services. In addition to the head office in Minsk, it has 4 regional offices in Brest, Vitebsk, Mogilev, Homel, and 2 additional service centers in the capital. The network of its own ATMs consists of 20 devices, and there are also 4 currency exchange outlets. As it is easy to notice, the bank holds quite prominent positions in the market of Belarus, so you will not have any problems.

Actual figures (thousands BYN):

• Net assets: 352,527
• Private deposits: 236,188
• Loans to individuals: 204,181
• Registered capital: 24,747

As of March 1, 2020, the bank’s net profit increased by 214,000 BYN (from 27,000 to 241,000, i.e. almost by 9 times).

The banks has a number of strategic partners:

• BTA Bank (Kazakhstan)
• Temirbank (Kazakhstan)
• Silk Road Bank (Georgia)
• BTA InvestBank (Armenia)
• Omsk-Bank (Russia)
• BTA-Kazan (Tatarstan, Russia)
• BTA Bank (Kyrgyzstan)
• BTA Bank (Ukraine)
• Sekerbank T.A.S. (Turkey)

Other BTA Group companies:

• TuranAlem Securities
• BTA ORIX Leasing
• TuranAlem Bank of BTA Kazakhstan
• “BTA Ipoteka” TuranAlem Bank Subsidiary Mortgage Organization
• London-Almaty Insurance Company
• “BTA Zhizn” TuranAlem Bank Subsidiary Insurance Company
• “BTA Zabota” TuranAlem Bank Subsidiary Insurance Company
• “BTA Insurance” TuranAlem Bank Subsidiary Company
• Temrleasing
• Temir Capital B.V.
• BTA Finance Luxembourg
• TuranAlem Finance LLC (Russia)
• BTA Finance LLC (Russia)
• BTA Capital LLC (Russia)

Official permits:

• State license number 13, issued on May 28, 2013.
• The right to carry out professional and exchange activities: No. 02200/5200-12-1131.
• The right to exercise technical and/or cryptographic information protection: No. 01019/299.
• Security guard activities: No. 02010/16795.

It should be specifically noted that BTA Bank is registered with the Agency for Guaranteed Reimbursement of Deposits of Individuals (21.01.2009, No. 0000021).

Open a Corporate Account with  the BTA Bank and Not Just That

Meeting the business segment needs is the main task of the financial institution, but it is not the only one. The bank will become a reliable partner both for individuals and businessmen who intend to open a personal account together with a corporate account.

The list of main services:

• Deposits for individuals and legal entities
• Accounts for individuals and legal entities
• Full-fledged payments and cash management including correspondent banks
• Any foreign exchange transactions authorized by the legislation of the Republic of Belarus
• Issuance of banker’s guarantees
• Trust management service
• Issue and maintenance of bank cards (both national and international)
• Issuance of official securities that confirm the fact of raising funds for deposits with placing them in accounts
• Factoring service (financing on the condition of selling/buying the accounts receivable)
• Service of secure storage of documents, precious metals and stones, cash, securities

Reliability and Stability

If you are planning to open a corporate account with the BTA Bank, you probably were thinking about security. The point is that business accounts in the Republic of Belarus are not protected by law. As for individuals, they can count on 100% compensation in case of any force majeure circumstances, but this option does not work for companies. But it is not as bad as it may seem.

First of all, no single case of bankruptcy has been registered in Belarus, which is to speak about the strong enough influence of the regulator on the financial sector. Secondly, and this is much more important, the BTA Bank’s performance is fully compliant with the regulatory requirements, so the probability of its critical failure is extremely low.

