01 / PRACTICAL PRODUCT DETAILS
Hong Kong Bank Account for an English Company
Hong Kong is convenient for a trading company, import, export and payments with Asian suppliers. The UK Ltd remains an English legal entity, while the bank account is used in the country where it is more convenient to receive and send money.
Did secret offshore companies in England always exist? In general — yes, this was possible. For example, if offshore companies in Panama have existed for almost 100 years since 1927, nothing prevented two Panamanian offshore companies from opening a company in England earlier, for example in the City of London, as an LP or LLP partnership, and obtaining a 100% British offshore structure as the result. Especially in those good old days when there was no internet, no public registers and everything was kept on paper. It simply attracted little attention and isolated cases, so to speak, went unnoticed. Now everything has changed. But offshore structures remain. Banks, however, require more work: accounts are no longer opened for clients from the street, or walking clients, as one says in English. The bank must be persuaded that the business intentions are proper and that there is no intention to optimise taxes. But the essence remains the same.
Standard Chartered Hong Kong has a separate account-opening checklist for companies incorporated in other countries or regions. The list includes a Certificate of Incorporation, Articles and other corporate documents, so a foreign incorporated company is treated as a standard separate client category.
If the business is divided between Europe and Asia, the company can keep a EUR/SEPA account in Europe and an HKD/USD company account in Hong Kong. There is no need to change the company for each banking geography.
If the company has Asian suppliers, request a company account in Hong Kong and a separate European account for EUR/SEPA.