Set up a company in Gibraltar and open a corporate account with a Seychellois bank – from 7,699 EUR

Those looking to establish a business company abroad will be well advised to take Gibraltar into consideration. This is a European jurisdiction with a special status that allows it to offer especially lucrative conditions to foreign investors. A corporate bank account in Seychelles will let you make and receive payments in US dollars if this is what you are planning to do.

The special status of Gibraltar

De jure, Gibraltar is an overseas territory of Great Britain. De facto, the jurisdiction is self-governed to a large degree. The unicameral Parliament passes all the internal legislation and the local Government regulates all domestic matters. At the same time, the issues of defense and international relations are taken off the Gibraltarian agenda as the British Government takes care of them.

Even though Gibraltar is officially part of Great Britain, it was granted individual EU membership in 1972. Thus, it will be reasonable to assume that Gibraltar will remain with the European Union even when Britain ‘exits’ it.

Registering a corporation in Gibraltar will bring all the benefits that a western European country can offer. However, some unpleasant aspects associated with EU jurisdictions are absent in Gibraltar. In particular, this is the only territory in Europe that does not levy the VAT. Besides, Gibraltar is not a member of the European Customs Union and so it does not have to make any contributions to the Union funds. In addition, Gibraltar is not obliged to follow the common European agricultural policy but this requirement slackening sounds more like a joke since agriculture is inexistent in Gibraltar due to its extremely small size (less than 3 sq. miles).

Probably the main factor that has made over 60,000 foreign companies establish residence in Gibraltar is the taxation system that is applied in the jurisdiction. Your Gibraltarian company will only have to pay taxes on the profits derived from business deals with local companies or individuals. All the income received from international business transactions is tax exempt in Gibraltar.

Below please find some other factors that should make you think seriously about registering a business company in this jurisdiction:

• Gibraltar is a reputable European jurisdiction;
• Your company will have access to the EU treaties and trade agreements;
• The British common law is applied there;
• The Gibraltarian asset protection legislation is very strong;
• Gibraltar has a modern economy and a developed infrastructure;
• English is the official language in Gibraltar even though the majority of the population also speaks Spanish.

Company incorporation in Gibraltar

It is possible to establish a non-resident corporation in Gibraltar. This would mean that all the corporation proprietors, directors, shareholders, and other beneficiaries can be foreign nationals. Registering a non-resident company in Gibraltar is quite straightforward. With our assistance, the whole process is going to take less than a week and it will be absolutely trouble-free for you. You will only have to send a few documents to us via e-mail and we will register the company for you in Gibraltar without you having to go there.

Your Gibraltarian company can have any form of ownership that you wish. It can also be of any size you wish – small, medium-size, or large. A single person can be its owner or a group of people. The company can be registered in the name of a private individual or a legal entity. You can choose the company proprietorship type that conforms to your business objectives best of all.

The economic substance requirements that your company will have to meet are not very strict in Gibraltar either. The corporation shall have a registered address that will be used for correspondence with all sorts of officials and it shall hire a local Secretary. Both a natural person and a qualified corporate entity can serve as the company Secretary.

In addition to company registration services, we provide company annual maintenance services as well. These include the rent of the company address, provision of the company Secretary, filing of financial reports and everything else that is needed to keep your company going in Gibraltar. The company maintenance fee will depend primarily upon the size of your corporation but we do not charge any extravagant sums for these services. We will gladly send you the pricelist if you request it by writing to [email protected].

Please note that financial reports and accounting records are not made public in Gibraltar. Besides, nominee services are available in this territory at an additional cost if you desire to enhance the confidentiality of the company owner(s).

One more nice feature of a Gibraltarian corporation is that its name can be in any language provided that Latin alphabet is used. (A translation into English is required should the name be in any other language.) The Registrar has a list of preapproved company names that you can choose from. You can also come up with a name of your own invention but then the company registration will cost more and the process will be prolonged.

