Banking

[Sabi]

Having Incorporated my business in the Uk, and having been living in the middle east for a number of years. I am facing difficulties deciding as to how to open a business bank account. At present i am using my personal account which is outside the Uk. My problem is to open a business bank account here i need to apostille my company documents in the Uk. And due to the fact that i have not been resident in the Uk ie i dont have a permanant address except for my parents address where i have mail delivered to, i can not provide a Uk bank with a Uk address (unless my parents address will comply with the banks stipulations) Any advice as to how i should approach this problem would be gratefully recieved.

Regards Sabi

[dagr]

I'm not sure I understood your situation. To have a UK company, you must have a Registered address for the company. Is that your parent's address? If so, then that is all the bank needs.

However, it is very probable that your bank manager will want to see you in person, along with your company's statutes.

If you don't want your parents "bothered" by your company's mail, etc, then I suggest you use a factor service company like Tina Upton's here on the forum.

David.

[Sabi]

At present my company is registered with one of these style companies.They say they can set me up with a bank account but for a fee. however i dont understand how they can provide me with a bank account without me being in the country and i cant do this personally.Would it be in my companys interest to have all my documents apostilled and open an account abroad, which leads to how would i inform the necessary government agencys of my accounts.

[acf]

If your company is registered in UK with a valid UK registered office address -- no matter even if it is the address of your parents in UK -- then there should not be any problem for you to open your business account in UK. What you need to do is take the Certificate of Incorporation to the bank and bring Secretary of the company along as well and get your business bank opened. The bank normally can give you the account number at the same time, if your application is approved, followed by necessary documents say after couple of days. I would not advise you to waste your money by giving it to someone else for opening the account. You can use that money on your airticket to come to UK for a day or so.

[Sabi]

Thank you for your advice, however if i return to the UK will the bank want to see details of a british personel account which has been inactive for a number of years, or will statements from my foriegn account, providing they can translate them suffice. i sometimes get the feeling i am trapped in one of these catch 22 situations.

Regards
Sabi

[dagr]

My bank didn't care a hoot whether I had a personal bank account or not. Their primary concern (paranoia?) is money laundering. After that, they'll want to know what services you want from them and the type of business you are running (take along sales brochures, etc).

David.