Corporate Bank Account Opening & Ongoing Banking Support

In recent years, increasingly stringent AML, compliance, KYC and beneficial ownership requirements have made opening and maintaining a corporate bank account significantly more challenging – even for legitimate, transparent and properly structured businesses.

Banks are subject to extensive regulatory obligations and; therefore, conduct increasingly detailed due diligence before establishing or maintaining a business relationship. As a result, companies may face lengthy procedures, extensive documentation requests, additional compliance checks and ongoing communication with their bank.

For our clients, we provide comprehensive legal assistance throughout the corporate bank account opening process, acting as their legal representative and coordinating the process with the relevant bank(s).

We assist our clients with all aspects of their corporate banking relationships, including:

• Preliminary assessment of the company and its banking requirements
• Identification of potential compliance or KYC issues before approaching the bank
• Contacting and communicating with suitable banks
• Submitting the necessary information and documentation to the bank
• Coordinating the bank’s due diligence and compliance procedures
• Ongoing communication with the bank’s relationship manager and/or compliance department
• Assistance with additional questions and documentation requests
• Legal support in connection with the bank’s KYC/AML procedures
• Monitoring the progress of the application until the account is successfully opened
• Providing legal explanations concerning the company’s activities and transactions
• Assisting with source-of-funds and source-of-wealth documentation
• Supporting periodic KYC and compliance reviews
• Assisting with changes in shareholders, directors, beneficial owners, business activities or corporate structure
• Supporting the opening of additional accounts or requestion additional banking services
• Assisting with payment-related inquiries and transaction reviews
• Handling other ad hoc requests arising during the company’s banking relationship(s)

Our objective is to make the account opening and ongoing banking processes as efficient and transparent as possible, while ensuring that the company is properly prepared to meet the bank’s regulatory and compliance requirements.