Account Opening

The basic service and the most used is Account Opening at the IBOS banks.

Customers require accounts, into which they receive or from which they pay out money – and on which they hold cash surpluses or deficits. These accounts typically are held in the geographic locations and currencies that make the paying and receiving of money most efficient, although they may reside in places dictated by corporate tax policies.

The account-holder may be a Resident or a Non-Resident Account of the country concerned: this can make a big difference to the papers that are needed to open an account.

Since 9/11, the regulations around Account Opening have been tightened. The Financial Action Taskforce (FAT-F) issued guidelines which have been adopted into local law, about what a bank has to do before opening an account for the customer.

These regulations are in addition to the differences in each country’s Company Law and what is needed to prove that a corporate legal entity exists and has the power to open bank accounts.

It is essential, then, the customers deal with banks who know what is required in each country, such that all papers can be completed in one exercise.

The IBOS Account Opening Process is based on transparency as to what is required in each country, and an agreement between the banks that the Account-Opening Bank will pre-fill the documents based on a common set of data provided by the Host Bank. In addition the IBOS website contains a listing of what is required in terms of further standard documents in order to open a Resident or a Non-Resident Account.

The pre-filled papers are then sent through the Host Bank to the customer for signature and returned with any further papers.

There are committed deadlines between the IBOS banks for each stage of the process, as long as the steps in the process are fulfilled and as long as the outcome of the last step is satisfactory.

IBOS banks are under an obligation to Know Your Customer (“KYC”) and Know Your Customer’s Business (“KYB”).