Please write to us to the address given above and find out about the details of company registration in Gibraltar.

Corporate bank account in Seychelles

The island state of Seychelles is located in the western part of the Indian Ocean to the east of the African continent and to the north of Madagascar. It is the wealthiest nation in Africa: its GDP per capita is higher than the GDP of any other country in the region.

The two central advantages of establishing a corporate account in the Seychellois bank that we are promoting here are as follows:

• The possibility to make transactions in US dollars without any restrictions;
• The comparatively low cost of banking services in Seychelles.

Companies doing business outside the territory of the country are to pay no taxes whatsoever to the Seychellois national budget. All you will have to pay is a fixed annual duty whose amount is between US$ 100 and US$ 1,000 depending on the size of the company registered capital. The current fiscal legislation requires no other payments.  

The factor to be cautious about when opening a bank account in Seychelles is the application documents package. The bank officers can require any kind of documents in addition to the standard package. If they do not obtain a certain paper that they want, they may even deny service to the applicant. For this reason, we highly recommend that you take this matter seriously and listen to our experts’ advice when collecting the account opening application documents.

The benefits of setting up a bank account for your Gibraltarian company in Seychelles

You will certainly have heard that Seychelles is a “tax paradise” and one of the leading countries in the unofficial “tax free jurisdictions” rating. But the extremely low taxes (US$ 1,000 per year maximum) is not the only business advantage that the country has.

Other benefits that Seychelles offers include the following ones:

• An exceptionally high level of personal financial information confidentiality.
• No currency exchange control normal to many other countries.
• No set requirements to the company charter capital.
• Economic and political stability of the country.
• Low chance to face the double taxation problem (related agreements are signed with a large number of national states).
• Advanced infrastructure.
• Foreign ownership of capital is permitted.
• Seychellois banks have rather good international reputation.

Documents required for opening a corporate bank account in Seychelles

To minimize the risk of service denial please contact us via e-mail [email protected] and request our consultations. We will help you prepare all the necessary documents, then inspect them for conformity to the bank’s requirements and only after that will we initiate the account opening application procedure.

The bank does not explicitly require that the documents be notarized. However, just to be on the safe side, all the documents you are going to submit should certainly be legalized. You will also have to take care of providing English translations of all certificates, reports, bills, minutes, etc. that are written in a language other than English. (English is the official business language in Seychelles even though over 90% of the population speak Creole based on French.)

Documents required of company beneficiaries and document signers:

• An identification document that carries your photograph and your signature. The best idea would be to supply a copy of your foreign passport.
• An official piece of evidence that the applicant resides at a certain address. It can be a bank statement or a utility bill, for example. Please note that his document has to be not more than two months old.
• A bank account opening application form. We will supply the form to you so that you can fill it in. Please bear in mind that there you will have to indicate the reason why you have chosen this particular bank. (We will help you with providing this reason, do not worry!)

The required corporate documents:

• A standard package of corporate documents is required. Depending on the company ownership type, this may include the following documents: certificate of incorporation, company charter, memorandum and articles of association, shareholders’ appointment of company directors, certificate of good standing (if the company has been inexistence for over 12 months), etc.
• A detailed (not schematic!) description of the company business activities: the sphere or sector of business, partner countries and partner companies, proofs of the legality of the capital origin, and so on.
• Company website (especially if the company is involved in business connected with the Internet anyhow).

Attention! We highly recommend not holding back any information from the bank officers. Their inspection is going to be meticulous. Please discuss any doubtful moments with our experts in order to avoid possible service denial!

Conditions of the corporate account service that you will acquire after opening the account with the Seychellois bank

The bank we are presenting here offers remarkably attractive service conditions and it will certainly become your reliable business partner. The geographical location of your company is going to be welcomed by the bank administration without any doubt. This bank is subordinate to the Central Bank of Seychelles so there cannot possibly be any license issues with it.

