Business Account for U.A.E. resident in Dubai

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eminem24

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Hello, I am an German citizen and since 3 years resident in UAE.
I have a free zone company in Dubai (DMCC) and my Bank did cancel my Business Account after 3 years without any reason.
I did try to open a new bank Account here in U.A.E. but all banks declined because my main business is to trade with gold bars.
I did try also Bank Frick & Co. and CIM Banque but they also declined.

Iam so confused now and hope somebody can help me.

I need only a USD Account to receive payments from UAE Companies and transfer USD to Europe.
 
eminem24 said:
eminem24 said:
Hello, I am an German citizen and since 3 years resident in UAE.
I have a free zone company in Dubai (DMCC) and my Bank did cancel my Business Account after 3 years without any reason.
I did try to open a new bank Account here in U.A.E. but all banks declined because my main business is to trade with gold bars.
I did try also Bank Frick & Co. and CIM Banque but they also declined.

Iam so confused now and hope somebody can help me.

I need only a USD Account to receive payments from UAE Companies and transfer USD to Europe.
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@Martin Everson Look at this!
 
clemens said:
clemens said:
Why USD if you transfer to Europe? What is the problem that your main business is trading with Gold, I mean, what is the reason they gave you to decline your application?
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In the wholesale of gold business we trade (buy and sell) only in USD.
One relationship manager from ADIP Bank told me that they had before customers that bought gold from illegal gold mines in Africa or import gold from countries like syria or iran. I think that is the reason why the banks are scared to open account for companies in this kind of business.
 
In general, but especially in the UAE, Swissquote (SQ) is referred to as a 'trading-only' bank. They will emphasize this point if you care to meet them in their offices opposite the Dubai Mall. In the same building you'll also find other broker-banks like Saxo Bank and GFK (this is purely a middle-eastern broker) and even some others, but I'll save you the trouble with this spoiler: they don't accept passive or "pass-through" accounts anymore, only active trading accounts. They'll even discourage you of getting a plastic card (should they offer one, like SQ), unless it is to cash in/out money for the trading account...they will even go on as to say that for normal bank purposes, they are rather 'expensive'...🙄.

The truth of the matter is they have strict orders from the HQ to only get active clients on board...and I mean even from the trading side of the business (at the end of the day, they make money (if they aren't bloody market makers) from the bid/ask mark-up (which is next to nothing these days (I remember the 5/6 pips bid/ask spread on EUR/USD, lmfao...those were the days😱), hence they must compensate via volume. Further, as a Islamic country, the UAE may be prone to arbitrageurs keen on playing with interest rates with very low trading activity on their accounts, something they made very clear to me they would take care of swiftly should I even dare to think aboutnai¤%. I think I look better in person, but honestly they saw right through my disguise I guessca#"! lol...

Anyway @BlueMist is the optimist of the bunch here when it comes to UAE matters, I'm not. I'll be able to help OP "live" in a few weeks, but not now, so by the time I'm able to I'll see if he still needs my help, for I know a sure way for him to get things done, but as I said, can't do it today...best of luck in the meantime, hope you can get it done soon enough.
 
eminem24 said:
eminem24 said:
In the wholesale of gold business we trade (buy and sell) only in USD.
One relationship manager from ADIP Bank told me that they had before customers that bought gold from illegal gold mines in Africa or import gold from countries like syria or iran. I think that is the reason why the banks are scared to open account for companies in this kind of business.
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Ahh no I understand 🙂 Stupid question, but would it be possible to get some engagement letter or similar from the sellers you buy from if they are legit operations? In that way it should satisfy the banks or maybe not.

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One of my favorit articles in Mentor Group ~ Sending money anonymously archieve Financial Anonymity
 
eminem24 said:
eminem24 said:
Yeah you are right but it looks like a trading account
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Generally speaking it is. But in UAE you can hear SQ advertising their services in the radio as: "your personal offshore Swiss bank account". There is nothing about trading activity requirement. There were also reports by people using it without trading at all. Not sure about corporate banking requirements.
 
eminem24 said:
eminem24 said:
Hello, I am an German citizen and since 3 years resident in UAE.
I have a free zone company in Dubai (DMCC) and my Bank did cancel my Business Account after 3 years without any reason.
I did try to open a new bank Account here in U.A.E. but all banks declined because my main business is to trade with gold bars.
I did try also Bank Frick & Co. and CIM Banque but they also declined.

Iam so confused now and hope somebody can help me.
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Gold business is considered high risk by most banks in Europe and is also on the banned/restricted activity list of most banks now if you check. Seems that logic has spread to UAE banks and beyond. The last thing governments want is people opting of the system by buying physical gold. They label it with BS excuse of money laundering.

See what I wrote below two weeks ago below:

Martin Everson said:
Martin Everson said:
That's very true - buying physical gold I think I mentioned before somewhere is going to be seen as a potential money laundering event in Europe sooner rather than later. Banks already list companies dealing in precious metals as a high risk activity so chances are buying and personally holding the physical metal will also be viewed in such a light also.
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I don't know what to suggest for physical gold sellers with an offshore company 😕.

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Please note my posts should not be taken as financial or tax advice. Please seek professional advice in that respect.
 
Have you tried banks in Singapore? It helps if you can get a client or two there
 
I'm not sure SQ will open a corporate account but you can open a personal account and use it without trading or investing. I am exactly using my account like this(6 figures) and didn't face any problem yet. If they make a problem then I will transfer to another account, no big deal.

@Outlander
Did you open an account for your UAE company at OCBC?
 
rowena said:
rowena said:
I'm not sure SQ will open a corporate account but you can open a personal account and use it without trading or investing. I am exactly using my account like this(6 figures) and didn't face any problem yet. If they make a problem then I will transfer to another account, no big deal.

@Outlander
Did you open an account for your UAE company at OCBC?
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Not UAE, it was BVI, classic tax haven

Personal accounts are easy, you just need a $300k deposit.
 
Outlander said:
Outlander said:
Not UAE, it was BVI, classic tax haven

Personal accounts are easy, you just need a $300k deposit.
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Was it long time ago? Do you have nominee shareholders?

I personally prefer DBS, especially that from personal accounts it is free to send transfers anywhere, e.g. EUR to Europe and beneficiary gets money in full. They are the only bank having such solution in place. All other banks including OCBC have hefty charges in place for international transfers, the only thing that change is a discount e.g. 50% on some fees if you are OCBC Premier etc.
 
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