EU Company need a UAE Bank account

[1van]

Greetings!

The question is as follows :
The company is registered in the EU and has been doing business for a very long time. The activity is the production of food products.

I want to know if it is possible to open a corporate account in UAE without opening an additional company in UAE?

Can you suggest the name of banks if available?

Thank you!

 

[Sols]

It's possible but not for everyone. If you have history with a local bank that's also present in UAE, speak with your account manager at the bank and see what they can do.

What do you need the account for?

 

[clemens]

What @Sols suggest I agree.

Otherwise have a chat with @Fred or @Gediminas both are good in banking in Dubai!

 

[Fred]

It's possible but not for everyone. If you have history with a local bank that's also present in UAE, speak with your account manager at the bank and see what they can do.

What do you need the account for?

Correct.

We have a client holding 7 figures with a major Bank in a Private Banking Account - has the FZCO Business Account with them and they did offer him to open for his HK and CY Company as well.

 

[clemens]

Correct.

We have a client holding 7 figures with a major Bank in a Private Banking Account - has the FZCO Business Account with them and they did offer him to open for his HK and CY Company as well.

When did he opened the account with this bank? I mean that's more than a year or so right ?

 

[1van]

It's possible but not for everyone. If you have history with a local bank that's also present in UAE, speak with your account manager at the bank and see what they can do.

What do you need the account for?

Account is needed for SWIFT payments to Belarus - non sanctioned bank / non sanction products.

 

[Sols]

OK, so you don't necessarily need UAE, just a way to send money to/from Belarus.

Speak with Raiffeisen International in Austria, if you don't have a Raiffeisen in your country. They have a subsidiary in Belarus (Priorbank) that's still active and is used by companies in a similar situation. It won't be easy. The paperwork will be immense and transactions will take a long time to clear, but it's one of the best channels available to EU companies at the moment.

You can also try Collect & Pay in Kazakhstan, which is a fintech/neo bank in Kazakhstan that has good correspondent connections in the CIS region.

 

[1van]

OK, so you don't necessarily need UAE, just a way to send money to/from Belarus.

Speak with Raiffeisen International in Austria, if you don't have a Raiffeisen in your country. They have a subsidiary in Belarus (Priorbank) that's still active and is used by companies in a similar situation. It won't be easy. The paperwork will be immense and transactions will take a long time to clear, but it's one of the best channels available to EU companies at the moment.

You can also try Collect & Pay in Kazakhstan, which is a fintech/neo bank in Kazakhstan that has good correspondent connections in the CIS region.

Thank you for advise. Will try it out. I was thinking of UAE cause I will be traveling there next week.

Tried to reach Collect & Pay - no response from them. Are they active?

 

[Don]

OK, so you don't necessarily need UAE, just a way to send money to/from Belarus.

Speak with Raiffeisen International in Austria, if you don't have a Raiffeisen in your country. They have a subsidiary in Belarus (Priorbank) that's still active and is used by companies in a similar situation. It won't be easy. The paperwork will be immense and transactions will take a long time to clear, but it's one of the best channels available to EU companies at the moment.

You can also try Collect & Pay in Kazakhstan, which is a fintech/neo bank in Kazakhstan that has good correspondent connections in the CIS region.

I will save you guys time with Raiffeisen:

This is the message I received few months ago:
"...thank you for your interest in RBI and your message to Mr. Xxx regarding a business relationship with RBI AG.

Our company sees itself as a partner of the top 1000 companies in Austria and for international groups with an annual turnover of approx. EUR 1 billion or more.

In addition to the size RBI-customers have a residence in Europe with a very close tie (subsidiaries) in CEE.

Even for these companies we do not offer pure trade finance services, but require extensive business opportunities for true relationship banking."


Collect & Pay can work, but its not really comparable to European EMI-s.

 

[Sols]

Tried to reach Collect & Pay - no response from them. Are they active?

I don't engage with them day to day, but they were active as of a couple of months ago at least.

If all else fails, crypto usually works well in Belarus.

I will save you guys time with Raiffeisen:

This is the message I received few months ago:
"...thank you for your interest in RBI and your message to Mr. Xxx regarding a business relationship with RBI AG.

Our company sees itself as a partner of the top 1000 companies in Austria and for international groups with an annual turnover of approx. EUR 1 billion or more.

In addition to the size RBI-customers have a residence in Europe with a very close tie (subsidiaries) in CEE.

Even for these companies we do not offer pure trade finance services, but require extensive business opportunities for true relationship banking."

From my dealings with RBI, you do not need to be at one billion EUR/year turnover to open an account with RBI. Their main onboarding criteria is that the company is trading (no startups) with some meaningful turnover and connection to CEE. They also expect you'll the majority of your banking with them. If it's just a small portion of a medium sized business, it won't interest them.

But they might be inundated with applicants now, since they hold a unique and valuable position on the market. The businesses I know that bank with RBI predate the most recent wave of sanctions.

 

[Fred]

I can confirm at least that transacting with Belarus works with all major UAE Banks and the bottom line is a delay due to Correpondence Bank Questions but the money get cleared 100%.

 

[Don]

I can confirm at least that transacting with Belarus works with all major UAE Banks and the bottom line is a delay due to Correpondence Bank Questions but the money get cleared 100%.

There is also 3s money EMI, which works, but the fees are quite big. For transfering EUR 3M per year the fees would be EUR 100k+. Based on that alone I believe it might start making sense to set up some structure in UAE.

There is also 3s money EMI, which works, but the fees are quite big. For transfering EUR 3M per year the fees would be EUR 100k+. Based on that alone I believe it might start making sense to set up some structure in UAE.

You can also try Serbia, Turkey or Montenegro banks.

 

[1van]

Thank you all for your replies.

Will contact RBI and UAE banks now. Will share info I get from them.

 

[Fred]

There is also 3s money EMI, which works, but the fees are quite big. For transfering EUR 3M per year the fees would be EUR 100k+. Based on that alone I believe it might start making sense to set up some structure in UAE.

3S Money pushed too much USD through Clearbank to Russia last year - now they have for USD clearing only Banking Cirlce left and they have a super low risk appetite.

Don't believe in they can send funds to Belarus either.