You can open a multicurrency corporate account with this bank under the following conditions:

• Initial deposit/ minimum balance – USD 25,000 or the equivalent in another currency.
• Available account currencies: USD, EUR, and GBP.
• Incoming payments – free of charge.
• Transactions between accounts in the bank – free of charge.
• Monthly and quarterly bank statements – free of charge.
• Assistance from the clerks is available via the bank Portal, by phone, or by e-mail.
• You can link a Visa Debit Card to your account.
• Advanced online banking is available (called Net Banking with this bank).
• User-friendly and highly functional official website is available.

Service tariffs:

• Monthly commission (for any currency): USD 15.
• Money transfers of up to USD 500,000: USD 50 per transfer plus the correspondent commission.
• Money transfers above USD 500,000: USD 150 per transfer plus the correspondent commission.
• A money transfer within the jurisdiction: USD 15.
• Correspondent fee: USD 25.
• Payment monitoring with the SWIFT system: USD 60 for transaction confirmation and USD 25 for transaction cancellation.

Internet banking tariffs:

• Connection, account activation, subscription, internal transfers between your accounts – free of charge.
• Transfer to somebody else’s account with the same bank: USD 10.
• International money transfers with SWIFT: USD 50 per transfer.

You can also establish a fixed-term deposit with this bank. The term of the deposit can be anywhere between 1 and 36 month. The minimum deposit amount is USD 500,000.

Attention! The tariffs specified above are effective at the time this text is written and are subject to change. To receive up-to-date information about the tariffs please contact our specialists.

Additional opportunities that you can use after establishing a corporate account in the Seychellois bank

The bank is continuously extending its list of services. Please expect to receive new service offers in the future. We would like to note that some services will be interesting both for the companies and for their individual owners.

VISA Electron Debit card

Currently, this is the only card you can acquire from the bank. However, more Visa products will become available in the near future.

Main advantages of VISA Electron Debit card:

• Available currencies: USD and EUR.
• Built-in security chip.
• Usable in over 5 million ATM’s all around the world.
• Round-the-clock technical support.
• Usable with the online banking system.
• Multiple usage possibilities: purchase (via POS terminals, mail, telephone, Internet, etc.), hotel booking, car rent, and so on.
• Beneficial currency conversion rate.

Service tariffs (in EUR):

• Postage of the card to the client: 80 EUR / 24 EUR (courier/ mail).
• Reissuance (replacement) of the card: 24 EUR.
• Payment via a terminal: 2% of the amount.
• Cash withdrawal and balance check: 8 EUR.
• Annual service fee: 80 EUR.
• Currency conversion commission: 3%.

Online banking

This financial institution uses most up-to-date security methods and algorithms. Thus, the risk of money theft via the Internet is negligible.

Client protection technologies:

• SSL 128-bit coding.
• Network screen.
• Time-based logout feature.
• Card lockout for 24 hours in case the wrong identification data have been entered.
• Individual password generation.
• Access lock on client’s request.

Mortgage and investment programs

Solid corporate clients of the bank can take part in the Eden Island investment project. The project allows investing idle funds into real property while the minimum required investment amount is rather small. Eden Island is located in close proximity to the capital of the country – Victoria (about two miles away). Its total area is 56 hectares.  

Apart from gorgeous, nearly pristine nature and fantastic views of the ocean, Eden Island boasts advanced tourist infrastructure. The choice of investment objects is very large. Residential accommodations of 88 square meters (947 sq. ft.) to 609 square meters (6,555 sq. ft.) are available and the area of the land lots is between 250 square meters (2,691 sq. ft.) and 3,000 square meters (32,292 sq. ft.). There are modern quays on the island that can dock superyachts up to 100 meters (328 ft.) long.

A corporate bank account in Seychelles for your Gibraltarian company is bound to change your idea of what modern offshore banking services can look like. If you are interested in the combined service ‘a company in Gibraltar and a bank account in Seychelles’, please tell us so by writing to [email protected]. We will be happy to answer whatever questions you might have concerning this service. Have a good day!