What Tide, Wise, Estonian banks, RBC, Mashreq and Mercury publish for foreign-owned companies: resident signatories, in-person visits, excluded industries.
Whether a foreign-owned company gets a business account depends on the provider's own published rules before it depends on the country. Those rules differ in ways that decide the route. In the UAE, Mashreq's NEO BIZ account needs at least one partner or power of attorney who is a UAE resident. In Estonia, e-Residency's knowledge base says a personal visit to the bank is most likely required, and that the bank looks for a strong connection to Estonia or a single shareholder with easily traceable income. In the US, Mercury accepts US-registered companies founded by people living abroad, unless the founder lives in a country on its prohibited list, and it cannot open accounts for money services businesses and crypto exchanges. In the UK, Tide and Wise state conditions for companies with directors or owners who live abroad.
This guide puts those published conditions in one table per country, then sorts them into a decision table by company profile. Every row quotes the provider or the official body, with the date we read it. A provider's page tells you what it asks. Whether it accepts a particular company is its own decision.
Last verified 2 October 2026 on the pages listed under Sources. Provider eligibility changes often, so read the provider's current page before applying.
Preparing a bank application for a foreign-owned company? We read the provider's published conditions against your ownership, activity and flow of funds, and prepare the file to the bank's requirements. The decision rests with the bank. Business banking → · Book a paid 30-minute consultation (USD 99, credited to the project)
| Country | Route | What the provider or official body publishes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK | Tide | Directors of a limited company need to be registered with Companies House and have a valid home address in the UK or overseas. Applicants are 18 or over, take a selfie for identity, and need a UK mobile phone number and a device registered to a UK app store | Tide help centre |
| UK | Wise Business | Limited companies are among the eligible business types, subject to eligibility checks, verification and acceptable-use rules. Wise may support UK businesses with overseas owners if the business and the account representative complete the checks | Wise, updated 12 August 2026 |
| Estonia | Estonian banks | The bank looks for a strong connection to Estonia, or a single-shareholder company with easily traceable income. A personal visit to the bank's office in Estonia is most likely required, and a pre-decision can often be requested first. LHV is the bank e-residents use most | e-Residency knowledge base, Banks in Estonia |
| Estonia | EEA fintechs and other EEA banks | An Estonian company need not hold an Estonian bank account or an Estonian IBAN. Fintech accounts open entirely online, and an e-Residency article of 9 June 2022 says fintechs generally have a higher risk appetite for founders who live in another country | e-Residency business banking page; e-Residency blog, 9 June 2022 |
| Canada | RBC | Select business chequing accounts can be applied for online, and RBC says you bring ID and a business registration document to a branch to verify identity. Its ID examples are Canadian documents: a Canadian passport, a Canadian driver's licence or a Canadian permanent resident card. RBC asks applicants who will have multiple authorized signers to call. A corporation incorporated for 12 months or more shows ID for all directors or officers and its Articles of Incorporation plus one further document | RBC, Open a business account |
| UAE | Mashreq NEO BIZ | At least one partner or power of attorney on the account must be a UAE resident. The business must be owned 100% by individuals, with no layered structures, and annual turnover must be up to AED 100 million. All owners, partners or signatories must be above 18 years of age | Mashreq NEO BIZ Key Facts Statement, version September 2026 |
| US | Mercury | The company must be formed and registered in the United States or a US territory and have existing or planned US operations. Founders need not be US citizens or residents, but Mercury cannot open accounts for founders who live in the countries on its prohibited list (see below). The principal place of business can be a residential address, and a registered agent address, P.O. box or UPS Store address does not qualify | Mercury support, Eligibility and requirements |
| Company profile | Route the published conditions support | What to check first |
|---|---|---|
| UK Ltd, one director abroad, online services | Tide or Wise Business | UK mobile number and UK app-store device for Tide; Wise's acceptable-use list for the activity |
| Estonian OÜ, single shareholder abroad, easily traceable income | An Estonian bank such as LHV, or an EEA fintech | Whether a visit to Estonia fits your plans; ask for a pre-decision |
| Estonian OÜ that sells other people's services, trades wholesale or works only outside the EU | An EEA fintech or a bank in another EEA country | The bank's stated list of less likely profiles, in the e-Residency article |
| Canadian corporation with a director abroad | A bank branch process; RBC's ID examples are Canadian documents | Ask the branch which documents it needs for each director and signatory before applying |
| UAE company with a resident signatory and individual owners only | A bank whose terms match the structure, such as Mashreq NEO BIZ | Resident signatory, ownership chain with no layers, turnover limit of AED 100 million |
| UAE company owned through a holding company or with no UAE resident | A provider whose terms accept it; the Mashreq account does not fit | Another provider's published terms, or a different ownership chain |
| Delaware or other US LLC with a founder abroad | A US fintech account such as Mercury | Real operating address, EIN, supported industry, founder's country of residence not on Mercury's prohibited list |
| Any MSB, crypto exchange or payment business | Not Mercury, which excludes both. Other providers publish their own industry lists | The provider's industry list first, then the compliance file; see Canada MSB cost and timeline |
e-Residency describes payment institutions and fintechs in the EU and EEA as a good option for early-stage entrepreneurs and businesses making frequent international transactions, with accounts opened entirely online, a wide choice of providers, and no business loans or credits, and as not suitable for holding large amounts of funds. Its 2022 article adds that most fintechs cannot provide business loans, must keep clients' money separate from their own as a form of protection, and that a fintech account in the first year or two builds a transaction history that traditional banks find more attractive. Banks in Estonia offer an Estonian IBAN and business loans and credit, and require an in-person visit.
