EMI with a bank account for a foreign owned UK company / non resident of UK

[smartcard]

Hi guys,

Can you please give me options to get a free business Bank Account for a foreign owned UK company that can be opened online, without being in the UK and, of course, without being a resident.

 

[boy20hki]

Check this out

 

[Forester]

It was discussed here several times, IIRC; try to search.

Just briefly
– with a‌ traditional UK bank zero chances (for an already established company)
– you can try some‍ of (a lot) UK EMIs, as e.g. Multipass, Wamo, MoneyNetInt, ...
– Moneycorp Bank (moneycorpbank.com)⁠ also worth checking
– Currenxie and/or Statrys (HK) can be your option, too
– you⁤ can try some of (a lot) Lithuanian EMIs, as e.g. Verifo or Paysera

Disclaimer: I⁣ do not say that all the abovementioned institutions offer a free business account; some yes⁢ and the others have quite reasonable pricing.

 

[smartcard]

Thanks for the list.

Is it easy to open a business account for a foreign‌ owned UK company & a non resident of UK with...
Monzo
Tide
Starlingbank

 

[boy20hki]

I am not familiar with UK at all but you can check those three highlighted.‌ Try to send email and ask them if they allow you.
I have EU sole‍ trader + US LLC so I am only familiar with only those 2 jurisdiction, not⁠ UK

Also as he said here there are some more options, you should try those⁤ EMI classified as Global aka they open to many people not just only EU/UK residents⁣
some more options

 

[Forester]

Just out of curiosity, the images you⁢ have posted
https://www.offshorecorptalk.com/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FAajCQLS.png&hash=ff68903fae5a8ea4b8c27610da955f63

https://www.offshorecorptalk.com/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FSCuo5id.png&hash=33fb05ab83823f469b72b5d0c109b31a

are apparently screenshots of some EMI/neobanks directory, what is the source?︀ It does not look familiar to me, I must admit.

Just to add: FWIW, a︁ quite good (but incomplete!) list of EMIs/neobanks available in the UK you can find here︂ Neobanks in the United Kingdom in 2020 | NeoBanks.app...

 

[boy20hki]

thank you, you drop quite many useful resources...⁣ pro guy here 😀
yes there are so many EMIs so whatever we know is like⁢ a drop in ocean
they are literally in my Safari bookmark, I do some research︀ from various sites and also here and take note along the way. I prefer do︁ my own private compilation and check stuff myself...

 

[boy20hki]

Also to⁠ be honest, you should try sign up for all of those UK EMI. I have⁤ found that even though some EMI may say "UK/EEA residence/ID" is needed, you can find⁣ sometimes they just need you to show/upload your company incorporation certificate in EU/UK + your⁢ local non-EU/UK passport. Sometimes local utility bill can also be used instead of residence permit/ID︀ and utility bill (pdf) is not difficult to fake. So definitely try and see.

You can even show the difficult EMIs screenshots of other UK/Global EMI accounts dashboard you have︁ successfully signed up with and say: These are reputed EMI and have accepted my application,︂ if your requirements are too strict, I will go with them. This method helped me︃ got through with Pleo.io which demands some doc I do not have.

Wallester serves both︄ EEA & UK so check it out as well

 

[Parsu]

I am a owner of company in UK as a non resident too. You can‌ try Tide, Payoneer or Lloyds maybe. But I’m a personal account holder in Lloyds as‍ well.

 

[AstroMan]

The only EMIs that accepted my application for my UK Ltd company where I am‌ the sole director and a non-UK resident with no utility bill or proof of address‍ was Zen.com and Currenxie. The first (Zen) has a trial for 1 month and then⁠ it is 10 Euros per month while the second (Currenxie) is free meaning they are⁤ making their fees through the transactions. Both offer multi-currency accounts.

Verto rejected me, as well⁣ as Wise and Revolut.

I think that Wamo would also work but I didn't like⁢ the name (personal weirdness) and they also had a setup fee of 100 Euros, 10︀ Euros for the debit card and a monthly fee of 20 Euros for their "starter︁ plan" (their "grow" plan costs 50 Euros per month with free setup and debit card).︂

Worst of all was Bankera that asked for a 450 Euro fee to just "review"︃ my application, meaning that if it failed to pass, they would pocket the fee.

 

[Forester]

You are welcome 🙂
Creditable.
I presume, you are aware of the site https://thebanks.eu/. The directories there are at⁣ least very close to being complete. (Differently from The list of neobanks and digital banks⁢ in the world in 2022 | NeoBanks.app it is organised by country of registration, not︀ by country of availability and it covers Europe only.)
🙂 🙂 Thumbs up. A︅ good method 😉