Key indicators (requirements and real situation for early April 2020):

• Minimum regulatory capital for 2020: 58.1 million BYN / 59.85 million BYN
• Regulatory capital adequacy/ level 1 main capital / level 1 capital**: from 10% to 12.5% / 20.084%; from 4.5% to 7% / 11.89%; from 7% / 12.375%
• Leverage: from 3% to 9.4%
• Liquidity, coverage: from 100% to 176.2% (min 111.6%, max 200.6%)
• Liquidity, net stable funding: from 100% to 131.2% (min 129.7%, max 135.2%)
• CRL**, in total for major risks: 6 x Regulatory Capital / 1.1
• CRL**, insider legal entities and related parties: less than 50% of RC / 0%
• CRL**, insider individuals and related individuals: less than 50% of RC / 0%
• The size of provision for losses that are not reflected in the balance sheet: 5,405.5 / 5,405.5

*- the second indicator – taking into account the conservative buffer

** – CRL, concentration risk limit

It should be noted that you can see all the financial reports in the bank’s website. This approach is unequivocally credible and makes it clear that the BTA Bank operates according to transparent rules, and its executives are not inclined to adventurous decisions.

What Documents Will Be Required to Open a Corporate Account with the BTA Bank?

The package stipulated in the regulations is quite standard. But taking into account the remote format of the service and the non-resident status of the applicant, the bank reserves the right to request additional documents not reflected in the list below. On the one hand, this point can be quite unpleasant, because the important details of this service, figuratively speaking, remain “in the shadows.” On the other hand, there is actually nothing wrong with it since we will take upon ourselves everything related to coordinating all the details and direct communication with the BTA Bank managers. This means that our dear clients will not have any troubles.

But first of all, I would like to clarify one important point. The banks of the Republic of Belarus adopted a mechanism that involves filing a preliminary application. And it is only after getting approval that you will be able to file the actual paperwork. This fact is actually a “sentence” to filing anything yourselves because it is virtually impossible to guess the bank’s requirements under such a mechanism. Therefore, if you choose to do it yourselves, we will not be able to take any responsibility for the possible negative consequences.

The list of documents for the preliminary application review:

• Copies of any and all (!) incorporation documents
• Confirmation of the state registration of your company in your home country. This can be an extract from the trade registry, a standard certificate of incorporation or any other similar document
• Confirmation of the authority of the legal entity officials (original or certified copies in accordance with the law)
• Civil passport and an official power of attorney from the company made in the name of individuals who are authorized to act on its behalf
• Signature samples (will be required at the final stage)
• Information about all the shareholders and founders. It is worth noting that disclosing data on the final beneficiary is completely mandatory.

Additional paper requirements if you seek opening a corporate account with the BTA Bank remotely:

• All of your papers must be translated into Belarusian or Russian. It is mandatory.
• The bank will ask you (in fact, this requirement is mandatory, so would be better to put it as the bank will require) to fill out a number of questionnaires. For a legal entity it is the KYC (Know Your Customer), for individuals it is FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act).

Attention! Dear customers, we would like to kindly remind you that this is only a basic list. It is possible, and even more so, that the bank will request additional documents. This is especially true for High-Risk Companies (please see a block closer to the end of the article).

Open a Corporate Account with the BTA Bank: Terms of Service

For the convenience of customers, the financial institution offers many services for free. Payments for additional (extended) service is carried out at transparent and clear rates. Therefore, here it is impossible to get an amount exceeding the one that corresponds to the rates list written off from your account. We do not consider it appropriate to present the entire rates chart in this article, but we will specify the main costs.

Free services:

• Personal manager
• Any consultancy on the international settlements
• Foreign exchange rates
• Individual terms and conditions for the placement of temporary disposable monetary resources
• Opening and maintaining a deposit account
• Signature confirmation of the company’s officials who have the signatory right
• 2 Visa Business cards (the next ones will be 240 RUB, 120 USD or 120 EUR, depending on the currency of the card)
• Transfers in BYN (inside the bank, within the Republic of Belarus via the remote banking system, and to Kazakhstan)
• Connection to the e-trading platform
• Transfers in foreign currency, including conversion, inside the bank
• Copy of the SWIFT message on hard copy
• Accepting cash BYN to credit it to the customer’s account
• Remote banking system (“Bank-Customer”, “Internet-Client”): connection, a month of free maintenance, BTA Online mobile application (without restrictions)
• Fast payments

