At the beginning of the year, a law regulating foreign exchange transactions came into force in Ukraine. It simplifies the process of money exchange and allows opening a bank account abroad, which provides ample opportunities for investing in foreign projects.
Why you need a bank account abroad
Foreign banks are open for cooperation with Ukrainian citizens, although they are wary of those from the post-Soviet space.
The bank account abroad allows investing in securities. You can buy assets of any company through a foreign broker and receive income.
Storage of capital in banks with an international name ensures the reliability of your money for centuries. Therefore, if you do not trust domestic, you can open an account in Switzerland or the UK and transfer your income there.
Investing in foreign real estate is becoming more and more popular. You can buy an apartment or villa for your own use or rent it out. And if you need to go to the chosen country to complete the transaction, you will have to pay utility bills every month, even when you do not have the opportunity to visit the purchased accommodation. It will help to transfer funds to the utility account in a foreign bank.
But despite all the advantages, opening an account abroad is a rather complicated procedure. In order to fight against money laundering and off-shorization, many foreign financial institutions are introducing stringent customer verification rules.
The situation is also worsened by high-profile proceedings involving large banks, such as ABLV Bank from Latvia, Swedbank from Sweden and others. These and other financial institutions are suspected of conducting illegal money laundering transactions. Schemes were used in various ways, and among the participants in the scandal were clients from CIS countries. Therefore, a thorough check before opening an account is now in place for residents of these countries.
The first thing the bank representatives will ask is the purpose and use of funds. One of the options is to specify where the payments will be made, where the money will come from, the expected amount.
To open an account, it is necessary to present copies of passports – domestic and foreign, utility payment receipts. You must provide a certificate of income, tax return.
If you open an account for a foreign company, the owner of which is a citizen of Ukraine, the bank will ask for the charter and registration documents.
The source of receipt of funds is important – you must confirm their origin. At the time of account opening all taxes in Ukraine must be paid.
All this procedure takes quite a lot of time, especially since foreign banks are very scrupulous about checking income and reliability of the client. Therefore, you should be prepared that opening a bank account abroad will be a much more complicated procedure than it seems at first sight.
