Where to register for fintech business? Gibraltar, Cyprus or other?

[Dr Offshore]

Hello all,
New here apologies if this isn’t the correct thread.

So I’m looking to start a fintech company which will be provide an online marketplace for customers similar to your eBay, Amazon, Vinted etc

Someone suggested to register the business in Gibraltar as its zero vat as well as having low corporation tax. This way we can pass the benefits to customers by keeping fees to a minimum and encourage the platform to grow.

I’ve also read UAE, Lithuania and Cyprus are good options?

The plan is to launch in UK/Europe and expand to US, Canada, Middle east, Asia (Japan, Australia, Singapore etc)

What would be the most sensible country to register in and why?

What bank and payment providers are you using and recommend?

As we want to expand would be better to have a holding company in Cyprus for all these expansions?

What would be most ideal structure?

Sorry for all the questions I’m just trying to get my head around it and keep costs to a minimum by doing it properly from the start.

Business will be 100% legitimate nothing shady.

 

[Sols]

If you hold money on behalf of sellers (i.e. buyers pay you and then you pay the buyer), what you're offering is a financial service in EU/EEA and UK. So if you operate from EU/EEA or UK, you need to get a Payment Institution or E-Money Institution license, or work with one of the few PSPs that offer marketplace type solutions:
https://www.adyen.com/platform-paymentshttps://stripe.com/connect
Hire a good lawyer to help you. I see you're already veering into dangerously incorrect territory by thinking going for Gibraltar to get zero VAT would work.

 

[wellington]

Just avoid the US, the revenues will be in constant decline and the regulatory headwinds always in the favour of existing established enterprises, as the country is in a terminal state, the EU sure is likewise in such, concentrate on Asia, and get Asian business/licenses.

 

[daniels27]

I think Mangopay may be able to help out as well.

 

[Ancova]

You can set it up easily in the UAE. The activity is called "portal".

Description: Includes firms operating websites that act as portals to the internet, via PCs and digital devices, to link buyers and sellers as well as services providers and users together to make deals, it also involves listing sellers’ products as well as hotel rates to make consumers shop online and travelers to make hotel reservations, the role of such firms is restricted to brokerage only apart from finalizing the transactions between said parties.

 

[Sols]

You can set it up easily in the UAE. The activity is called "portal".

Description: Includes firms operating websites that act as portals to the internet, via PCs and digital devices, to link buyers and sellers as well as services providers and users together to make deals, it also involves listing sellers’ products as well as hotel rates to make consumers shop online and travelers to make hotel reservations, the role of such firms is restricted to brokerage only apart from finalizing the transactions between said parties.

Agreed. Much easier to place this in UAE than in EU/EEA, especially if EU/EEA isn't a key market and you can afford to take some higher costs moving money in/out of that region.

But make it genuinely domiciled in UAE. Not just on paper. Obtain UAE residence, pay the 9% CIT if applicable, work with local banks.

You may run into problems managing payments to/from EU/EEA due to the current gray listing of UAE. Forming a subsidiary in EU to act as a payment agent can in many cases help get around this probem.

 

[Dr Offshore]

Just avoid the US, the revenues will be in constant decline and the regulatory headwinds always in the favour of existing established enterprises, as the country is in a terminal state, the EU sure is likewise in such, concentrate on Asia, and get Asian business/licenses.

That would be our biggest market, would be shame not to explore and expand there.

It’s a C2C platform, I’ve been advice to open in Hong Kong and operate from there

 

[avalanche]

That would be our biggest market, would be shame not to explore and expand there.

It’s a C2C platform, I’ve been advice to open in Hong Kong and operate from there

I'm in a similar situation now and looking for options aside from using Stripe Connect.. Why not Singapore? Have you checked it?

 

[Ancova]

In both cases above, I recommend UAE

 

[avalanche]

In both cases above, I recommend UAE

Won't it cut us out of good payment processing and banking options?

 

[Ancova]

Won't it cut us out of good payment processing and banking options?

We are having many clients that set up here and wire transfers from international to local banks works without any issues.

 

[avalanche]

We are having many clients that set up here and wire transfers from international to local banks works without any issues.

Ok but the startup cost is still too high for my case... For $5k+ I could run a significant marketing campaign but here it would be just to set things up, not including the separate costs of opening bank accounts etc

 

[Marzio]

The plan is to launch in UK/Europe and expand to US, Canada, Middle east, Asia

Do you have some millions laying around to invest in marketing?

Launching a marketplace is a massive endeavour, you need to acquire both sellers and buyers.

Thinking about launching a project like that in UK / EU when even startups like Uber launched only in US and only in S.Francisco in the very early days is naive at best.

Pick a very specific location where you could make an impact, generate some PR and go from there.

 

[Dr Offshore]

I'm in a similar situation now and looking for options aside from using Stripe Connect.. Why not Singapore? Have you checked it?

Not really looked at Singapore in detail, I believe you’d need to have an office and set up properly. I think it’s Stripe or Mangopay as the only two options really

 

[avalanche]

Not really looked at Singapore in detail, I believe you’d need to have an office and set up properly. I think it’s Stripe or Mangopay as the only two options really

You might also want to take a look into New Zealand, I've seen a marketplace that operates from there.. and the prices dont look so high

 

[JackAlabama]

Hello all,
New here apologies if this isn’t the correct thread.

So I’m looking to start a fintech company which will be provide an online marketplace for customers similar to your eBay, Amazon, Vinted etc

Someone suggested to register the business in Gibraltar as its zero vat as well as having low corporation tax. This way we can pass the benefits to customers by keeping fees to a minimum and encourage the platform to grow.

I’ve also read UAE, Lithuania and Cyprus are good options?

The plan is to launch in UK/Europe and expand to US, Canada, Middle east, Asia (Japan, Australia, Singapore etc)

What would be the most sensible country to register in and why?

What bank and payment providers are you using and recommend?

As we want to expand would be better to have a holding company in Cyprus for all these expansions?

What would be most ideal structure?

Sorry for all the questions I’m just trying to get my head around it and keep costs to a minimum by doing it properly from the start.

Business will be 100% legitimate nothing shady.

Free consulting alpha (I ran a similar thing in the past) Go into your first target market (where your clients are) and offer the most popular payment solution they use.
uk/eu is not the same and needs 2 approaches.
Take it up from there.

Do you have some millions laying around to invest in marketing?

Launching a marketplace is a massive endeavour, you need to acquire both sellers and buyers.

Thinking about launching a project like that in UK / EU when even startups like Uber launched only in US and only in S.Francisco in the very early days is naive at best.

Pick a very specific location where you could make an impact, generate some PR and go from there.

Thats pretty solid advice.