Business

How to open a business bank account

Learn what you need to open a business account, which bank to choose, and what documents to provide.

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A business account is necessary for an entrepreneur to conduct transactions and deposit authorized capital before registering a company. For example, the presence of authorized capital in the account is a prerequisite for the creation of companies such as SARL and SA.

Who needs to open a business bank account in Luxembourg

All entrepreneurs, regardless of the organizational and legal form of the business, including self-employed or sole proprietors. In their case, however, the procedure for opening a corporate account is not much different from the procedure for opening a personal account.

The difference is that you must provide the name of the company or individual entrepreneur. And although a sole proprietorship does not require authorized capital, it does require a business account.

For SARLS, SA and other companies, the following are usually required:

Company registration details, including the number issued by the national company registry,
Constituent documents (apostilled, notarized copies),
Directors' data, copies of their identity cards,
Information on the beneficiary — natural or legal person. In the case of the latter, the incorporation documents with a natural person as the ultimate owner are also required,
Description of the main activity,
Official confirmation of the origin of the company's funds to be used as authorized capital,
Projected annual account turnover
Bank application form,
Copies of the identity cards of the beneficial owners.

What is KYC

Luxembourg banks follow the KYC procedure — "Know Your Customer". They have the right to request any additional information and documentation in order to open an account. This may include information about the main counterparties and examples of contracts with them, planned regions of operation, etc.

How to choose the right bank?

It should be noted that there are many banks in Luxembourg and therefore many banking products. The conditions for opening business accounts vary and depend on a number of factors: size and type of business, personality of the founder, etc.

Banks may also offer special accounts for aspiring entrepreneurs, small businesses, and startups. To understand which one is best for you, you will need to negotiate with several financial institutions.

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The most important questions to ask yourself are

What types of businesses does the bank serve?
Can they offer special terms for your type of business?
In which currency are transactions made, with which countries, and how quickly?
What are the terms of account maintenance?

In general, the rates of local banks are higher for companies than for individual entrepreneurs. However, the cost and other terms of service must be clarified with a specific financial institution.

What do you need to open a business bank account

Any entrepreneur registering a company with capital must deposit the minimum shared capital in a bank account before signing the Articles of Association.

This means that by the time the authorised capital is deposited, all documents must be received. All document procedures can take a long time, on average about 3 weeks.

Here are the documents you will need to provide

A certificate confirming the company name

Permission to conduct business from government

Draft of the articles of association or statues signed

Personal documents requested by the bank

Once all the previous steps have been completed, this is the procedure to follow

The entrepreneur brings to the bank all the necessary documents and, of course, the draft articles of association.
On the basis of the draft articles of association, the bank opens an account that remains blocked for all transactions until the company is incorporated. The shared capital will be deposited into this account. The bank will issue a certificate stating that the funds are frozen until the company is fully incorporated.
This certificate is given to the notary and serves as confirmation of the payment of the authorised shared capital of the company.
When a company is officially registered, the notary issues a certificate of unfreezing of funds (certificat de déblocage) to the entrepreneur.
The entrepreneur submits this certificate to the bank together with the final version of the articles of association and any additional documents requested by the bank.
The bank will then unfreeze the funds and make them available to the company.

Where can you get a consultation?

Directly from the banks you want to work with.
At the Luxembourg Chamber of Notaries: 53, boulevard Joseph II, L-1840. Telephone: (+352) 44 70 21.
At the House of Entrepreneurship on weekdays from 8:30 to 12:00 and from 13:00 to 17:00. Address: 14, rue Erasmus, L-1468. Telephone: (+352) 42 39 39 - 330.
At the Chamber of Commerce in the Contact Entreprise team by e-mail contact@cdm.lu.

If you do not speak English or one of the three official languages of Luxembourg, it is recommended that you seek the assistance of an interpreter. You can also issue a general power of attorney to reduce bureaucracy, but this does not mean that you do not need to come to the bank in person.

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