Question Recommended EMI to choose as business account Estonia company?

[Jocus]

My friend is moving to Estonia where he will get residence and set up an Estonian company for eCommerce.

Which EMI(s) would you recommend for business account? Must be working with payouts from Stripe . Firsthand experience preferred, if you have it

Thanks!

 

[Sols]

If your friend going to be living in Estonia and running a regular ecommerce business, why not go with any of the banks? It's usually quite easy to open a business account with SEB, Swedbank, LHV, and Luminor if you have local presence.

If they want an EMI, Wise is often a good choice. Works fine with PSP settlements.

 

[Gediminas]

Check out Bankera as well. It's a business-oriented EMI with one of the best pricing on the market. They also give debit cards.

 

[Jocus]

If your friend going to be living in Estonia and running a regular ecommerce business, why not go with any of the banks? It's usually quite easy to open a business account with SEB, Swedbank, LHV, and Luminor if you have local presence.

Thanks for the initial inputs!

I'm only quoting here: According to advice from person who has lived in Estonia for the past 16 years, it's not so easy to open bank accounts anymore, the AML/KYC is way too complicated and timeconsuming.

Bankera sounds interesting - including the debit card option. Would it work with Stripe? And via Bankera pay for the whole operation, bills etc. ?

 

[Gediminas]

Bankera sounds interesting - including the debit card option. Would it work with Stripe? And via Bankera pay for the whole operation, bills etc. ?

Yes it works with Stripe. It's like any regular bank account.

 

[Sols]

Check out Bankera as well. It's a business-oriented EMI with one of the best pricing on the market. They also give debit cards.

Ecommerce is considered high-risk by Bankera (according to their website) so they would be looking at 450 EUR application fee and 50 EUR/month.

Regular outgoing SEPA with SEB, Swedbank, and Luminor is just a few cents, compared to 2-200 EUR with Bankera for high risk businesses. At a glance, SWIFT looks cheaper as well.

I'm only quoting here: According to advice from person who has lived in Estonia for the past 16 years, it's not so easy to open bank accounts anymore, the AML/KYC is way too complicated and timeconsuming.

It won't be any different than most EMIs. They all operate under the same AML/KYC regulations.

The main advantage EMIs have is they tend to make it easier to open accounts remotely. But for a local business, a local bank account is almost always a good choice. You can have EMIs as backups or redundancy, though.

 

[Gediminas]

Ecommerce is considered high-risk by Bankera

Not all e-commerce businesses are considered high-risk. It's case dependant.

 

[Sols]

Not all e-commerce businesses are considered high-risk. It's case dependant.

That makes a lot of sense. They would do well to clarify that on their website, though.

The cost aspect becomes more attractive under the low-risk model.

 

[Edge]

Transferwise obviously ...
But if he is moving to Estonia, LHV (regular bank) is a good choice.
Make sure to check that your accountant in Estonia is qualified for e-commerce (ask them), many of the services popping up in Estonia only offer services for digital products ..

Also (off topic), I feel like in the forum, if someone is affiliated with a certain company they should disclose that and not present their posts like regular advice .. some do and some don't ...