The banking world has become more complicated in the past few years. It is quite difficult to open an offshore bank account nowadays. Banks all over the world implemented new standards of compliance and due diligence, keeping records and minimizing the risks.
Corporate banking has become a real challenge. Is there any way out?
Definitely yes. As long as there is global business and demand for offshore bank accounts, the solutions will be there.
Many foreign companies are willing to open Dubai offshore bank accounts. All UAE banks have attractive facilities for international business: stable rate of local currency against USD, online banking, no limits on money repatriation.
However, if you want to open a UAE offshore bank account, we recommend opening a UAE business for it.
Why we don’t recommend you apply for an offshore bank account in Dubai for your overseas company?
The best way to do it is a business setup in uae. Bank account opening procedure in this case will be easier, faster and cheaper.
Offshore company formation in UAE is the cheapest way of business setup in Dubai. If you open a RAK offshore company, you will be able to apply for an account to the following local banks:
In case you opt for a business setup in UAE free zones, there will be even more bank options:
Establishing a UAE mainland company is the fastest option in terms of bank account opening, but more expensive in annual maintenance. In rare cases, this option requires a local citizen as a sponsor or service agent.
If you have registered a UAE company and are preparing for a bank account application, we recommend applying to 2-3 different banks to make sure your account goes through at least 1-2 of them.
You need to prepare the following documents and information:
We recommend contacting business setup consultants in Dubai to help evaluate your case and identify the banks where the account opening for you is most likely to be successful.
Once your account is opened, it is required to deposit a minimum balance in order to “activate” the account. The amount of minimum balance is always discussed at the initial meeting with your bank account opening officer. Business consultants in UAE are also usually aware of this requirement.
Your account balance may fall below the required minimum. In this case the bank will charge you some monthly fees for account maintenance. It could be about 10-100 USD depending on the bank and the type of account.
We do not recommend keeping your account still after transferring the funds to it. Passive accounts often get “frozen” by the banks, because there are no transactions.
Account opening - by yourself or with consultants?
You can definitely prepare all the documents and go to any branch of the bank that you prefer and apply for your account there.
However, the success of your efforts might be zero - probably minimum balance requirements are too high, or the bank does not open accounts for the type of company that you have or simply considers your business activity as a “high risk”.
There are many more factors you can face which will make account opening long and inefficient.
Normally the consultants will be able to:
Top questions about offshore bank account in Dubai
It depends on multiple factors, such as: the type of company you have, the nature of business, nationality of the shareholders and business model. Average time may vary from 2 weeks to 2 months.
All UAE banks have online banking and even mobile banking. You can operate your account through the Internet from any place in the world.
It depends on the bank. Minimum deposits start from 25,000 AED (6,850 USD) and go up to 500,000 AED (137,000 USD).
The following banks open accounts of UAE offshore companies: Mashreq, NOOR, Emirates Islamic, RAK BANK.
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