Best UK Business Bank Account for Non Residents

For any financial transaction, a bank account is necessary. It is mandatory to have a business bank account for business transactions. In today’s times, most people involved in international business prefer to open a bank account in the country they operate, apart from their own local bank accounts. Simplified transactions, optimized transaction fees, and making the job of running a business more comfortable are some of the several benefits of doing this. UK laws allow banks to open UK Bank Account for Non Residents. But the process for doing it is quite elaborate because of the strict British anti-money laundering policies. 

Some of the prominent banks in the UK include banks like HSBC, LIoyds and Barclays. These banks have a flexible and dynamic style of operation and seamlessly integrate both residents and non residents as customers. While all the three banks have their unique process, two documents which are essential and mandatory in all the banks: 

• Passport and proof of national identity; 
• Acceptable proof of address in the country of residence of the customer 

But still the process for opening a UK bank account is not easy or straightforward because the law regulators have imposed strict Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations. It has been done to verify and authenticate the identities of the people applying for bank accounts, so that frauds can be prevented from taking place. It is difficult and time consuming for UK high street banks to carry out background checks,credit checks etc. on company directors not residing in the UK, and living abroad, and because of this reason, most of the banks, either do not offer it, or make it a difficult procedure.

Please watch the video given below to get more details:

Now let’s try to go through the procedure followed by the major UK banks in offering business bank accounts to non residents, which are as follows:

• Barclays Bank - Barclays is amongst the largest and oldest financial institutions in the world, and its international banking division has secure and flexible banking options for customers with a global perspective. It offers the eligible customers an option to open an international account online with just a few clicks. The terms and conditions that apply to the offered international bank accounts differ from country to country or region to region and it includes things like age and minimum balance requirements. Barclays International also offers a business bank account if the interested customer is prepared to deposit and maintain a minimum balance. 

• Lloyds Bank - Lloyds is a much sought-after bank for international bank accounts in the UK. Lloyds International banking is known to manage customers' finances in multiple currencies across the world. Lloyds has two account options for customers - International Current account and Premier International account. The two account options vary in terms of features, benefits and requirements. The three currency options offered for opening the account are - Pound sterling, US dollars, and Euros. One unique feature about Lloyds bank is that Lloyds offers a UK bank account when at least one director of a new company resides in the UK, while the other directors don’t reside in the UK. The only condition is that the UK resident director should personally come to the local branch to open the account. A person should contact Lloyds bank directly for more information about its current policy and check whether he/she suits the eligibility criteria
  

• HSBC - HSBC is one of the pioneers in international banking operations. The bank confirms the fact whether a customer and his company fulfil the eligibility criteria for an international banking account / UK business bank account, based on the legal structure of the business. HSBC offers business bank accounts for UK-registered companies having non-resident directors, but with a condition that the non-resident directors / individual of the company must visit a UK branch to present supporting identification documents and sign a bank mandate.

It is important to keep in mind that each of these banks offer options and plans that vary in features and benefits. The individual should take proper care and be cautious in analysing his or her needs and choose the appropriate bank.

To conclude, we can say that Barclays, LIoyds and HSBC are some major banks in the UK, and probably provide the Best UK Bank Accounts.