Looking for a banking solution for a Cyprus company.

[PavelMSK]

Every world is BS)))

Ok. What EU country will open a bank account for Cyprus legal entities? Belgium, Poland, Czech Republic, France - will not. Maybe you can advice?

Every world is BS)))

I personally lost about 15% from my funds on my bank account in the Bank of Cyprus. I've lost not too much because when It's started I traveled quickly to Cyprus and transfer all my funds in to one of the car dealer (outside EU) to "buy" some new GL500's. It was the only way to get your money back is to pay for real goods only. Otherwise central bank of Cyprus will not accept you money transfer. The Cyprus central bank even checked cars VIN numbers in my contracts and request from Mercedes that they are valid. So I get my money back from the car dealer with discount 15%. One of my friend has lost 50%. Another one is almost 80%, his funds were converted in Stocks.

 

[MrTony]

Cyprus banks are very good decision. Of course, this is not Swiss or UK banks. But for almost all users of this forum this is a great decision and great success to open an account for the non-EU company.

 

[MrTony]

.

Ok. What EU country will open a bank account for Cyprus legal entities? Belgium, Poland, Czech Republic, France - will not. Maybe you can advice?

Hungary, Bulgaria, Portugal, Poland, even Liechtenstein, and Luxembourg. All depends on your activity. And almost all popular EMIs accept CY companies.

I personally lost about 15% from my funds on my bank account in the Bank of Cyprus. I've lost not too much because when It's started I traveled quickly to Cyprus and transfer all my funds in to one of the car dealer (outside EU) to "buy" some new GL500's. It was the only way to get your money back is to pay for real goods only. Otherwise central bank of Cyprus will not accept you money transfer. The Cyprus central bank even checked cars VIN numbers in my contracts and request from Mercedes that they are valid. So I get my money back from the car dealer with discount 15%. One of my friend has lost 50%. Another one is almost 80%, his funds were converted in Stocks.

For avoiding such situation you need to open 5-6 banks accounts and diversify your funds.
Look at guys which have their accounts only in Loyal or Choice. EU banks have deposit insurance fund. So you can't lose all if you will diversify.

Don't be huffy on the picture. This is just joke, buddy

 

[PavelMSK]

.

Hungary, Bulgaria, Portugal, Poland, even Liechtenstein, and Luxembourg. All depends on your activity. And almost all popular EMIs accept CY companies.



For avoiding such situation you need to open 5-6 banks accounts and diversify your funds.
Look at guys which have their accounts only in Loyal or Choice. EU banks have deposit insurance fund. So you can't lose all if you will diversify.

Don't be huffy on the picture. This is just joke, buddy

It's ok. I have a good sense of humour, though

 

[negon]

This thread went out to be funny. Neverless I would like to know if OP figured out where to bank for his Cyprus company and if so what he found? @bombaelefant

 

[bombaelefant]

Hello People,

I just wanted to give an update about this situation.

So, because of American pressure, Cyprus announced new regulations on offshore/shell companies and all of the shell companies need to close bank accounts. You can go around this by setting up an office with employees in Cyprus. One important point to check before you are opening a bank account with a Cypriot bank is to see if the bank has deposit insurance at all (a lot of them don't have). Most of the Cypriot banks -which has a deposit insurance- is ensuring up to 100k EUR, so anything above, you would lose in case of another financial crisis. So above 100k, you should invest into low-risk government securities etc.

In order to make things easier, we changed the company ownership structure and took out the UAE parent company from the picture.
There are several banks in several countries which would accept offshore companies, but we went with Lichtenstein and a virtual bank account with Revolut (Maan, soo much money you can save on bank and exchange fees with Revolut..)

Hope this helps, cheers

 

[Takeshi]

Hello People,

I just wanted to give an update about this situation.

So, because of American pressure, Cyprus announced new regulations on offshore/shell companies and all of the shell companies need to close bank accounts. You can go around this by setting up an office with employees in Cyprus. One important point to check before you are opening a bank account with a Cypriot bank is to see if the bank has deposit insurance at all (a lot of them don't have). Most of the Cypriot banks -which has a deposit insurance- is ensuring up to 100k EUR, so anything above, you would lose in case of another financial crisis. So above 100k, you should invest into low-risk government securities etc.

In order to make things easier, we changed the company ownership structure and took out the UAE parent company from the picture.
There are several banks in several countries which would accept offshore companies, but we went with Lichtenstein and a virtual bank account with Revolut (Maan, soo much money you can save on bank and exchange fees with Revolut..)

