Opening a European business bank account online: Everything you need to know

If you continue to use your Singaporean business bank account when expanding into Europe, your business will come across several key challenges: 

• High transaction fees: Your business will be hit with conversion fees and unfavourable FX rates on every international transfer, reducing your profit margin

• Slow settlement speeds: Payments will take a long time to settle, as SWIFT transactions can take up to six days for international payments. This can cause issues with cash flow and prevent you from growing at the speed you want to
• Inability to sell on marketplaces: You won’t be able to sell on marketplaces like Amazon, as they require local account details for you to set up a merchant account. This prevents you from getting in front of a large segment of target customers

Opening a European bank account resolves a lot of these issues and this is why many Singaporean businesses choose to do exactly that.

However, the difficulty is that opening an account as a non-resident is a real challenge. It’s not something that many banks offer, so you need to research a variety of banks and contact them individually, asking what they offer and what their eligibility requirements are.

For banks that can open a European current account for Singaporean businesses, you’ll need to provide the following information as a starting point:

• Company name and registration number
• Proof of address
• Proof of identification of all business owners and shareholders
• Details about what your business does

Then there will be Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and compliance checks to ensure your business aligns with European laws. These include verifying your business’s legitimacy, reviewing bank statements to confirm the source of funds, and screening owners or shareholders to identify any politically exposed persons (PEPs). If a PEP is found, the bank assesses whether the risk is acceptable.

The bank is then likely to request an in-person visit, which gives them the opportunity to ask you questions about the business and verify the identity of the business owners.

Finally, you may need to register your business in a specific European country, which will have its own procedures depending on which country you choose to register in. This may also involve you establishing some form of local address so you can receive documentation.

As you can see, the process isn’t straightforward. There are many complex steps to creating an account in a European country, and you’ll need to replicate it for every European country you want to operate in, making the process more complex and lengthy.

One key solution to this is using an international multi-currency account: a financial account that allows you to set up local bank account details to receive multiple currencies and hold funds in those currencies.

Below, we explain how these accounts work and how they can benefit you.