Hong Kong Bank Accounts and Hong Kong Corporations

16 Reasons to Use Hong Kong for Banking & Corporation

1. Secure Stable Jurisdiction operated under the government of China
2. Bank in a trillion dollar HK bank, one of top 20 banks in the world
3. Hong Kong Government Insures Bank Accounts ($65,000 per account)
4. One Official Language of Hong Kong is English
5. Online Banking in English
6. Tight Bank Secrecy Laws
7. Bank in 10 different currencies
8. Hold Gold (not allocated, no silver) in Bank Account.
9. Buy Government & Private Bonds from around world in Bank Account, Different Currencies
10. Currency Pair Investments – Hi Yield Potential, Capital Preservation Guaranteed
11. Excellent CD Rates in different currencies
12. Visa or Master Card in USD, Euro or Renminbi(Chinese Currency)
13. NO Tax Information Exchange Agreements with any nation
14. NO Tax on offshore derived income
15. NO capital gains tax
16. NO Inheritance Tax

Hong Kong Corporation & Bank Account Opening - Corporation formation and bank account opening time is as an estimate eight top ten weeks. Nothing we can do about the slow account opening. New accounts have to clear the new account committee and the anti-money laundering committee. These committees usually meet once or twice weekly and then you need to get into the queue. Numerous management signatures are needed. The banks are backed up.

Hong Kong Bank Account Due Diligence – Read carefully please. In recent months Hong Kong has tightened up on due diligence. The banks insist that the signatory on the bank account now be listed in the public registry as an owner and director of the Corporation. This means anyone who knows the name of your corporation like from wiring instructions, websites etc can easily find out who the owner of the corporation and bank account is. This could negatively affect you regarding judgment reciprocity and fraudulent conveyance. Normally a Hong Kong Bearer Share Corporation is used. If one uses a corporation from another country nothing changes in that it too will be listed in the Hong Kong Public Corporate Registry just like the Hong Kong Corporation. The foreign corporation must be registered or domesticated in Hong Kong. This still means the name of the signatory and must appear in the Hong Kong Public Registry as an owner and director of the Hong Kong corporation or from another country, no difference.

The Hong Kong banks require a marketing plan be submitted with the account opening forms. This is something that we do for you with you just providing the input. They are interested in what the business activities are and the amount of financial movement in and out.

The bank will not accept the following categories of businesses: trading of gas, oil, sugar, coffee, coal or other commodities, cosmetics and skin care products, pharmaceuticals, marketing consulting, anything using the word investment or financial. You cannot receive third party funds for any sort of investment in the bank account. You need to be engaged in commerce to get the bank account. You cannot say the account is for savings or investment. All the Hong Kong banks are going to be about the same. This sort of directive is normally issued from the banking authorities either formally or informally and would apply to any bank there.

The banks in Hong Kong want a personal visit from the client. These criteria may not be suitable for some of you so below you can see some excellent alternatives.

Guatemala accepts commercial and savings/investment accounts, no personal visit needed, billion dollar banks, anonymous corporations with your name NOT in public registry, bank secrecy, no tax treaties with USA, Canada, Europe, Asia, India, Africa, Caribbean, no mutual legal assistance treaties:

Guatemala Bank Account

Belize accepts savings and investment accounts with no personal visit, anonymous corporations with your name not in public registry, tax treaties with Europe, many mutual legal assistance treaties but still good for USA and Canada persons, excellent Trusts:

Bank Account in Belize

Andorra accepts only savings and investment accounts but does require a personal visit, anonymous corporation with no name in public registry, tax treaties with European nations, bank secrecy:

Andorra Bank Account

Hong Kong Bank Communications - Once the account is open we find the bank to be exceptional. They return email generally the next day or if research is needed they take two days. They have people answering phones 24/7. Their online banking is superb. Wires come and go very fast. They speak English. We can open accounts in 7-14 days in other jurisdictions including time to form the anonymous bearer share corporation and of course no tax treaties and bank secrecy too.

