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Looking for established bank for HK company

offshorefxfirm

New member
May 27, 2021
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Vanuatu
Hello,

We have established companies in HK and are looking to setup holding accounts for funds outside of the country to maintain significant balances. The owner of the company is against EMIs and newly established banks and is looking for solid banks in good jurisdictions. The UBO is non-american and is not a PEP/Sanctioned person. We are willing to pay for the service of account opening, but we have run into a roadblock where most agents are pushing Eastern block/risky banks. These companies are business consulting firms and technology development companies so the risk is low. Please advise if you could.
 
Hello,

We have established companies in HK and are looking to setup holding accounts for funds outside of the country to maintain significant balances. The owner of the company is against EMIs and newly established banks and is looking for solid banks in good jurisdictions. The UBO is non-american and is not a PEP/Sanctioned person. We are willing to pay for the service of account opening, but we have run into a roadblock where most agents are pushing Eastern block/risky banks. These companies are business consulting firms and technology development companies so the risk is low. Please advise if you could.
@OP more established banks should serve your above needs..no mention of proposed average TRX, How Long Has The HK comp been operational,What specific activities etc.?
 
@OP more established banks should serve your above needs..no mention of proposed average TRX, How Long Has The HK comp been operational,What specific activities etc.?
Company has been operational over four years. Company is a specialty software development firm. Average incoming transactions between 150-250k USD. Between 5-10 transactions per month. Between 750-1.5M incoming per month. Outgoing is around 300k USD in total monthly in 20-25 transactions.
 
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Keep in mind that almost always in HK, banks are veeeeeeeery old fashioned, so you need to be prepared, like actually prepared with all the relevant docs to have any form of success with them.

you need a solid business plan and something that prove that you will have ties to the country or the mainland (suppliers, factories, local companies....etc). +1 If you have some powerpoint presentations to make the eyes of you banker sparkle. +2 if you bring a well dressed local translator that speak Cantonese with you, you won't really need it since alot people in HK speak English well, but bringing a translator with you is always a good idea, since he/she can act as your secretary too which makes you look extra professional in front of the banker.

For me personally, I don't really use a lot of banks in HK anymore, I mostly utilize Asian EMIs and have couple of banks as a backup, but most of my banking is done outside HK.

with that in mind there are good options in HK:

DBS Bank in HK. Assuming the UBO of the company is resident outside HK, his company will fall under "the special company" category with DBS, meaning that he need to have a minimum 10k HKD to be able to open an account with them (in reality, having 50k+ is advice to have a better success chances, but it can be done with the minimum deposit, if you have a good business plan and the UBO did the above tips that I told you about)

Bank of China. this bank is a hit or miss, depending on the branch that you go to, some are very good, some are meh, none of them are bad tbh, but some branches are better than others. Again, you will need a good business plan, and a deposit of 50k or so (I don't remember the exact numbers). All in all, BOC was one of the easiest bank that I've dealt with in HK.

OCBC singapore. One of the best banks that I've dealt with in Singapore and in Asia overall. you can open a bank account with them for your HK company with relative ease. All you will need is 30k as minimum deposit (the more the better, and If you could throw an extra 10k at a CD or similar investment vehicles, this will do wonders) and a solid business plan as mentioned above.

there are others like HSBC (I hate that bank) and the other international banks, but I always prefer dealing with local banks and so these are the banks that I've personally dealt with.

Keep in mind that run of the mill shelf companies and the likes are better be kept at the trash, because in 2021 and beyond, you need to make sure that you do things right and cross your t's and dot your I's before going offshore, if not, you better stay at home and do things locally to avoid any future frustrations that you will 100% face if you don't do things properly.

good luck to you and your partner!
 
Keep in mind that almost always in HK, banks are veeeeeeeery old fashioned, so you need to be prepared, like actually prepared with all the relevant docs to have any form of success with them.

you need a solid business plan and something that prove that you will have ties to the country or the mainland (suppliers, factories, local companies....etc). +1 If you have some powerpoint presentations to make the eyes of you banker sparkle. +2 if you bring a well dressed local translator that speak Cantonese with you, you won't really need it since alot people in HK speak English well, but bringing a translator with you is always a good idea, since he/she can act as your secretary too which makes you look extra professional in front of the banker.

For me personally, I don't really use a lot of banks in HK anymore, I mostly utilize Asian EMIs and have couple of banks as a backup, but most of my banking is done outside HK.

with that in mind there are good options in HK:

DBS Bank in HK. Assuming the UBO of the company is resident outside HK, his company will fall under "the special company" category with DBS, meaning that he need to have a minimum 10k HKD to be able to open an account with them (in reality, having 50k+ is advice to have a better success chances, but it can be done with the minimum deposit, if you have a good business plan and the UBO did the above tips that I told you about)

Bank of China. this bank is a hit or miss, depending on the branch that you go to, some are very good, some are meh, none of them are bad tbh, but some branches are better than others. Again, you will need a good business plan, and a deposit of 50k or so (I don't remember the exact numbers). All in all, BOC was one of the easiest bank that I've dealt with in HK.

OCBC singapore. One of the best banks that I've dealt with in Singapore and in Asia overall. you can open a bank account with them for your HK company with relative ease. All you will need is 30k as minimum deposit (the more the better, and If you could throw an extra 10k at a CD or similar investment vehicles, this will do wonders) and a solid business plan as mentioned above.

there are others like HSBC (I hate that bank) and the other international banks, but I always prefer dealing with local banks and so these are the banks that I've personally dealt with.

Keep in mind that run of the mill shelf companies and the likes are better be kept at the trash, because in 2021 and beyond, you need to make sure that you do things right and cross your t's and dot your I's before going offshore, if not, you better stay at home and do things locally to avoid any future frustrations that you will 100% face if you don't do things properly.

good luck to you and your partner!
Hi, I should have prefaced that we have utilized most banks in Hong Kong and are looking for other regions due to long term stability goals. We are specifically looking outside of HK and Singapore.
 
I'm a little confused with the recent update by OP, but yeah, banks themselves are pretty old fashioned here if that's the answer you need.

There are some new digital banks as well as non-bank business account providers in Hong Kong that you can open accounts with easily, entirely online. No need to come to Hong Kong.

If you're looking for options outside of HK, you might consider actually seeing what options you have IN Hong Kong.

There are some providers who not only offer HK accounts, but also offer local accounts in other jurisdictions outside HK like the EU. So essentially you can have a provider physically in Hong Kong you deal with, but they're tunneling non-HK accounts to you through digital means. Very new stuff for HK, but it might be what you're looking for.
 
I cannot sadly. Admins don't like it when I do that haha.

Just keep your ear to the ground for specifically non-bank payment platforms homegrown in HK. The bigger names like Wise might possibly do what you need, but for specifically having 1 platform for many accounts regardless of the jurisdiction, that seems to be a local platform thing in HK. Look around and with some googling you'll find a few. Or someone else here can step up to answer.
 
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You had to come to HK to open the account or not ?
This is a case-by-case situation. But if you're looking for a traditional bank account, you'll very likely be asked to come in person to open the account. Both personal and corporate accounts. The winds of technology are changing in HK though, and there are now digital banks and EMIs in HK that make the entire experience 100% online. When you register your business in Hong Kong, then your company secretary can usually help with the account opening process. These days they are turning more toward these digital banks and also some EMIs.