Formally, to open a bank account in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates, two stages can be distinguished. Here the UAE does not differ significantly from any other country in the world.

OPENING A BANK ACCOUNT IN ONE OF THE UAE EMIRATES REQUIRES: 

1. Meeting with a banker; 
2. Providing a package of documents and passing the due diligence process.

HOW TO MEET A BANKER IN THE UAE

Competition in the banking sector of the United Arab Emirates is quite high. The Central Bank of the UAE publishes a list of foreign and local banks on its website. If we look only at commercial banks that are ready to serve the needs of the corporate sector, then today there are 28 foreign and 23 national banks in the country. In total, there are more than 1,000 branches of commercial banks in 7 Arab Emirates.

Therefore, the practice of meeting with bankers in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates is such that bankers themselves are happy to come to your meeting and do everything possible so you do not go to a competing bank or do not contact his colleague to recheck the conditions.

WHY IN MORE THAN 50% OF CASES, BANK REFUSES COMPANIES TO OPEN A BANK ACCOUNT IN DUBAI AND THE UAE? 

And here we go to the second step of opening a bank account in the UAE. It is at this stage that certain specifics of the banking sector that distinguish the UAE from other countries appear. It should be noted that the process of opening a bank account is perhaps the longest. For example, registration of a company in the UAE may take 2 business days. You will have a license for doing business in the United Arab Emirates or in one of the Free Economic Zones.

The next logical step will be obtaining a visa for the founders and employees of the company. The visa will take about 4 weeks, this includes a migration card, a residence permit, a medical test, insertion of a UAE visa into a passport, and the manufacture of Emirates ID.

As we all understand, obtaining a business license and visa are all preparatory actions for the most important part: opening a bank account and beginning to implement the commercial activities of your enterprise. Here the time frame can vary greatly. The fastest, and therefore the rarest case, is opening a bank account in 4 weeks. On average, opening an account will take a couple of months, if the company's documents are ready and there are no questions for them. During this time, the bank will check the founders and the company for a decision of a bank account opening.

In the practice of Garant Business Consultancy, there were cases when the procedure for opening an account for a company in the UAE took 6 months or more. Therefore, be extremely vigilant with those consultants who promise you to open a corporate account in Dubai and the UAE for a period of less than a couple of months.

If everything is relatively simple in the case of a personal bank account, then in the corporate sector it is necessary to go through a thorough check of the bank (compliance) and ensure that the requirements of the bank are met. What does this mean?

INFORMATION THAT IS ESPECIALLY CAREFULLY CHECKED BY BANKS IN THE UAE

1. The presence of citizens from countries included in the sanctions list of the bank;
2. Citizens from high-risk countries;
3. Company structure, especially for general trading enterprises (General Trading Entities);
4. Offshore company type;
5. Business-related to financial operations (exchange, transfer, cryptocurrency).

DOCUMENTS FOR OPENING BANK ACCOUNT IN DUBAI, UAE

Previously, we published a list of documents for opening an offshore account in the UAE bank. In this article, we will review the list of documents that will need to be prepared for opening a bank account for a company registered in one of the UAE free economic zones. You will need to provide:

1. UAE visa;
2. An extract from the bank account of the parent company and / or the personal account of the founder for the last six months;
3. Accounts that will be used as evidence for some of the transactions in the statement (3-5 accounts will be enough);
4. Letter of recommendation from the bank of the country of the founder;
5. Legal documents for a company in the UAE and identity cards of the owners.

HOW TO PASS THE CHECKS OF THE UAE BANKS

At Garant Business Consultancy, we encourage our customers to start at the end. Namely, prepare the business in such a way that it will maximally satisfy the expectations of the bans in the UAE. What does this mean in practice?

1. Use onshore companies to register a business in the UAE.
2. Have a physical office and staff in the UAE. In other words, incur real expenses.
3. Order a preliminary check of the package of documents for opening a bank account with consultants who work in the local market have a successful long-term practice.

These measures allow you to maximize the company's profile to the expectations of banks in the UAE. You can say that this path will be more expensive. In practice, we see that the costs of pre-verification of documents, the use of the onshore companies in the UAE, which are trusted by banks, evidence of the physical presence of business in the UAE avoid losses from 11,000 to 30,000 US dollars. This is exactly how much it costs to register a business in the UAE, obtaining a license and a visa for a company, which may later be refused to open a bank account in the UAE.

That is why we, at Garant Business Consultancy, help clients evaluate the costs and risks of each option, show the benefits, risks, and feasibility. And further, we determine the most cost-effective and successful option for registering an enterprise in the UAE.

If you have any questions and want to get a free consultation, please contact us. We will be happy to share our experience with you and protect the investment of your business in Dubai and the UAE.

MARSEL SHADMANOV

Head of Corporate Services of Garant Business Consultancy