Hong Kong - Corporate Bank Account-Company Formation_Trademark Registration_Tax Service - Hong Kong CPA

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Service Scope KAIZEN CPA provides Audit , Accounting, Tax Advisory, Hong Kong Company Formation, Offshore Company Registration, China Company Formation, Trademark Registration, Tax Service.

Corporate Service - Hong Kong

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Hong Kong - Corporate Bank Account

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What kind of document required for corporate bank account opening in Hong Kong?

The bank may request documents case by case subject to the bank’s requirement and the business nature of the applicant. For this reason, there is no specific document checklist that could fit all the applicants. For your reference, the followings are the general checklist of the documents required:

Corporate Documents

(1)	For Hong Kong Company, it includes Certificate of Incorporation, Latest Business Registration Certificate, Latest Annual Return (or Form NNC1 for newly incorporated company) , Article of Association, and any Statutory Forms filed to the Companies Registry/ Inland Revenue Department after filing of the latest Annual Return or Form NNC1.
(2)	For Offshore Company, it includes Certificate of Incorporation, Certificate of Incumbency issued within 6 months, Memorandum and Article of Association, etc.

Identification Document of Directors, Shareholders, Ultimate Beneficial Owners and the pending Authorized Signers.

English or Chinese Residential Address Proofs issued within 2 months of Directors, Shareholders, Ultimate Beneficial Owners, and the pending Authorized Signers with the holder’s Full name and Full address stated on the document.

3 sets of Business Proofs (including invoices, contracts or agreements, bank statements and bill ladings that could show the same transaction) from buyers and suppliers.

Personal Resume of each Director.

Business Plan including details such as business nature and reason of having bank account in Hong Kong.

Banks may request further information subject to the actual situation.

What is the approximated time for opening a bank account in Hong Kong?

In general, it shall take around a few weeks (around 6-8 weeks) to get the approval for opening a bank account, given that all the outstanding is settled and the bank account opening meeting is conducted.

Time required for each application are different for customer due diligence of banks.

What kind of fees are required for bank account opening?

Banks generally have bank account opening fee and requirement on the minimum deposit.

Subject to banks’ policy, the account opening fee may be charged during the bank account opening meeting or after the bank account is opened successfully. It is a fee that charged directly from the applicant.

While for the minimum deposit, the amount is the lowest remaining balance that is required to be kept in the account. It may be calculated per day, month or quarterly based on banks’ policy. Usually, banks in Hong Kong have a monthly minimum deposit for the accounts.

When the remaining balance falls below the minimum deposit, banks may charge an administration fee monthly. Some banks may close the bank account without sending notice if the balance falls below the requirement for a period.

What are the currencies available for bank account in Hong Kong?

Most of the banks in Hong Kong provide more than 10 types of currencies for a multi-currency account include HKD, RMB, SGD, USD, GBP, EUR, JPY, etc.

What optional services can be applied during or after the bank account is opened?

Usually, internet banking will be set up automatically at the same time of the bank account opened.

Some banks may provide financing, trade or merchant accounts and services. It is suggested that the applicant should check the services available before placing the application.

It is also suggested that the applicant should inform the bank officers about the company’s needs during the bank account opening meeting. The bank officer will prepare the required document for the applicant to sign for submission.

Is it possible to open bank account in Hong Kong remotely?

At the moment, only a few banks offer account opening remotely. These banks are having relatively high requirement and the applicant must visit the banks’ branch for the account opening.

For most of the banks, the directors and authorized signatories must visit Hong Kong to attend bank account opening meeting face to face with bank officer for applying a bank account.

How can I maintain the bank account overseas?

The main media for controlling the bank account is by internet banking. The bank account could be operated as long as the user has the token in hand.

From time to time, to verify identity, banks may also send a code to the user via SMS. It is important to ensure that the phone number in banks’ record could receive international SMS.

Are there limitations on the transfer?

For security reasons, every bank has its own transfer limit for each bank account. The amount will be set as default if there is no special instruction received from the applicant.

However, if the bank account is not in used for a long period (i.e. 6 months), banks may notify the company about its account’s inactive status.

If no further action is carried out by the company, the bank, because of security reasons, may set the transfer limit to zero.

To avoid this situation, it is suggested that the company should conduct a wire transfer every month.

I received a letter from bank requesting updated information of my company. What should I do?

To maintain the risk level and have a better understanding of customers, banks may request updated information from the company from time to time. This is also known as the bank account review.

When receiving a bank letter for updating information, the company should follow the instruction on the letter to fill in related form(s) and provide relevant documents to the bank.

From our experience, there is a high chance that the company needs to provide certified true copy of corporate documents and personal identity documents. These certified true copies should be certified by professional (such as CPA, Lawyer, etc.) from Financial Action Task Force.

Kaizen as a CPA firm in Hong Kong, we could help to certify the required document(s). Please feel free to let us know if our assistance is required.

Are there any alternatives instead of a bank account in Hong Kong?

Other than opening a bank account in Hong Kong, a company may consider applying for opening an account in overseas banks such as the banks located in Mauritius, British Virgin Islands, Belize and etc. These overseas are following the Bank Ordinances of its place of operation. Some of these banks provide internet banking and debit card services to their account users.

Besides, a company may apply for opening an account in Payment Gateway like Trasnferwise and Neat. Unlike traditional banks, these platforms could open an account for companies with an easier and faster way. These payment gateways offer internet transaction for customers. Some of them offer Debit Card for the account. They also offer multicurrency account and may have a better exchange rate compared with traditional banks. However, these gateways do not need to comply with Banking Ordinance. That said, there is no deposit protection in these platforms.

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