Setting up a Corporate Bank Account in Hong Kong
Hong Kong is world-renowned for its open policies on foreign investment, and with that comes some very rigorous compliance methods. When you have as much foreign capital flowing into a small region like Hong Kong, the local government needs to take every precaution possible to ensure the flow of funds is in a transparent, and law abiding manner.
With that in mind, one of the more tricky parts of starting a business in Hong Kong is setting up a corporate bank account. On top of government regulations, the banks are quite fastidious in their criteria for choosing customers — after all, many of their customers won’t even be living in Hong Kong.
Here are the prominent mandatories you’ll need to comply with to be able to even make an application to open a corporate bank account in Hong Kong:
- You must (nearly always) have Asian customers or suppliers for your business.
- Your partners cannot be resident in, or your company affiliated with the following countries:
- - Morocco
- - Algeria
- - Tunisia
- - Libya
- - Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa)
- - Thailand
- - Cambodia
- - Laos
- - Vietnam
Using a Hong Kong Fintech Company for Your Business Bank Account
Fintech lenders have become an increasingly mainstream option in the last few years, as they have fewer restrictions on opening a business account. You can open a business account with a fintech company quickly, and you don’t have to visit Hong Kong to do it. It will also allow you to accumulate six months of internal financial activity to present to a physical bank in the future.
The downside to this ease of application is the fact that you won’t receive as many account services as you would with a traditional Hong Kong bank. For example, you can’t get a bank loan, you may only receive a debit card (as opposed to credit), and the account will be in Hong Kong dollars only.
Read more about opening a corporate bank account in Hong Kong at Hong Kong Company Registration.
