Account opening and banking relationships for internationally structured clients.
We assist corporate and private clients in establishing international banking relationships appropriate to their structure, jurisdiction and activity.
For internationally mobile clients and companies operating across several jurisdictions, banking is often the hardest practical step. We work with the client on documentation, on presenting the source of wealth and the business rationale clearly, and on matching the requirement to institutions that actually service it.
What this covers
- Corporate and private account opening
- Multi-currency and multi-jurisdiction structures
- Documentation and source-of-wealth preparation
- Banking relationship management
Usually the step that fails
Of everything involved in setting up a cross-border structure, opening the bank account is the part that most often stalls. The structure can be sound, the source of wealth entirely legitimate, and the application still goes nowhere — because the institution does not service that jurisdiction, that activity, or that ownership pattern, and nobody established this before the file was submitted.
We try to find that out first.
What the work involves
- Matching requirement to institution — banks differ enormously in what they will actually take on. The right question is not who is largest but who services this profile
- Documentation — assembling corporate records, ownership charts and certifications in the form the receiving bank expects
- Source of wealth and source of funds — two different questions, both of which need a clear, evidenced narrative rather than a single statement
- Business rationale — why this entity, in this jurisdiction, needs this account. An application that cannot answer that is refused whatever the balance
- Multi-currency and multi-jurisdiction arrangements — where operations genuinely span several countries
- Relationship management — account maintenance, periodic reviews, and keeping the file current so it is not frozen at the next refresh
What we do not promise
We are not a bank and we do not have authority over any bank’s decision. No introduction guarantees acceptance: every institution applies its own risk appetite and compliance standards, and any of them can decline without giving a reason. Onboarding timelines are set by the bank, not by us, and for a complex structure they are measured in months rather than weeks.
What we can do is make the application as strong as it can honestly be made, and tell you early — before time and money are spent elsewhere — when we believe the banking step is going to fail. That assessment is worth more to most clients than an optimistic introduction.
Why it sits in the middle of the work
Banking comes after the structure is settled and before assets are acquired. Getting it the wrong way round is the single most common reason a cross-border plan stalls halfway.