Non-uk director - bizarre problems getting a bank account

[bjason]

Hello,

I will be forming a UK Limited company shortly which will conduct business in the UK. I will be the sole director of the company.

I am shopping around for a business bank account but am hitting a barrier: I don't live in Britain (I am British, I live in Germany now). Many banks seem to require that the director lives in Britain. This seems odd: surely a business operating in the UK should be able to open a bank account no matter where the director lives. It's been suggested that I open a bank account for the business in Germany (!), but this makes no sense since the UK is where the company conducts its business.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks.

[Indizine]

Moved to the banking forum

[Frauke]

To have a UK based company you need a UK registered address for the company. I think this is your problem, not that you don't live in the UK.

You need to form the company, so the company will have an address in its own right in the UK before looking for a Bank. (Most UK companies formed with non-UK directors are done with the help of a UK accountant, so they also can help with opening the bank accounts also).

[bjason]

The company has a UK address ready and waiting

Perhaps I should miss out the nugget of information that the director is from abroad when I call around the banks...

[seanstevens]

I had the same issue (I'm British, live in German, co. is UK registered).

I phoned 15-20 banks and got the brush off.

Barclays will do it, but you have to phone them and explain everything in detail. They have an international team that will help. HSBC are difficult, but if you get the right person in their international section will help. I had to complete over 75 documents but got there eventually.

It wont be easy getting a German bank account for a UK registered bank account, Sparkasse rejected me within seconds, even though I explained I only wanted a simple bank account with no credit card or credit facilities....

Keep plugging away.