Organization : e-Estonia, The Digital Society
Facility : Open a Bank Account in Estonia
Country : Estonia
Website : https://e-estonia.com/
Open a Bank Account :
** Due to increased demand, there have been recent changes to the way e-residents can open a business bank account in Estonia. Please read this section carefully.
Related : Establish a Company Online e-Estonia : www.statusin.org/27544.html
** We currently recommend you contact a business service provider if you wish to open a business bank account for your Estonian registered company using e-Residency.
Please do not book travel to Estonia for the purpose of opening a bank account for your business in Estonia before speaking to a business service provider.
** Please visit our blog for more information regarding banking and e-Residency.
** e-Residency does not guarantee a business bank account and they are not offered as a packaged service.
The decision to extend or deny banking services to an e-resident is made at the sole and absolute discretion of our partner banks, which have the right to ask for additional information and documents.
** We are continuing to work with banks and financial technology companies to provide e-residents with the tools they need to run a successful business.
If you would like to open a business bank account for your Estonian registered company, we strongly recommend taking the following steps prior to arranging travel to Estonia to open your account.
Steps for opening a bank account :
** Make sure your business plan is prepared ahead of time. Banks take this information seriously when making a decision to open a business bank account for a client.
Demonstrating strong ties to Estonia through existing sales, partner, employee, or supplier relationships should also be included in your business plan.
** Contact a business service provider such as LeapIn, 1Office, or Incorporate.ee.
** Work with your chosen business service provider to find the banking services that will meet the needs of your company.
Please subscribe to our newsletter and watch our websites for updates on banking and financial services available to e-residents. E-Residency has been described as the world’s first government startup because the Republic of Estonia is offering a unique value proposition to customers around the world.
The product — a secure online gateway to the EU business environment — is in its public beta phase of development.
For those not familiar with startup jargon, the beta phase enables products or services to be tested by releasing them to real customers in the real world so that improvements can continuously be made. Public beta (also known as an open beta) means that opportunity is available to everyone.
It’s not just the programme and other public institutions making those improvements however, as the private sector is performing a vital role in enhancing the value of e-Residency.
E-Residency is already delivering real value, which you can read more about on the e-Residency blog, but one of the areas undergoing significant improvement in 2017 is access to e-banking and other financial services.
E-Residency alone does not guarantee a business bank account, but it is a key priority of the programme to ensure e-residents can access all the financial tools they need to successfully run a location-independent business.
What’s the current situation regarding Estonian banking and e-Residency?
The government-backed digital identity provided by e-Residency makes it easier than ever to manage secure e-banking services, which can be integrated with other e-commerce solutions such as PayPal.
Not all e-residents require an Estonian business bank account, but the feedback from those that have already acquired one has been very positive. The two most popular banks for e-residents are LHV Pank and Swedbank.
LHV is an Estonian banking and financial services company headquartered in Tallinn, while Swedbank is a Nordic-Baltic banking group based in Stockholm, Sweden with a significant presence in Estonia.
E-residents report that they can easily and securely manage their accounts with either bank by logging in with their ID card and card reader from anywhere in the world.
The interfaces are easy to navigate, all communication is in English (and various other languages) and their accounts integrate with other international payment providers and e-commerce solutions that they need to run their business.
In particular, entrepreneurs from developing markets often have difficulty accessing international payment providers and that can hold back their entrepreneurial potential.
The access to e-banking and e-commerce provided by e-Residency of Estonia has entirely transformed their ability to conduct business with customers and suppliers around the world.
The reason a business bank account is not automatically included within the e-Residency package though is because the decision to extend or deny banking services to anyone, whether e-resident or not, is made at the sole discretion of the banks themselves.