Explanations to the rates:

• [1] – for regular and High-Risk Companies
• [2] – commission percentage, with the minimum and maximum amount in brackets
• [3] – transfers up to USD 500,000, from USD 500,001 to USD 1,000,000, over USD 1,000,000 (in dollars or in equivalent)
• Free – the service is a free

Main Services:

• Opening of accounts [1]: 200 BYN / 400 BYN
• Monthly maintenance [1]: 300 BYN / 350 BYN
• Translations in BYN: 10 BYN (inside the bank, in the Republic of Belarus it is on hard copy) / 5 BYN to foreign banks
• Currency transfers within the Republic of Belarus: 10 USD / 3 USD (for FCC and restricted currency)
• Currency transfers to Kazakhstan [2]: Free / USD 15 / EUR 15 / USD 10 / 0.1% (10-100) for KZT, USD, EUR, RUB and other currencies respectively
• Manual cash from your account: 1.5%.
• Accepting currency with crediting it to your account: 0.8% (USD, EUR, RUB) / 1.8% (other currencies)
• Manual cash of currency:  0.5% (USD, EUR) / 0.17% (RUB) / 1.8% (other currencies)
• Checkbook: 15 BYN / 10 BYN (on the day of issuance / later)
• Accepting payment claim for collection: 2 BYN
• Counter payment: 0.1%.

Transfers in currency to foreign banks, excluding Kazakhstan:

• USD [2][3]: 0.3% (60-400) / 0.3% (0-1000) / 0.3% (all in USD)
• EUR: [2][3]: 0.15% (35-200) / 0.15% (0-1000) / 0.15% (all in EUR)
• RUB, other currencies: [2][3]: 0.15% (35-200) / 0.15% (0-1000) / 0.15% (all in USD)

Open a Corporate Account with the BTA Bank: Additional Opportunities

Having become a client of the bank, you will get free access to a wide range of business-oriented solutions. Our experts will help you find the most interesting of those, and tell you about the features of their real-life application. They will also give you advice on optimizing your business processes. You can contact us via e-mail: info@offshore-pro.info

The most interesting services:

• Additional business financing: leasing, overdraft, various loan programs
• Free funds placement programs with the most favorable terms: deposits, certificates of deposits, bank bonds
• Full-fledged payments and cash management
• Comprehensive payroll programs, including the issuance and maintenance of dedicated plastic cards
• Remote customer service systems: mobile app, “Internet-Client”, “Customer-Bank”
• Trade financing: letters of credit, banker’s guarantees, post-financing letters of credit, etc
• Currency exchange transactions, access to the e-trading platform
• Various insurance programs: transport, property, finance, health
• Specialized service aimed at supporting and strengthening business ties with Kazakhstan
• Services of the automated information data system for fulfillment of monetary obligations
• Opportunity to buy collateral property at a discounted price
• Participation in procurement for 2020
• Special operational conditions for exporters and financial institutions

How to Open a Corporate Account with  the BTA Bank in 2020?

And now let us look at a few practical tips and useful information. To begin with, we would like to clarify the issue of quarantine announced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. First of all, as of the day this article was written (April 15), no one was going to introduce the quarantine in Belarus. President Alexander Lukashenko has made a clear statement on this issue. Secondly (and this is perhaps the most important), quarantine and risks associated with infection should not become your concern at all for obvious reasons. You will not have to visit Belarus to open your account. The service provided remotely is a fundamentally different, higher level of service!

In order to get a valid corporate account opened as soon as possible, you first of all should write to our experts (e-mail: info@offshore-pro.info). After that, we will discuss with you all in the online mode of the subtleties and special situations that sometimes remain unattended. And only when you have a complete picture of what is going on, and there will be no questions from your side, our experts will deal with the practical implementation of the project. Of course, you will need to extend us some help. And the most important thing is to prepare a package of your documents. But you can handle this task without leaving the country of your residence.

