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
Straight away, you might foresee some problems for your own operation, but do not fear, there is usually a solution to be found. Let’s take a look at what you need to do to open a corporate bank account in Hong Kong, as well as your options outside of a traditional bank.
Learn more about setting up a corporate bank account in Hong Kong on this Hong Kong Company Registration blog.
