Banking in North Macedonia

[MrGoodman]

Quick opinion from my end. Opened a company in Macedonia a few years ago, also bought a house as holiday destination and company address.

My opinion regarding all the general things of opening a company: if you have at least a few connections in the country and hire good people (lawyer, accountant,...) it is super easy and quick. Bank account was also really quick (KB). But everything after that in regards to sending and receiving money was super hard.
1) Getting money into the bank account (even the initial company capital from a private bank account in a EU country was almost impossible and delayed everything so long - money was just held at the bank)
2) Getting payments into the bank account (asked like 100+ payment gateways to accept my company + bank account and only one at the time wa Rapyd but only after like a long time of talking and being beta user at the time)
3) Tranferring money or getting money out of the bank account (super hard and only possible if you understand macedonian - there are like 100s of reasons you need to pick for even local money transfers and it is always a nightmare to buy even the accountant or such)

So for me, left the company dormant, it is a fun story to tell and have the company registered in a small village without address system (so people would probably need to come and check the houses for a sign). So should there be anything shady I want to do in the future, I could always revert back to it and have fun.

But yeah, in the end it was a lot of time spent for a fun project that does not work really well in the end.

If you don't mind me asking, which bank did you use there?

 

[Clear]

Komercijalna banka

 

[Forester]

Komercijalna banka

Would you mind sharing for what reason you picked up namely this bank?
To explain: from what I have learned, it was not and is not the recommended solution for non-residents and foreign payments...

 

[MrGoodman]

I also wonder what can be the connection with the country - office, employees or just a local partner not being a lawyer or accountant. In my opinion, as long as it is a non-resident account, the connection should not be required. But I suspect that each bank wants to see some substance in Macedonia.

 

[Clear]

Would you mind sharing for what reason you picked up namely this bank?
To explain: from what I have learned, it was not and is not the recommended solution for non-residents and foreign payments...

It was suggested by my lawyer

 

[Forester]

It was suggested by my lawyer

Oh well. This is understandable, of course. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[Piano]

Komercijalna banka

Do you have personal bank account experience ?

 

[Piano]

My guess is that personal accounts will be much less problematic..