Which Reputable Banks Accept BVI LLCs in 2021?

[Kakarot]

I am a canadian citizen with BVI LLC in good standing since 2016 -- the issue is getting a reputable bank account for receiving wires and sending payment wires to my suppliers.

Which SPECIFIC banks would you all recommend I try? I heard singapore is SOMETIMES agreeable to BVI's if considered lower risk applicants. Where else? And what bank names should I try -- so I can avoid wasting money hiring consultants with their egregious introduction fees which guarantee nothing I presume.

I'm a trade company, trading cosmetics and crops. My clients are all USA based, my suppliers all in China. Profit around 150,000-250,000 US DOLLARS per annum.

Thank you.

 

[Fred]

Hi,

forget about a BVI company in 2021 for day to day banking with a reputable retail bank.

OCBC the bank in Singapore with the highest risk appetite isn't onboarding any longer caribbean islands since 2021.

All the small islands banks in the caribbean that are good require local substance to onboard you.

Everything else is Private Banking because BVI is in 2021 most of the time used for Asset/Wealth Management.

For your description is this your best bet:
https://www.bankasia.com/en/home.htm

You won't receive much more reliable banking if you aren't willing to change the jurisdiction.

 

[For Free]

With your Canadian passport and BVI incorporation, Singaporian banks will never accept you. There is only rare exception for Singaporian banks to open account for BVI company:
- Citizenship of non-CRS and low-risk countries
- Domicile in China, Taiwan, HongKong or South East Asia with many supporting documents to prove
- A transparent/legit business with suppliers/customers from Singapore
- And many other KYC questions
It is still possible to get Singapore account but very very difficult

Even onshore Singapore company is not easy to open account like before. Banks will ask for business connections with Singapore

 

[Kakarot]

ok I would be amenable to changing jurisdictions, that's fine with me. So which jurisdiction is best? I know it's case by case, but knowing my profile as I described...

Because I thought ultimately even if I change my LLC to Labuan, HK, or even Isle of Man, Estonia or Singapore, STILL, getting the decent trustworthy bank account isn't likely regardless from what I hear -- although I'm a relative novice at all this.

Changing my LLC jurisdiction is very easy -- but where does everyone favor as top choices in 2021 to get that low/0 corporate tax and STILL have a shot at an ok bank somewhere?

Do you basically need to bite the tax residency bullet and put substance somewhere cheap and have an address there -- like a labuan plan?

I'm surprised there's not more threads devoted to comparing the best LLC jurisdictions in 2021 and which ones give the best chance to get a merchant capable wire friendly bank account -- which is what most of us small to mid size LLCs seek most desperately in today's climate isn't it? Some way to move our clients money to our account, and pay our suppliers -- without getting sporadic freezes on our accounts.

 

[For Free]

With EU, Canadian, Australian passports, it is harder and harder to form good structure without reallocation. You need to move to low-tax country like UAE or form a complex structure (which costs you more). It is hard to say the best jurisdictions in 2021 since banks behave differently case by case. With Canadian citizenship, you may ask the guy named Michael from Youtube Channel "Offshore Citizen", he is Canadian also. But there are something he know and apply for himself not always correct with other people with different passports/domiciles.

 

[Fred]

ok I would be amenable to changing jurisdictions, that's fine with me. So which jurisdiction is best? I know it's case by case, but knowing my profile as I described...

Because I thought ultimately even if I change my LLC to Labuan, HK, or even Isle of Man, Estonia or Singapore, STILL, getting the decent trustworthy bank account isn't likely regardless from what I hear -- although I'm a relative novice at all this.

Changing my LLC jurisdiction is very easy -- but where does everyone favor as top choices in 2021 to get that low/0 corporate tax and STILL have a shot at an ok bank somewhere?

Do you basically need to bite the tax residency bullet and put substance somewhere cheap and have an address there -- like a labuan plan?

I'm surprised there's not more threads devoted to comparing the best LLC jurisdictions in 2021 and which ones give the best chance to get a merchant capable wire friendly bank account -- which is what most of us small to mid size LLCs seek most desperately in today's climate isn't it? Some way to move our clients money to our account, and pay our suppliers -- without getting sporadic freezes on our accounts.

Like mentioned before the straight forward and cost effective way to go is to setup the Company in Dubai.

Once the Dubai Company is formed it grants you a residence visa. WIth the residence Visa you are able to open local UAE bank accounts. Of course you need professional help if you don't have any previous realtions to the UAE when it comes to the bank account opening but it's still possible to get decent banking. The key of this setup is the residence Visa as with the residence Visa the banks doesn't onboard you as a non-resident.