Hong Kong Banking – They have not signed any Tax Information Sharing Agreements and have world-class banks. Hong Kong does practice tight bank secrecy with serious criminal and civil penalties for any bank personnel who violates such bank secrecy laws. Hong Kong is actually a world-banking center like Switzerland used to be. It has at least 100 times more bank deposits than countries like Panama. Hong Kong has 69 of the world’s largest 100 banks, and a total of more than 1300 bank branches in the territory.

The Hong Kong Bank We Use – The bank we open our clients’ accounts for in has well over one trillion US dollars in assets. It is a massive, quality bank by any standards. It has no legal ties with any bank located in other countries as to avoid coercion by an opposing party using the banks with the same name in other countries to affect this. Various countries have done such things in past. No worries with this bank. This bank is authorized to issue bank notes for Hong Kong which speaks tremendously for its credibility. We prefer not to publish the banks name on the website.

The bank has full online banking including the ability to launch online wires, check balance and history, switch from one currency to another (takes about 90 seconds), move money from one account to another, etc. The bank offers accounts in 10 currencies: Australian Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Euro, Japanese Yen, New Zealand Dollar, UK Pound Sterling, Singapore Dollar, Thai Baht, US Dollar, and Renminbi (Chinese Ruan). One statement will show your holdings in any or all of these currency accounts.

The Hong Kong Bank Credit Ratings:

For HK dollar issues Credit Rating

Long term - Moody's Aa1 Stable, Standard and Poors AA Stable, Fitch Not rated

Short term - Moodys P-1, Standard and Poor A-1+, Fitch not rated

For Non- HK dollar Issues Credit Rating

Long Term - Moodys Aa1, Stable, Standard and Poors AA, Stable, Fitch AA Stable

Short term - Moodys P-1, Standard and Poors A-1+, Fitch F1+

This bank is the number 18 bank in the world. Please bear in mind that we can also use with this bank anonymous corporations, they have bank secrecy, you have the ability to hold ten currencies and gold, and government bank insurance as well. One must look at the entire picture when deciding on an asset protection structure. This is the best structure in the world right now.

Let's Rate Hong Kong as a Country – Let's take a look at how Hong Kong fares with it's account balances:

http://www.indexmundi.com/map/?v=145

Hong Kong is number 19 in the world. Please note the US is #160. The lower the number the better. Hong Kong is really part of China and China is #1.

Now let's look at Hong kong and China in terms of foreign currency reserves and gold holdings:

http://www.indexmundi.com/map/?v=144

China of course is #1, and Hong Kong is #10. The USA is #22 but let's not forget the debt they have.

Gold - Gold can be held in the Hong Kong bank account. You simply switch money from one of your currency accounts over to HK dollars and then you can buy gold from the HK dollar account. This takes about 90 seconds if market is open. Your HK bank account summary will now show your gold holdings. The Gold is purchased from the London Spot Market for you. It is held in a trust. Trust assets are not distributed in bank liquidations. This is not allocated gold in that you cannot go to the bank and ask for the gold bullion. It is a hybrid due to the trust. You can easily sell your gold online and there is no capital gains tax in Hong Kong, no transportation issues and no crossing of borders issues. Once the gold is sold the funds are in your bank account and can be wired anywhere in the world. Funds do not have to be returned to the same bank account which sent the funds over in the first place. There is no perfect gold ownership scenario. We get numerous calls from people with large amounts of gold bullion asking us how to move it out of their country. We have no good answer. If you show up with 100 maple leafs in some country they are likely to call it a commercial quantity and put a VAT tax of circa 15% on it. If you leave gold in a vault box somewhere then you have to go retrieve it and transport it. If a bank fails often the vault box contents get seized or even stolen by bank employees. Anther way is to liquidate it in the country of the vault box and then what? Take the cash and all the trouble that brings trying to move it across borders or deposit it into a bank. Get a check or a wire and then it is in the system. What about storing it in the house. Great unless you wish to leave the country. What about a fire and the gold melts and runs down into the ground? What about a robbery or home invasion. How do you sell the gold when you want to? What about reportage of the sale proceeds. Folks there is no perfect gold storage solution. The Honk Kong bank solves many problems.

