How to open an account in Europe remotely

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An account in Europe has been and remains a popular tool for individuals and businesses. Although opening it, especially remotely, is extremely difficult. We’ll tell you how this can still be done, what to take into account and in which countries there is still a chance to open an account remotely.

Why do businesses and individuals seek to open an account in Europe? Let's highlight a few points:

• Trust in the European banking system is higher than in the Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and others;
• Having an account in Europe is a plus for your reputation;
• An account in Europe allows you to reduce costs when working with European clients and partners;
• It is easier for individuals to buy real estate and other property;
• Access to cheaper loans;
• The EU has deposit insurance up to €100,000;
• Direct access to currency.

An account is opened with a personal visit and remotely. Remote opening is required when there is no time for a personal visit. Or when borders are closed, as is the case with coronavirus.

How to open a European account remotely: ways to open an account​

There are two main ways to open an account remotely:

1. Through a branch of a foreign bank in your country - you need to open an account not in the branch, but abroad. You need to ask your employees about this separately.
2. Via the Internet, in most cases with the help of experts who provide similar services - this includes both a recommendation of a new client to the bank and professional assistance in preparing documents and submitting an application.

The third method, which is not more widespread among banks, but is quite accessible in payment systems, is opening an account directly through the institution’s website.

Types of accounts abroad​

When opening an account abroad, you must remember that there are at least three types:

1. Current account for regular transactions;
2. Savings or deposit account – for medium- and long-term savings;
3. Investment account – for the purchase of various assets and investments in general (except for deposits).

Accounts can also have specific tasks, for example, a transaction account - they are opened for specific tasks and usually do not exist for long.

Differences between the European account for individuals and legal entities​

Both individuals and legal entities can open an account abroad, including in Europe. Moreover, you can open an account for any purpose: for payments, investments or savings.

The main difference is that many more transactions can take place through a company's current account. Individuals in most cases cannot use their foreign account for commercial activities. A large number of transactions will arouse suspicion, especially if the bank was not warned about this in advance.

The next difference is the documents.

Individuals are required to provide:

• A certified copy of your passport;
• Proof of residential address (utility bill);
• Proof of the legality of the origin of funds (tax return, property purchase and sale agreements, etc.);
• In some cases, banks ask for recommendations from other banks, from professionals, and from the applicant’s resume.

Companies can open an account if they provide:

• Statutory documents (memorandum, charter, etc.);
• Personal documents of the owners and directors of the company;
• Business plan and reporting (if any);
• Description of the company's activities;
• Availability of local clients and contractors - in some countries it is generally impossible to open an account without this;
• Documentary proof of presence in the country of registration (substance) - many European banks require a lease agreement, an agreement with employees, etc.;
• Information about future activity on the account: turnover, average transaction size; also interested in major partners, contractors and large clients.

In both cases, the documents must be translated into English or the language of the country in which you are opening the account. In principle, the English translation is sufficient and universal. Some documents require certification and/or apostille.

Both corporate (business) and personal accounts can be opened remotely or with a personal visit. This largely depends on the bank you choose.

For example, there are banks that are ready to open accounts remotely only for companies. And there are those who are ready to work remotely with everyone - after a thorough check, of course.
When opening an account remotely in Europe, you need to understand: opening an account will not be easy, and the more complex the income structure and the higher the risks, the higher the chance of refusal.

The number of banks that are ready to open accounts for non-residents remotely is falling. Except that the coronavirus epidemic has somewhat reversed this process: some banks have agreed to accept clients if additional document requirements are met. For example, put an apostille on almost everything that you send to the bank for review.

But this depends on the specific financial institution.

There are payment systems and we will talk about their differences a little below.

Pre-approval for opening accounts in Europe​

The risk of refusal when opening an account in Europe is quite high. Especially if we are talking about a remote procedure. Inspectors can get caught on any typo or inconsistency and, instead of figuring it out, simply refuse to open an account.

