Fundamental amendments brought by European and domestic legislation have transformed the corporate industry dramatically over the last years as it has strengthened the maintenance and account opening procedures for individuals and corporate accounts as a means to significantly minimising money laundering and terrorist financing activities.

Banking institutions in Cyprus are reluctant to take on any significant risk when it comes to new clients and as a general rule of thumb avoid dealings with high risk companies. To that extent account opening applications forms are becoming increasingly demanding and require a level of expertise when navigating and preparing them correctly.

We undertake to review the individual or corporate entity and all associated counterparties leading down to the Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO) running our own assessment formula where we initially advice on the success rate of such an application. We request from the clients all the necessary supporting documents and information which shall be identified below to prepare and file the form on behalf of the client reducing thus the hustle and stress associated in such tasks.

As a result of our long lasting relationship with financial institutions in Cyprus we are able to overcome certain issues that may arise provided that the company or individual does not fail our risk assessment policies.

For any individual that wishes to set up a bank account in Cyprus the following documents must be submitted:

• Recent bill of utility of the last 3 (three) months (electricity bill, water bill etc.).
• Reference letter from their former or existing Bank or Financial Institution not older than 3 months.
• An updated and comprehensive CV.
• Scanned coloured copy of Passport.
• Supporting Documentation in relation to their annual income (such as tax declaration, income, any profits or dividends, any company relationships, etc.).
• Title deeds, dividends, relationship with companies and any other source of income that to establish the value and source wealth.

For any company who wishes to set up a bank account in Cyprus the following documents must be submitted:

• A business profile of the company
• Certificates of Directors, Secretary and Shareholders
• Certificate of Good standing for companies is older than 2 (two) year
• Certificates of Incumbency
• Certificate of Incorporation
• Certificate of Registered office Address
• Memorandum and Articles of Association,
• Corporate structure that clearly shows the Ultimate Beneficial Owner/s (UBOs) interests/benefits.
• Audited Accounts of the company where applicable.

Members’ Certificates

Any physical person who is related to the company such as UBOs, shareholders, Directors, Secretary, signatories, cardholders shall need to provide the same documents as above for an individual account opening. A meeting must also take place with the company’s UBOs.

(IMPORTANT NOTE: all documents regarding the Corporate and Personal account opening & Account maintenance in Cyprus must be in Greek or English, if not they must be officially translated.)