Opening a corporate account may be challenging unless you have an international corporation that is welcome everywhere. Small and medium-sized businesses may be engaged in high-risk business activities, incorporated in offshore or sanctioned countries, or need a cryptocurrency-friendly bank, which considerably narrows the choice. Selecting a perfect bank requires first of all studying your business needs and preferences, your situation, including such details as the location of your principal business partners, and so on. In this post, we will take a look at Puerto Rican banks which may be a great choice for some of you.
If you want to find out more about different banking jurisdictions, banks, investments, accounting, asset protection, and more, welcome to our portal called International Wealth where you can use an extensive knowledge base of articles written by our experts. They know all the ins and outs of international banking and help people set up accounts in the most suitable jurisdiction for them. You can book an initial free session to discuss your situation and shortlist the best banks. If you decide to delegate the administrative part of opening a corporate account to us, we will be happy to help.
Corporate Account in Puerto Rico: Advantages
Let’s look at the reasons why you should prefer Puerto Rico to other jurisdictions:
- If you have an offshore company, you will have an opportunity to easily make payments in US dollars without paying fees to correspondent banks.
- Most banks prefer to see their customers in person to know for whom they open an account, and Puerto Rican banks are no exception. Still, opportunities to open accounts remotely do exist, and our experts can help you find them.
- If you open an account with a Puerto Rican bank for investment purposes, you will have the right to substantial tax-saving benefits.
- If confidentiality is important to you, you will probably be happy to find out that Puerto Rican banks do not collect any data about their non-resident clients except for the case when they are tax residents of the United States.
- Puerto Rican banks provide services to international customers, so they have multilingual consultants. You will be able to get customer support in the most popular languages: German, French, English, Russian, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese.
Eligible Customers
The jurisdiction has naturally close ties with the US, so it will be easy for a US citizen/resident to set up a corporate account and a company in Puerto Rico: no visa is required, and it will be easy to appear in the bank in person as the territory is located close by.
However, non-residents can also open a corporate account in Puerto Rico without too many administrative hoops to jump through. However, one of the most important things is to clearly state the purpose of account opening (it may be the legal entity’s intent to engage in any business activities, such as financial, trust, legal, or other services).
Restrictions Imposed by Puerto Rican Banks
Restricted Countries
The US federal government imposes restrictions on cooperating with certain countries, and these should be complied with by Puerto Rico as a jurisdiction dependent on the USA. Get in touch with our experts to find out if your country is eligible.
The banks of Puerto Rico guarantee enhanced privacy to their customers. However, if you have a US company that generates profit in the US or is a US tax resident, the information about your operations will be provided to US authorities upon request.
Restricted Activities
Once again, Puerto Rican banks comply with the limitations imposed by the US federal government in dealing with non-resident companies.
If your company is engaged in insurance or financial consultancy services, or if you own a trust fund or family office, you will enjoy a wide range of services provided by local financial institutions.
However, there are business activities looked at with certain suspicion:
- Foreign banking institutions and companies are not willingly accepted, so you’d better contact our expert, and we will offer another jurisdiction that will be more suitable.
- If the source of your company’s income is questionable, you may have difficulty opening a corporate account. For instance, if the main activity you engage in is cryptocurrency trading, you may be turned down. On the other hand, crypto activities do not mean 100% rejection, and approval may be granted on a case-by-case basis after a thorough due diligence check.
- If you have an offshore company, you will be accepted by Puerto Rican banks. However, you should be prepared for a meticulous check of the ultimate beneficial owner’s data.
Services Offered by Puerto Rican Banks
Here are the most popular services offered by the banks in Puerto Rico:
- Debit cards issued by a bank with an international status
- Opening a multi-currency account
- Help with precious metal bullion and currency trading
- Support in security transactions as a registrar, trustee, custodian, executor, or agent
- A possibility to freely withdraw cash at ATMs
- Remote management of the funds on your account using convenient mobile apps or banking platforms
Account Currency
As you probably understand, the main currency operated by Puerto Rican banks is the US dollar, However, if you need an account in any other major European currency, you will have an opportunity to get one. The minimum required balance that needs to be kept in the account at all times is 500,000 US dollars.
You can open corporate, corporate multi-currency, deposit, trading, or investment accounts, and also get debit or credit cards.
How to Open a Puerto Rican Account
We strongly recommend using the support of our experts in opening your Puerto Rican account as it will minimize your involvement in the process and considerably reduce your expenses. And if the bank refuses to open an account without a personal meeting with you, you will be able to choose a place closest to your current country to meet the bank representative.
Need a corporate account in a respected jurisdiction without much hassle? Simply click on the above link and book a free session with our expert to discuss the matter. Even if Puerto Rico turns out to be a non-optimal jurisdiction, we are sure to find a suitable one using joint efforts!