UK non-resident director business bank account opening

**SueEllen** · 26 May 2015, 18:01

Due to the money laundering regulations in the UK, it will be hard for you as a non-UK resident to open up a bank account regardless of whether it is a business one or a personal one. In particular Cater Allen don't like anyone who has foreign transactions going through their business account and has closed accounts due to this.

There may be companies who offer to open a UK bank account for you for fee which you can find via google, however I have no idea how legit they are.

**neobavesten** · 26 May 2015, 18:09

Thank you for getting back to me. I got in touch with one of these companies and have received the following reply.

Thank you for your enquiry regarding a UK business account facility for your business and based on the information you have provided I am certain we will be able to assist you.
We offer a pre-application service for any non-UK residents to help find a suitable provider who will accept a business account application for you and the cost of that service is £195.00
You will be required to complete our full application form and send us a copy of your passport or valid photo ID along with the payment for our services.
We would then approach our various providers to see who would accept an application based on the information you have submitted.
Any subsequent cost to complete the process will depend on who the provider is and what service they will provide and it is not unusual for us to get at least two or three providers who will accept an application. The subsequent cost to proceed will be from £500.00 for more basic type accounts however we do deal with many of the main high street banks here too, so if you require a Nat West or similar type bank, then we would need to approach them once we have all of your details to see who would be prepared to accept an application, but we work with many of the larger organisations, so am sure we will be able to help.

As soon as we receive your completed form we will send you a payment link to pay by card or an invoice for you to pay directly into our account in order to get the process started.
I will be very happy to answer any further questions you have, either via email or telephone, so please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Does anyone have experience with these services? It is very expansive and paying 195 GBP just for searching suitable provider is a lot especially because there are not too many options at all. Also paying 500 GBP afterwards is even more expensive. Even though they provide guarantees I do not think they offer a refund in the case they are not successful. I would appreciate your opinions with this and whether it is worth investigating further.

Finally, what are my options if this does not work. I believe that having an account with the UK bank would be really beneficial on the long run. Thank you very much.

**Scruff** · 26 May 2015, 21:50

For a so-called profession service, not being able to spell NatWest correctly would set of all my alarm bells...?

**JB3000** · 26 May 2015, 22:32

Originally posted by neobavesten View Post

I run and operate limited liability company (LTD) that is registered in UK and I am interested to open business bank account with “Cater Allen” that I would use for daily banking. However, I am non UK resident (currently reside in the UAE) and was wondering if it is still possible to open business bank account with them.
I read information on Free business bank account l IT contractor bank account l Cater Allen free banking :: Contractor UK
and have contacted ContractorUK but so far I did not get any reply.

I would appreciate if anyone can share their experiences with me or even better assist me or at least direct me to the people who would be able to help me.

Thank you very much for your time and have a nice day.

Can't you setup a business bank account in the UAE?

Why do you even have a Uk company?

**tarbera** · 26 May 2015, 23:01

Originally posted by JB3000 View Post

Can't you setup a business bank account in the UAE?

Why do you even have a Uk company?

He must miss paying tax !!!

**neobavesten** · 27 May 2015, 05:21

Thank you for the replies!

I registered UK company mainly because it adds good credibility among clients and business partners. Also registration procedure and accounting (everything can be done in the cloud and it is free) is quite straightforward and UK is a good link between US and far east economies. I work with US and clients from far east and setting up the company in the UK seemed like a reasonable choice. Also there may be promising opportunities in the UK.

Having company in other countries e.g. UAE is more challenging, it costs a lot more, offers limited opportunities and is NOT tax free (but in the UAE tax takes the form of sponsor fee). Same idea applies for the business account.

I would like to have UK account because it simply adds additional credibility. My clients from US or India would probably like to see UK bank account which is in line with company registration. Providing them bank account from some other country (or offshore account) may even rise some eyebrows and I would like to avoid that.

From what I can understand agent can not help me in any case since I do not reside in the UK. Is there any way to overcome this? By the way, company that i contacted even has a You Tube pitch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75cXJS3Jlps

Can anyone recommend reliable agent who could help me with this. All opinions are welcome. Thank you very much.

**jampotSB** · 14 April 2018, 10:05

Did you find a business bank account?

Hi there,
I know this thread was more than 2 years ago but I am wondering did you find a suitable solution for your situation? I am kind of facing the same issues, UK company incorporated and Non-UK resident director living in the UAE. Thinking how to open bank account for the business. Did you try HSBC? Some people told me that now they do open accounts for companies with Non-Uk resident director. I will go after the weekend and check with them. Thank you for replying back to me.

**WordIsBond** · 14 April 2018, 18:23

Might see if you can open a Transferwise borderless banking account.

UK non-resident director business bank account opening