Non-resident banking is coming to an end for normal day to day retail banking - only for wealth management.

If you want to discuss a possible solution for you. Send me PM.

 

[Kakarot]

Hi fred, sorry not sure where the PM button is, so I'll just post here you feel free to PM me -- also gives others knowledgeable here to offer their input:

I'm a canadian citizen, but I live throughout Asia, often moving, a digital nomad.

Now, in 2021, where would you advise I form an LLC for a trading company? I'm guessing UAE as it's your speciality.

Obviously I want to keep my corporate tax as low as possible, but not lose any chance of getting a bank account by picking a risk averse jurisdiction that banks won't accept me as a client unless I have millions due entirely to a bad choice of jurisdiction.

Where should I domicile in Asia? Do I need tax residency somewhere in Asia to get a decent bank for my business in 2021 realistically? If UAE, how many days per year must I spend there to qualify as resident tax status there?

If it matters, I revenue about $360,000 USD per annum, with about $150,000 USD profit.

I'd be willing to put about $40,000 max into a new bank account as an opening deposit minimum.

My clients are US based companies. My suppliers are mostly in china. I'm a trading company. So my wires come from USA. And I need to send about 60% of that money to my suppliers in china. So I need an transactional account for my corporation that allows me to receive and send wires regularly in the pre-prescribed fashion.

I wish to live somewhere in Asia, SE asia is probably ideal for me, if possible. So I could use UAE as a base, but I'd want to live most of the year in tropical places like Phillipines, cambodia or thailand if possible and it won't effect my corporate or personal tax benefits.

So basically, given my particular circumstance, which jurisdiction is best for me to register my LLC, and where's best for me to bank, domicile, and (if needed) have tax residency to minimize my losses in taxes -- and still allow me to get a bank in the 2021 climate which I can trust.

Please recommend jurisdictions for me -- and then please provide the paperwork I need to fill out to register everything.

thank you very kindly

 

[neweraoffshore]

Getting a Barclays account is possible, however not with the sums you are talking about. They start reviewing applications with a min deposit of 1M GBP. And they are one of the ones with the lowest min deposit, the rest start at 5M GBP (HSBC). GoSa starts at 10M GBP, for example.

 

[Fred]

Hi @Kakarot ,

you mentioned already the setup to yourself.

The Dubai Company Formation grants you the residence Visa for the UAE. Once you have received the residence Visa we can open the local UAE bank accounts for you. Business Bank Account as well as Personal Bank Account. To keep the residence Visa active you only have to be 1 day every 180 days to the UAE. As you know Dubai can be used easy as a fly buy jurisdiction if you travel between America/Europe and Asia.

Starting from this point you are free to travel around and be in the country you prefer. Of course there are difference between Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia when it comes to the written law but due to lack of enforcemenet we kno literraly nowbody who runs into problems with financial base in the UAE and spending tim in different countries in Asia.

For diversification you can open a personal bank account in Private Bank in Switzerland with 5.000 USD min. deposit.

Alle the so called digital nomads, coaches, dropshipper or whatever using this scheme to have real physical bank accounts without the need of having a physical permanent flat the whole year.

I would avoid local banks in Asia - no advantage and most likely you need a local person with good contacts to get you a bank account like girlriend or wife. Many clients have girlfriend or wife in Thailand and they telling us that they need to guarantee for the client so that he get local banking. Makes sense maybe for daily expenses but even then there are many EMI around you can get with UAE residence.

As you asked how much time you need to spend in the UAE to get the tax residence certificate - it's 183 days at least in the first year - many get after the first year they received the certificate issued without being 6 months in the UAE - again it's practice experience.

I wouldn't worry to much about this if you don't have any plans to relocate again in 2-3 years back to Canada.

 

[Kakarot]

thank you, are you able to specifically name which ones you mean?

 

[bizniz]

Banks in Singapore will open for a BVI company with Canadian owner, but only IF you create some verifiable link to Singapore.

Dubai is NOT the only way to go. And Bank of Asia BVI is also not useful. You could go with Boslil or Hamilton Reserve Bank in Nevis (the former NIBT) for example.

Otherwise there are lots of places you can open an account for a BVI, depending on your business and existing banking relationships. Maybe even in USA, certainly in the Caribbean. Or you could go with the Serbian branch route that has been described elsewhere. Or Panama. Probably because you have business with China you could open a Hong Kong account too for your BVI, but you would have to go there for that.