And, dear customers, we saved the best thing for you till the last moment. “Little nothings” that drive a simply good business idea to being in demand and of relevance. A unique selling point, a factor called the USP in our parts, a unique selling proposal. Something that sets us apart from our numerous competitors. In our case, it is a service of getting prepared your documents and sending them over. This is what we do. Of course, there will be a certain surcharge for the remote format, and you can see that by comparing the price list positions. But we are sure that this option will become a sufficient compensation for minor extra costs.

How Much is it to Open a Corporate Account with the BTA Bank in Belarus in 2020 Remotely? Special Cases

For your convenience, we try to showcase each and every service in a separate article. But in the case of the subject discussed today, we decided to do it otherwise. The fact is that the remote format in the banking system of the Republic of Belarus is an exception to the rules. As we have already mentioned it above, it is the BTA Bank’s selling point. So, we considered it impractical to “blur” the information in several articles. After all, the difference in the cost of the service lies only in the type of company and individual service rates tied to this parameter.

Here you can find which companies we work with and how much it costs. Remember that we are talking about the remote format:

• EUR 4,999.00 for standard LP/LLP partnerships. The least risky option for a client with minimum risks. The probability of rejection is low. Additional documents that are not included in the standard list are rarely asked to be provided.
• EUR 5,999.00 for classic offshores. The legislation of the Republic of Belarus in this matter is no different from the international one. Given the long-term uncertainty (fighting money laundering and terrorist financing, focusing on transparency), a small extra payment is justified. The list of such jurisdictions is quite significant and includes 72 positions. They are marked in two ways. The first way is a digital code. For example, 016 for American Samoa, 020 for Andorra, 084 for Belize. The second one consists of letters, alpha-2 or alpha-3. For the same example, it will be AS/ASM, AD/AND and BZ/BLZ. The probability of having issues with opening an account for companies with such a code is somewhat higher, but in most cases they can be handled.
• EUR 4,999.00 for High Risc Companies (HRC). This is the most difficult case, because some activities are completely unpromising for opening an account (not only in the Republic of Belarus, but also in most other jurisdictions). The final list is relatively small, so a significant proportion of our customers are out of risk. If you would like to open a corporate account with the BTA Bank remotely in 2020 for such a business, we, alas, are not able to guarantee a 100% success.
• EUR 3,999.00 for the rest of the companies if they do not fall into any category listed above.

HRC activity categories:

• Gaming business
• Gambling
• Production and sale of nutraceuticals
• Cannabidiol (literally anything related to marijuana, cannabis and other drugs)
• Book and travel agencies
• Escort services
• Adult, XXX business
• Television marketing
• Business related to cryptocurrencies. Interestingly, they are officially allowed in the Republic of Belarus.
• Computers (software and hardware)
• E-cigarettes
• Debt collection agencies

Minimum Balance

Similar requirements exist in many banks regardless of their jurisdiction. In Belarus, they are interpreted to the benefit of the client. In other words, you will be able to manage all your funds in the account, but you will be obliged to compensate for “shortage.”

Balance requirements for regular and offshore companies (amounts in USD/EUR, balances in BYN):

• Up to 200,000 / 20,000 / 30,000
• 200,001 – 300,000 / 30,000 / 40,000
• 300,001 – 400,000 / 40,000 / 50,000
• 400,001 – 500,000 / 40,000 / 60,000
• 500,001 – 600,000 / 50,000 / 70,000
• 600,001 – 700,000 / 60,000 / 80,000
• 700,001 – 800,000 / 70,000 / 90,000
• 800,001 – 900,000 / 80,000 / 100,000
• 900,001 – 1,000,000 / 90,000 / 110,000
• From 1,000,001 and more / 100,000 / 120,000

Summing up this, it is safe to say that the first (and most important!) step that you need to take if you want to open a corporate account in BTA Bank remotely in 2020 – is to contact our experts (info@offshore-pro.info). And after that we will be working together.

We sincerely wish you every success in whatever you do. Stay safe and healthy.