Abu Dhabi corporate bank account in 2024

Opening an Abu Dhabi bank account is difficult and time consuming, and this is compounded by poor service standards in the corporate banking sector. Healy Consultants assists our Clients to overcome these challenges without them needing to travel. The following is an overview of our corporate banking services:

1. The corporate banking sector suffers from i) understaffed bank account opening departments with inadequately trained personnel resulting in poor service standards and ii) increased bank due diligence requirements designed to combat money laundering and terrorist financing;
2. Opening bank account can be difficult, especially for non-resident individuals. On average, it takes approximately two months to obtain bank account approval, account numbers, and internet banking access;
3. The government requests local banks to implement strict ‘know your Client’ procedures as part of their corporate banking policy. A comprehensive bank account application is supported by detailed information on the company’s activities (including proof of business such as brochures, website, examples of contracts, and invoices), information on the company’s customers and suppliers, and information about its shareholders and directors. Our corporate banking team will prepare the necessary package of information to satisfy bank requirements;
   
4. Healy Consultants prepares bank account application forms on our Clients’ behalf. In addition, our corporate banking team attends a bank interview on our Clients’ behalf to outline the company’s business activities and why it requires a bank account;
5. Healy Consultants will open a bank account with a leading retail bank such as HSBC, Standard Chartered, and Citibank. Thanks to the excellent relationship our corporate banking team enjoys with international banks, our Clients are not required to travel to open a bank account;
6. Because corporate banking services standards are inferior to those in Singapore and Hong Kong, Healy Consultants does not recommend an Abu Dhabi corporate bank account to our Clients for international banking;
7. There is no limitation on the inflow or outflow of funds for remittances of profits, debt service, capital, capital gains, and returns on intellectual property or imported inputs. The UAE currency is the Dirham and is fixed to the US dollar. The exchange rate has remained at AED3.675 = US$1 since 1977;
   
8. Healy Consultants’ fee to help Clients open a bank account amounts to US$3,950. This fee includes the time spent by our banking team liaising with the bank, submitting the bank account application, attending a bank interview on your behalf, and preparing a detailed business plan. Please note that this fee does not include the initial bank deposit.
9. If our Client is not comfortable with a UAE corporate bank account, Healy Consultants can open an international corporate bank account outside of UAE. Examples include London, New York, Germany, Bulgaria, South Africa, Australia, or Asia. Our fee for this service is US$ 3,950 without travel or US$ 2,550 with travel. All banks will be top tier banks in these countries with excellent internet banking services;
10. The banks enjoys ultimate power of approval of corporate bank account applications. Consequently, guaranteed success is outside of Healy Consultants’ control. What is inside our control is the preparation and submission of a high quality bank application that maximizes the likelihood of approval. To date, we enjoy a 100% approval record because of our global banking relationships and determination;

Trade finance

• Abu Dhabi banks are willing to provide finance to local companies if the following conditions are met i) good business plan ii) availability of security iii) experience of business owners iv) last 3 years audited financial statements v) realistic feasibility study vi) project strength and weaknesses analysis (SWOT);
  
• Trade finance includes i) bank guarantees ii) letters of credit iii) finance against trust receipt iv) document against payment and against acceptance;
• Corporate finance in the form of a loan, overdraft, or simply preferential credit terms.

UAE banking

• Abu Dhabi corporate and personal banking products and customer service are of a poor standard;
  
• Because Abu Dhabi is not perceived as a tax neutral jurisdiction, it is not on the list of black listed destinations. UAE is neither a member of the OECD nor of the EU. The UAE is not on the OECD ‘blacklist’ of tax neutral jurisdiction (nor the FATF blacklist). Consequently, Abu Dhabi banks are not obliged to share customer information with international governments;
• UAE banks offer multiple currencies, internet banking and telephone banking, checking accounts, savings accounts, debit and credit cards, fixed term deposits, and wealth management;
• For Abu Dhabi business, our favorite banks include HSBC and SCB. Other leading banks include Emirates NBD, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Mashreq Bank, First Gulf Bank, United Arab Bank, Bank of Baroda, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Noor Islamic Bank, and Union National Bank;
• In United Arab Emirates currently 47 banks are operating, of which 21 are locally registered banks and 26 are branches of foreign banks.