To reduce the risk (as well as the costs of sending documents and issuing new ones that expired while you were waiting for a decision), the pre-approval service is used.

The point is that you first send documents in electronic form (photos, scanned copies), a bank specialist checks them and gives a preliminary decision. Usually documents are reviewed in a relatively short time: from a couple of days to a couple of weeks. The cost of the service is several times lower than for an application to open an account.

As a result, if the application is rejected, you save time and submit an application to the next bank. If the answer is yes, then you send the originals and continue working. The risk of refusal still remains, but after pre-approval it drops several times (in our experience, after a positive pre-approval they can be refused due to the client’s unpredictable behavior and obvious errors in the documents).

Pre-approval is also used to open an account with a personal visit: before going to the bank, you receive a preliminary response from the bank, recommendations for additional documents, and set off on your way with a complete set.

Professional intermediaries also provide a pre-approval service: they communicate with the bank, check your documents, find out any inaccuracies and help correct them at the preparation stage. Plus, they can apply to two or three banks at once to increase their chance of success.

Foreign Account Notice​

According to existing rules, Russian citizens are required to notify the tax service about opening a foreign account within 30 days. Otherwise, you will have to pay a fine: 1,500-4,000 rubles for the first violation and 2,500-20,000 rubles for a second violation.

Also, annually before June 1, it is required to submit a report on the movement of funds in the account. From 2020, new rules apply and now you do NOT need to report if the following conditions are met:

• The account is located in a country that is a member of the OECD or FATF;
• Savings abroad do not exceed 600,000 rubles;
• A bilateral agreement on the exchange of banking information in automatic mode (CRS) was signed.

Banks and payment systems in Europe for opening accounts remotely​

As was said earlier, it is possible to open an account in a European bank remotely, but the choice is limited and the process is not easy. Payment systems are much more loyal to foreigners.

Payment systems are financial services that offer banking services: opening an account, transfers, currency conversion, and the like. These are fintech projects with special licenses.

Such systems allow you to get almost the same service as in banks, but faster and at more affordable prices.

To open an account, essentially the same set of documents is required, often scans are enough. The client is studied using the same algorithms. Therefore, they can refuse to open an account, just like in a bank.

Payment systems come in different profiles: some are aimed at the general public, while others prefer to work with IT projects or only with trading companies. There are even those who are ready to cooperate with offshore companies.

Choosing the right system (as well as the bank) will allow you to open an account faster and maintain it in the long term - at least because the institution will understand your business and your transactions.

Opening an account in payment systems takes from 1 day for individuals to a couple of weeks for legal entities. Sometimes it takes 10 working days, sometimes less, but in general, the time frame is much more predictable than that of banks, which can consider an application for 2-4-6 months and even after sending additional documents, they can refuse.

By the way, this is precisely the reason why they resort to the services of professionals - they help remove 90% of standard errors and find the remaining 10% that prevent opening an account in Europe - both in a bank and in a payment system.

European account for an offshore company?​

An account for an offshore company has been a complex issue over the past few years. It is often impossible to open an account for an offshore company in Europe: the bank warns at the entrance that it does not work with offshore companies or can open an account only for a certain one currency.

However, there are some banks, for example in Macedonia or Luxembourg, that are ready to cooperate. In some cases, they can open an account in Europe if the first deposit to the account is 100,000 euros or more. But in general, banking in Europe is a difficult task for offshore companies.

This is where the mentioned payment systems come to the rescue. Again, not all of them accept companies from tax havens, but there are those that are willing to consider applications from risky clients.

If you are interested specifically in banking, then we recommend exploring Caribbean banks. Firstly, it is possible to open a company and an account in one country and this will relieve a lot of headaches. Secondly, they have extensive experience working with this type of company. A little later, when you have a payment history, reporting and trust, you can try and open an account in Europe. Perhaps even remotely.

In the Caribbean, you can definitely open an account remotely.