 

[Kakarot]

when I look here, it looks like quite a hassle still to get in dubai -- but please correct me if I'm wrong:

https://www.kayak.com/travel-restrictions#united-arab-emirates

 

[bizniz]

I think you just need a PCR test to fly into Dubai. I was looking at it the other day. But there are other restrictions in other parts of the UAE.

 

[Fred]

I think you just need a PCR test to fly into Dubai. I was looking at it the other day. But there are other restrictions in other parts of the UAE.

Yes that's right - if you come from a central europe country you even can do a test on arrival. Done in 5 minutes - costs 50$.

 

[Fred]

Banks in Singapore will open for a BVI company with Canadian owner, but only IF you create some verifiable link to Singapore.

Dubai is NOT the only way to go. And Bank of Asia BVI is also not useful. You could go with Boslil or Hamilton Reserve Bank in Nevis (the former NIBT) for example.

Otherwise there are lots of places you can open an account for a BVI, depending on your business and existing banking relationships. Maybe even in USA, certainly in the Caribbean. Or you could go with the Serbian branch route that has been described elsewhere. Or Panama. Probably because you have business with China you could open a Hong Kong account too for your BVI, but you would have to go there for that.

Well regarding Singapore I can only mention the information from our personal relationship manager of OCBC.

Even Dubai Company they don't consider at all.

In the past OCBC had by far the most riks appetite for banking offshore from all Singapore banks so my conclusion is that DBS will most probably have the same attitude then OCBC as they rejected in the past double of the applications as OCBC did.

 

[Golden Fleece]

Is there any reason that someone cannot form an IBC in the Cayman Islands (which might cost twice as much as forming an IBC in BVI, Nevis, or Antigua) and then have full access to the well-established Cayman Islands banking system?

Is the problem that Cayman Island banks require too large of a minimum deposit? Or is there another reason that entrepreneurs do not form offshore entities in the Cayman Islands and then open bank accounts there? (I am not worried about KYC requirements, FATCA, CRS, or anything else -- all is legal.)

 

[Kakarot]

i thought cayman was basically same same as BVI in terms of international reputation and banking quality -- as in, not so great, mid range. NEver heard cayman island banks are any more trustworthy. I've typically heard caribbean banks are among the most sketchy and randomly close the most often.

But i'm a relative newbie, so enlighten me.

 

[Golden Fleece]

i thought cayman was basically same same as BVI in terms of international reputation and banking quality -- as in, not so great, mid range. NEver heard cayman island banks are any more trustworthy. I've typically heard caribbean banks are among the most sketchy and randomly close the most often.

But i'm a relative newbie, so enlighten me.

Comparing the Cayman Islands banking system to the BVI, Nevis, or Antigua banking systems is like comparing a German Shepard to a Chihuahua for home security. The Cayman Islands is one of the leading international financial centers in the world. There is simply no comparison, which is why it might make sense to form a Cayman Islands IBC to gain access to the Cayman Islands banking system. There must be a reason why no one here is doing that (e.g., high minimum deposits required), which is why I asked the question.

https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/careers/companies/top-banks-in-the-cayman-islands/

 

[Kakarot]

I see. So what kind of high min deposits are we talking about? They are CRS compliant now right? Not that I really care, but just checking. Can you -- or someone else -- rank from best to worst -- the banking excellency of the caribbean region?

Like put the countries in order of where's best to worst to bank there? When I say "best", I mean safest banking countries in caribbean, most legit, least likely to rob you.

Seems most of us -- our greatest concern is just not having the fintechs and banks we work with randomly lock us out of our accounts one day, hold the money, and rob us.

I know it could be our own fault in many cases -- but i think equally in many cases the banks rules are probably designed to rob whom they think they can. It's not like banks or governments aren't corrupt after all -- they are the greatest most sophisticated criminals in the world as I'm sure we all know.

So who can we trust in the caribbean?

 

[Silvio]

Comparing the Cayman Islands banking system to the BVI, Nevis, or Antigua banking systems is like comparing a German Shepard to a Chihuahua for home security. The Cayman Islands is one of the leading international financial centers in the world. There is simply no comparison, which is why it might make sense to form a Cayman Islands IBC to gain access to the Cayman Islands banking system. There must be a reason why no one here is doing that (e.g., high minimum deposits required), which is why I asked the question.

https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/careers/companies/top-banks-in-the-cayman-islands/

Is it just the high deposits? Don't these banks also ask for substance and connection to Cayman Island?