How to Open a Business Bank Account for a non UK resident

On a daily basis we are asked How to Open a Business Bank Account for a non UK resident, from businesses owners all over the world who wish to trade in the United Kingdom.

The biggest issue all non UK resident business owners have is that none of the UK high street banks will accept applications if you do not reside in the UK.

The key reasons for this is being able to identify you, the ‘risk’ you may pose as you may fall outside of the UK legal system and the additional due diligence it would take to open and monitor your business account.

So whilst some may say they will consider it, would you wish to travel all the way over to the UK to meet with a bank, spend a minimum of three hours going through an application process, only to be informed your application has been declined?

This is a regular scenario and causes so much frustration for any non UK resident applying for a business bank account.

So what you are options and how can you open a business bank account as a non resident?

The first thing you would need to accept is, that unless you have an exceptional established business, you will not be able to easily open aa high street bank account here in the UK.

However, as long as you have a UK registered business and can be formally identified in your country of residence and you don’t live in a ‘high risk’ country, then we can help you open a business account, regardless of where you may reside.

Also, everything can be done remotely, so there will be no requirement to travel to the UK to complete the process either.

What sort of business account could a non resident expect to have access to?

That is a very good question, as we have a number of options that would be available, so the answer is never straight forward.

Often it would depend on what banking options will be available for your business and what type of transactions will require for your business, which will almost be very different for every business.

As an example, a low risk business that requires simple transactional banking will have far more choices than a business considered as high risk and requires International payments.

As part of our non UK residents service for business banking, we will always look to see what will be the best options available for you & your business, then obtain a decision in principle before confirming this back to you and certainly before we make any charge for our service.

A firm ‘decision in principle’ means that our business banking partner will accept your application based on the information you have provided, as long as you can supply all the necessary documentation for yourself, any fellow principles of the business and the business itself.

So assuming all of that is in order, then we will be prepared to proceed with providing our guaranteed business banking service for non UK resident.

If you are unsure, then simply complete our initial (no commitment) application form and we will confirm if we can assist you before you need to decide whether to proceed or not.

To start the process, please click here: https://www.extradirect.com/apply-here