Investments in the Honk Kong Bank – The bank offers a multitude of investment opportunities. You can have a stock brokerage account inside the bank (not for Americans). You can get CD's from the bank in several currencies (Americans OK). You can buy government and private bonds through the bank (not for Americans). We see USD yields in government backed bonds of up to 7.5% (Feb 2011). If you are a USA person there are other options for bond acquisition, inquire. There are currency pair investments with terms as short as 14 days offering potential for excellent yields with 100% capital preservation. The bank has a vast array of investment options.

Personal or Private Banker - You can get assigned a private banker with an account of $150,000 or more. Hong Kong banking is mostly for privacy, bank insurance and capital preservation. The bank insurance is worth about 2.0% to 2.5% yield. Taking that into account the rates are quite attractive. Remember the FDIC is a private corporation that can go bankrupt. Here you have government bank insurance up to any amount, no limit. Much better than the FDIC.

Hong Kong Bank Security – Once you are the signatory on the bank account no other signatories can be added or and it is impossible to remove you as a signatory without your written consent. Having share certificates for the corporation is not enough to change the signatories at the bank. Nominees are unable to effect a change at the bank for the signatories. No additions or deletions of signatories without the written consent of the existing signatories. No changes at all without this. Any attempt would be accepted by bank with their ID in a pending state. Then bank would contact you for written permission. You say “No way, I knew nothing about this.” Then they go to jail. Hong Kong banks are very used to nominees and understand how to protect the owners/signatories of the bank account. No worries.

Hong Kong Bank Insurance – This is Hong Kong government-backed bank insurance. The insurance covers HK dollar accounts and all foreign currency accounts such as USD, Euro etc. The insurance covers a depositor up to 500,000 Hk Dollars (approximately $65,000 USD). One could open several corporations if they wanted to have more bank insurance. There are certain types of specialized accounts not covered, which are listed as follows:

CDs or time deposits with a term in excess of five years, secured deposits, structured deposits like equity linked accounts, bearer instruments like a bearer certificate of deposit (does not affect corporation having bank accounts that are bearer share corporations). The insurance does not cover stocks, bonds, mutual funds, insurance policies, or unit trusts bought and held by the bank. The funds for immediately (immediately is the word Hong Kong uses) compensating depositors come from a standby credit facility provided by the Hong Kong SAR Government’s Exchange Fund.

Hong Kong Bank Credit Cards – The bank will issue you a secured Visa or Master card. The card will have to have your name on it. You cannot not get a corporate name only card. They do not issue anonymous cards. The cards are secured by a deposit exceeding the credit line of the card. The bank is not going to extend to you a line of credit. If you want a card limit of $10,000 the deposit will be $12,500 typically. This depends on what currency the card is in, if you are a private banking client, etc. This bank has at least 10 different card programs.

Bank in Renminbi or Chinese Yuan – With this Hong Kong bank you are able to bank in Chinese Renminbi also called the Yuan. You can even get a checking account in this currency. You can hold this currency in your account. Much business in Hong Kong is now conducted in Renminbi. You can have time deposits in this currency. You can even get a credit card in this currency which is really only going to work in Mainland China but they do have 370,000 merchants and 60,000 ATM’s taking this card. This card is going to grow, this is the beginning.

You can move up to 80,000 Renminbi a day to an account in Mainland China, if you happen to have a bank account in Mainland China. This is the Chinese currency that is being used to clear international payments and it may very well be the worlds next reserve currency. It is just starting so you are getting in on the ground floor. To truly diversify your currency holding portfolio hold Renminbi. The Renminbi will soon become a fully convertible currency and then probably soar in terms of exchange rates. It is expected that the Renminbi will soon have its own wire transfer facilities clearing in China or Hong Kong and it is doubtful that the USA will have access to view or affect these wires.