Mercury's structure, banking services provided by partner banks to a fintech platform, shows the same split on the US side. The practical rule is to choose the account type that fits what the company holds. A company that keeps working capital for months needs the balance protections its own provider describes. A company that settles invoices in several currencies needs the payment features.
The published lists share a core:
A refusal at onboarding differs from the closure of a live account. The first calls for a rebuilt file and a different provider whose stated conditions fit the company. Reasons that the published pages name are structural: a layered ownership chain, a missing resident signatory, an unsupported industry, no connection to the country, a founder in an unsupported country. Fix the structural gap, and do not resubmit the same file to the same provider. For a closed account, see A UAE bank closed your corporate account. For the KYC file itself, see bank KYC preparation.
INNOVA matches the company's ownership, activity and flow of funds to the published conditions of the providers above, prepares the file to the provider's requirements and keeps the application consistent across the documents. The provider decides. The published price line for the banking service is "from US$ 2,800 · depends on the bank", with the fixed fee set once we have scoped the task; see INNOVA pricing. Provider fees and account charges are separate.
UAE corporate banking · UK business banking · Canada banking · Estonia corporate banking
Tide states that directors of a limited company need a valid home address in the UK or overseas, and it asks for a UK mobile number and a device registered to a UK app store. Wise Business states that it may support UK businesses with overseas owners, provided the business and the account representative complete the required checks. Each provider decides on its own checks.
e-Residency's knowledge base says a personal visit to the bank's office in Estonia is most likely required, and that many service providers can obtain a pre-decision so you do not travel in vain. An Estonian company may also use an account at an EEA fintech or at a bank in another EEA country.
Not at Mashreq's NEO BIZ account: its Key Facts Statement says at least one partner or power of attorney on the account must be a UAE resident, and the business must be owned 100% by individuals with no layered structures, and annual turnover must be up to AED 100 million. Other providers publish their own terms.
Mercury states that you do not need to be a US citizen or resident to apply, if the company is formed and registered in the United States or a US territory, has existing or planned US operations, and has a principal place of business address that is not a registered agent, P.O. box or UPS Store address. Mercury declines founders who live in countries on its prohibited list. The test is country of residence; citizenship does not decide it. The list includes Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Croatia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Nigeria and Pakistan, among others; read the current list at support.mercury.com (Prohibited countries) before applying.
No. Mercury's eligibility page lists money services businesses and crypto exchanges among the businesses it cannot open accounts for. It supports many crypto and Web3 businesses such as startups, DAOs and funds, and its accounts hold only fiat currency.
The reasons the published pages name are structural: a layered ownership chain, no resident signatory where the provider requires one, an industry the provider does not support, little connection to the country, a large or intermediary business model, or a founder living in an unsupported country. A refusal about one of these needs a changed structure or a different provider.
Tell us who owns the company, where the directors live, what the company sells and where the money comes from. We return the route and the file. Business banking → · Contact us
Related: Bank account for a non-resident company, UAE business bank account, Bank KYC preparation.
Sources (checked 2 October 2026):
For information only; each row quotes the provider's own page as read on 2 October 2026. Providers change their conditions, and each one decides whether to open an account for a particular company.
This material is for general information only and does not constitute legal or tax advice. Accurate as of the publication date.