Hope this helps, cheers

Thanks for the update.

 

[negon]

And this isn't OLD news and not applicable any more. By the way it was already mentioned in the proper forums for Cyprus bank accounts by Admin.

Anyway, the banks started to accept shelf companies again as well as other offshore company setups.

 

[bombaelefant]

Hi everyone,

At the end Cyprus RCB bank did not close our bank account. The final version of the Central Bank of Cyprus circular on “shell” companies is much more improved than the original “draft” that created (unnecessarily) some confusion to people and banks. here you can find the latest version from 2nd of November, 2018. I can link the pdf version of the classification, but im not sure if that something that is allowed by the forum rules..


SHELL COMPANY CLASSIFICATION CRITERIA
The main questions to ask are the follow:

• Does the company have physical presence in country of incorporation?
• Does the company have economic activity in the country of incorporation?

If one of the above is ‘YES’ the company is not a “shell” company. However, care must be taken on the question whether the ‘meaningful mind’ of the company is in the country of incorporation.


If both answers are ‘NO’ the company is a “shell” company unless it falls in one of the following exceptions that indicate economic activity:

I. The company/entity is established for the purpose of holding stock or shares or other equity instruments of another business entity or entities engaged in legitimate business with identifiable ultimate beneficial owner(s);

II. The company/entity is established for the purpose of holding intangible or other assets including real estate, ship, aircraft, portfolio of investments, debt and financial instruments;

III. The company/entity is established to facilitate currency trades and asset transfers, corporate mergers as well as carrying out asset management activities and trading of shares;

IV. The company/entity acts as a treasurer for companies recognised as a group or manages the activities of the group;

V. Any other case where convincing evidence can be provided that the company/entity is engaged in legitimate business, with identifiable ultimate beneficial owner(s).

Consequences of classification as shell company:

• If the company is considered shell company and is registered in a jurisdiction where it is not required to submit audited financial statements to the authorities and does not voluntarily prepare audited financial statements then the banks should avoid business with such companies.
• If the company is considered a “shell” company and has no tax residency or is tax resident in a jurisdiction that is included in the list issued by the EU for non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes then the bank shall avoid business with such companies.

In all other cases for companies falling within the definition of “shell” company the bank may decide to maintain or engage in business with the company by applying a risk application fully substantiating and justifying their decision.

 

[hiju]

Sorry. My mistake. I mean that Cyprus is not in Schengen Area.

Wonder why you tried to f**k over this nice forum! - big shame on you

 

[hiju]

Hi everyone,

At the end Cyprus RCB bank did not close our bank account. The final version of the Central Bank of Cyprus circular on “shell” companies is much more improved than the original “draft” that created (unnecessarily) some confusion to people and banks. here you can find the latest version from 2nd of November, 2018. I can link the pdf version of the classification, but im not sure if that something that is allowed by the forum rules..


SHELL COMPANY CLASSIFICATION CRITERIA
The main questions to ask are the follow:

• Does the company have physical presence in country of incorporation?
• Does the company have economic activity in the country of incorporation?

If one of the above is ‘YES’ the company is not a “shell” company. However, care must be taken on the question whether the ‘meaningful mind’ of the company is in the country of incorporation.


If both answers are ‘NO’ the company is a “shell” company unless it falls in one of the following exceptions that indicate economic activity:

I. The company/entity is established for the purpose of holding stock or shares or other equity instruments of another business entity or entities engaged in legitimate business with identifiable ultimate beneficial owner(s);

II. The company/entity is established for the purpose of holding intangible or other assets including real estate, ship, aircraft, portfolio of investments, debt and financial instruments;

III. The company/entity is established to facilitate currency trades and asset transfers, corporate mergers as well as carrying out asset management activities and trading of shares;

IV. The company/entity acts as a treasurer for companies recognised as a group or manages the activities of the group;

V. Any other case where convincing evidence can be provided that the company/entity is engaged in legitimate business, with identifiable ultimate beneficial owner(s).

Consequences of classification as shell company:

• If the company is considered shell company and is registered in a jurisdiction where it is not required to submit audited financial statements to the authorities and does not voluntarily prepare audited financial statements then the banks should avoid business with such companies.
• If the company is considered a “shell” company and has no tax residency or is tax resident in a jurisdiction that is included in the list issued by the EU for non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes then the bank shall avoid business with such companies.

In all other cases for companies falling within the definition of “shell” company the bank may decide to maintain or engage in business with the company by applying a risk application fully substantiating and justifying their decision.

Was already posted here before by @Admin - but OK now we all know again!