Stock Brokerage Accounts – The bank has a stock brokerage division. Online platform and full service. Play the major markets around the world USA, UK, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Australia). Bonds, options, futures, forex, and equities – everything including margin accounts. You can also open up a European stock brokerage account through us using your Hong Kong Corporation as the vehicle if you wish access to other additional markets. If you are an American you can have a bank account in Hong Kong BUT NOT A STOCK BROKERAGE ACCOUNT AT THIS BANK. This policy is to avoid some new tax withholding laws. We can however get you a stock brokerage account at another stockbroker with an online platform that allows trading major markets in the world. This will require an extra whole set of certified documents approved by the HK court so we must charge an extra $800 for this service if you are unable to get a stock brokerage account at the bank. When you sue the same bank for the stock brokerage account there is no extra staff time or need for an extra set of paperwork.

Anonymous Hong Kong Corporations – Hong Kong Corporations are basically private limited companies being very private and limiting liability for shareholders. There is no paid in capital requirement. It is possible to get a corporation formed in Hong Kong that is anonymous. Your name as the owner will appear in the public registry as a condition of getting the bank account. This detracts from privacy.

The corporation is formed in Hong Kong, the lawyer is in Hong Kong, and the bank account is in Hong Kong so this structure is all legal and fully enforceable in Hong Kong which is the only jurisdiction that matters in this scenario since everything is located there.

Hong Kong Corporation Law - To read the Hong Kong Government website on corporate law go here: Hong Kong Government on Corporate Law

Hong Kong Taxes – Hong Kong does not tax offshore-derived income. There is no VAT tax. No withholding taxes. No annual net worth taxes. No accumulated earnings taxes for retained versus distributed earnings. There is no capital gains tax on bank interest or stock market investments. You can have an office in Hong Kong and still receive money from offshore and have it tax exempt. Unless you conduct business inside of Hong Kong like having a pizza store there, you will not be paying any Hong Kong taxes. It is a true offshore privacy and tax haven.

Hong Kong Corporation Tax Return Filing – Yes a tax return for the corporation must be filed annually in Honk Kong. If the person is not conducting business in Hong Kong, there is no obligation to complete the return but as a matter of expediency and maintaining a low profile, the return should be filed with the HK Inland Revenue with a brief explanation as to why the corporation is not carrying on business in Hong Kong. This is something the accountant will do for you. It is also necessary to pay a Hong Kong accountant to audit your bank account as part of the filing requirements. You probably will not have any Hong Kong taxes to pay since your income is probably derived from out of Hong Kong but the company does have to file the return. It costs about $1200 to renew the corporation and file the return.

What Is Included With the Hong Kong Corporation -

1) Certificate of incorporation

2) Business registration certificate

3) Original formation documents and minutes

4) Minute booklet

5) Share certificate booklet with share certificate having corporate name made out in blank. You can insert a persons name or a corporations name on the certificates if you like.

6) Two chops and an embossing seal (a chop is a corporate ink stamp, not a tool for eating with).

7) One certified copy of formation documents

8) General Power of Attorney for the Corporation.

9) Opening of Bank Account in Hong Kong

10) Appointment of corporate secretary for a year providing a registered office address for a year. This address can be used for mail and courier receiving of documents but does not include forwarding or receiving of parcels. It is often called a virtual office but has no telephone number for you.

11) An embossed box to contain all papers in with a cloth cover.

