Opening a bank account in Dubai for the companies who are located outside of Dubai is not a hefty process anymore. The economic and financial stability of United Arab Emirates is due to its highly regulated banking sector. UAE banks are well known for providing a high level of customer support and compliance with modern banking requirements. However, there are certain conditions which have to be met before you can open a bank account in Dubai. Firstly, if an individual is the owner or part of an onshore or an offshore company then he has the option to open a corporate account for banking transactions of his company. If a person is resident or non-resident, then he has the option to open a private bank account.

For offshore banking, there are not many restrictions placed by UAE financial Institutions. There are many advantages for an offshore bank account in Dubai as compared to other countries. These advantages include,

Complete privacy of client’s information. No client information is disclosed by the bank.

Complete tax exemption. Dubai offers zero tax charges for offshore companies. Every client has his own needs to set an offshore account whether be it to attain secrecy or for conducting international business or obtaining access to those facilities given by foreign bank that are not available locally. Tax optimization is one of the benefits.

The main requirements to open an offshore bank account are;

Presence of company shareholder in the application process is required for the creation of an offshore account. If this cannot be possible then there are two ways, either a representative of a bank will meet a client in his native country or the client will visit the bank’s foreign branch in another country for personal identity confirmation.

Following documents will be required by the bank if you want to start offshore banking,

• Shareholder’s passport copy with the stamp of entry in the United Arab Emirates.

• Copy of main pages of MD passport, in case he/she is not a shareholder.

Company License

Some banks may also require additional documents such as CV of a shareholder, existing contracts, reference letter from business partners, business plan, Memorandum and Articles, the disclosure of the source of funds, Company structure tree diagram on Company Letterhead, Certificate of good standing etc. If the account is to be opened in a Shareholder’s Company name, then the shareholding company’s documents notarized by court and MOFA are also required.

For offshore accounts, it should be considered that banks have “know your customer” policy that is to identify individual creating an account and if necessary to identify beneficial owner. The Central bank has directed the banks to perform its client’s due diligence procedures for offshore accounts. This is why banks will further collect information regarding client’s primary business area, a total number of deposits, revenues, main suppliers, customers etc. Banks adhere to strict and international rules and regulations to identify money of criminal origin.

The opening of an offshore account is guaranteed if you have a correctly filled application form and provided all the documents that were required by the bank.

The process of opening an account may take from few days to three weeks usually but for offshore accounts, it may take more time due to bank’s financial compliance and management approval.

The fees will be competitive and interest rates will be high.

Bank account holders have the option to utilize online banking. This is beneficial for those who cannot go to the bank for every single transaction.

The process of opening an offshore bank account in Dubai varies from bank to bank. This is because each bank has its own policies and requirements that you will have to cater to. If you are an entrepreneur looking to set up a new business in Dubai, a process of creation of an offshore account can be complex and time-consuming.