Guide for Foreign Citizen to Open Corporate Bank Account in UAE

Dubai’s strategic location makes it one of the ideal location for setting up your business and maintaining your bank accounts. The banking sector in the UAE is very mature and offers the investors’ confidence & security for their funds and facilitates streamlined international banking services. All companies registered in the UAE, be it in the mainland, Freezone or offshore jurisdiction are eligible for opening a bank account here in the UAE. Mostly the details required by the banks will be around the legal existence of the entity. They will request for the corporate documents to identify the management and nature of the business.

Benefits of a Business Bank Account in Dubai

• Online banking access where you can view your balances and process transfers;
• Assigned a relationship manager who can assist you at all times;
• Branches in many locations of Dubai and other emirates;
• Multi-currency accounts;
• Chequebooks for UAE residency visa holders;
• Visa cards/debit cards for UAE residency visa holders;
• No special defense contribution tax which is applicable in other parts of the world;
• 0% personal tax;
• 0% Corporate Tax on Qualifying Income ;

Corporate / Business Accounts in Dubai

If you need an account for business purposes, a personal account cannot be used for it, you need to open a corporate / company account. Earlier, it was possible to open corporate bank accounts in the UAE for foreign companies – onshore as well as offshore, for example BVI (British Virgin Islands), Seychelles, etc. Nowadays opening an account is practically achievable for UAE companies and the daughter companies of the foreign companies only.

Account with UAE offshore company:

Less costly, however much harder to open bank account plus higher requirements on minimum account balance. The company account is NOT considered to be resident which means it is under strict official compliance regulations.

Account with UAE onshore company:

Such company is more cost-intensive to register, however gives you the option to obtain UAE residency visa as well as qualifies your business account as the UAE-resident with the associated advantages such as less regulations, reduced account balance requirements, larger choice of banks, etc. For business accounts, apart from the standard personal documents on company shareholders which are similar to the documents for a personal account, the respective corporate documents are to be provided.

Documents Required to Open a Corporate Bank Account

• New UAE Company Documents (Company Trade License, Certificate of Registration, Share Certificate (s))
• Board Resolution empowering a Company Officer to Open the Account
• Details of the expected Annual Turnover
• Details of the first transaction amount coming to account
• Details of 3 Suppliers/ 3 Buyers
• Passport Copies for Shareholders and Authorized Signatories
• Any other documents that the bank may ask for (Company Memorandum & Articles of Association, etc.)

It is to be noted that all local banks are required to maintain the minimum monthly average balance and each bank has several categories of the minimum monthly average balance. As discussed above, it is advisable to form an onshore company in UAE to be able to obtain a corporate Bank account with smooth compliance. This blog is written by Ms. Nirmala , Business Advisor at Flyingcolour Business Setup, VAT and Accounting Services, Dubai. With more than 15 years of experience and wide reach in the market, Flyingcolour can assist foreign investors to incorporate onshore companies and open bank accounts.If you have any query related to it then feel free to call +971 4 4542366 today for a quality consultation or please send inquiry to info[at]flyingcolour[dot]com.