Compare Us to Competition –

1. Attorney Client Privilege. You are dealing with a law firm and have attorney client privilege.
2. Hong Kong Banks require filing a business plan to get an account. This is usually not included.
3. The Bank we use is a trillion dollar bank, not some hole in the wall bank.
4. We can use your Hong Kong Corporation to open a stock brokerage account in Hong Kong or Europe but with USA persons this is not possible.We can get a US person a forex account in some instances: Swiss Forex and CFD trading Account
5. We can use your Hong Kong Corporation to open Bank Accounts in other jurisdictions.
6. We can set up multi-jurisdiction asset protection banking using Hong Kong as the first or final destination.
7. We are available and answer phones, email, Skype, Yahoo messenger. Try us. Many competitors are not law firms, will not communicate by voice and you do not know where they are. They are just using mail drops. Their bank accounts are in obscure countries.
8. We have English and Spanish speakers.
9. We are probably the only international law firm to maintain encrypted communications with client. We give each client an encrypted email account on our own server for secure communications with us. We care about your security.
10. We have no office or presence in any high tax police state.

Using the HK Corporation for Bank Accounts in Other Jurisdictions – To use your Hong Kong Corporation in a country other than Hong Kong for opening a bank account or a stock brokerage account there is an extra fee of $800. Why this fee? The Hong Kong lawyer will need to issue a full set of notarized and apostilled corporate documents. These documents need to also be approved and signed off on by the High Court of Hong Kong. This is the reason for this extra fee if you wish to use the corporation to open a bank account or stock brokerage account outside of Hong Kong.

Attorney Client Privilege - The formation of the Hong Kong Corporation is done by a Hong Kong lawyer so attorney client privilege flows through the entire transaction from start to finish.

Due Diligence – What is needed is a scanned copy of a passport. We also need a utility bill for proof of address. This has to be a working address that can receive correspondence. You can tell the bank to hold your statements and not send them but some things like signature cards, online banking forms, Visa cards, etc will need to be send physically by courier. The bank will ask you to prove you are in business. This can include sending them customer invoices, showing them bank statements, web sites, etc. The bank does not take accounts just for savings anymore, only operating businesses. If you are a brand new business you may have difficulty convincing the bank that you are a real operating business. Certain categories of businesses are not allowed. The name of the signatory on the bank account must also be listed as a owner and director of the corporation in the public registry. This diminishes privacy. A personal visit to the bank is also required.

Time Frame - It takes 8 -10 weeks to form a corporation and have the bank account opened for it. The time clock starts ticking when we have an order form, ID documents, Utility bill and payment. The corporation is usually done in 7-10 days. The bank account is slow to open. There is nothing we can do to expedite the account opening time at the bank. The bank is great and has good customer support but the account opening time frames are excessive. We expect this is because the demand is so great for these bank accounts. We can do other jurisdictions in two weeks.

Proof of Business – The bank may ask for proof that you are in the business you say you are in. This can be a website only or could get more involved. More involved would mean showing them invoices you send out, or receive. They could ask for a copy of a business license or permit. We have no controls over what the bank requests, all we can do is help you comply.

Cost - The fee for the Hong Kong Corporation complete and the opening of the Hong Kong Bank Account in the above-described bank is $4995. The cost of the personal visit to the bank is additional. This is paid by wire transfer. The minimum deposit at the bank is $2500 per bank account and could be included along with the wire for the professional fees or sent later on after account is opened. Starting in year two the renewal fees are $1200 (each corp.) for everything including tax return and audit

How to Order – First step is to fill out our encrypted online order form.

Next send us by email a scan of the notarized copy of the passport and driver license plus a utility bill showing your real address. This can be sent by email as an attachment to: staff@panamalegal.org

If the documents are correct and acceptable we will then provide courier directions to send hard copies.

Next we will send you coordinates to wire the fee to us.

After the fee is received we will begin forming the corporation. After the corporation is formed we will begin the bank account opening process. Then you visit the bank and sign the signature cards and forms. Two business days in Hong Kong should be sufficient for all necessary.

The online banking will come after that requiring 7-10 additional days after account opening. Credit Cards require a security deposit and take about two weeks after the account is open, and the deposit is received.

To Learn More About Us and Why You Should Use us click here:

About Us

Questions – We welcome questions, just ask