Where to open a European account remotely?​

Despite all the difficulties, it is possible to open an account in Europe. Below are a few countries with a brief explanation.

Open a European account in Latvia​

In Latvia, it has been easy to open bank accounts since the early 90s. This could even be done directly via the Internet. However, since 2018, opening an account for non-residents, in particular immigrants and owners of foreign companies from the CIS, has become much more difficult. They are considered risky clients.

Way out? Large deposits, painstaking preparation, as well as opening a local company or representative office - this simplifies the issue of opening an account in any country.

Open a European account in Cyprus​

Cyprus is another popular jurisdiction for opening accounts. And again, until recently. After an audit by American specialists, Cyprus banks began to actively close existing accounts and make it difficult to open new ones.

Cyprus has interesting payment systems for IT projects, but in general it is worth opening an account here if you are focused on a local business (company).

Open a European account in the UK​

Opening a UK bank account for a foreign company that does not plan to operate in the UK is difficult. But there are good, reliable and extremely popular payment systems. Accounts are opened fairly quickly and operate reliably.

Open a European account in Portugal​

If you want to open an account and work in peace, then you should think about Portugal. The procedure for opening an account may seem confusing, but after it you can focus on business.

At the same time, it is possible to open an account for offshore companies, although the main contingent of companies are from the EU and those that plan to one way or another work in Portugal.

Open a European account in Serbia​

Serbia is not a member of the EU, but offers deposit insurance, and so far there is no CRS exchange, developed banking and the ability to open accounts remotely for local companies and branches. A particularly interesting structure is with branches: you can open it for a foreign company, including an offshore company, open an account for the branch, and all this will take a couple of weeks with proper preparation.

Open a European account in the Czech Republic​

In the Czech Republic they don’t like to open accounts remotely; even local companies must have a local director so that no questions arise. But again payment systems come to the rescue - they work with companies all over the world and offer high-quality service.

Open a European account in Switzerland​

Switzerland is a traditional banking jurisdiction. Neutrality, quality service and banking secrecy have created an unshakable reputation. Today there are some changes, in particular, tax services have received access to banking data as part of an automatic exchange. However, the service remained at the same level.

You can open an account in Switzerland remotely, roughly speaking, in two cases: if a specific bank supports remote account opening (and there are few of them, in fact, there is only one) and if you plan to invest large sums - from 500,000 euros. Then there is a chance that the banker will come to visit you himself. If the border is not closed.

But only companies that have a physical presence in the country of registration and maintain reporting can apply to open an account in Switzerland.

In general, Switzerland is an extremely interesting destination for opening an account, at least because of the vast experience, as well as access to a wide range of services and opportunities.

Open a European account in Luxembourg​

This is a jurisdiction that is popular primarily among wealthy individuals. Here you can open an account for personal and corporate purposes. It costs more than other places, but the quality of service, privacy and experience of banks attract the attention of capital holders from all over the world.

Open a European account in Liechtenstein​

And another European country where you can open a corporate account. Companies from the UK, Gibraltar and other jurisdictions can count on the opportunity to open an account here, taking into account that, like other European banks, they are required to provide a documented presence in the country of registration.

Of course, a lot of preparation will be required, but at least local banks don't immediately say no.

So how to open an account with Europe remotely?​

To open an account in the EU, you need to consider:

• Where is your business located, what does it do, what is its turnover;
• Choose a bank or payment system that, in principle, opens accounts remotely and that suits your needs. You can look for them yourself or immediately contact specialists;
• Preparing documents is the most important step. Any mistakes here can instantly lead to failure;
• Actively cooperate with the financial institution, answer questions;
• After gaining access, act within the rules and, if something in your business changes or an atypical transaction is planned, warn about it in advance so that the account is not frozen or closed.

Have you opened accounts in Europe? Which banks are accommodating to non-resident business? What difficulties have you encountered? Write in the comments.