Business Account | Comparison of 8 major banks

If you want to set up your own company, you have to be well-prepared, and applying for a business bank account is one of the necessary elements. Which is the best bank to open a business account in Hong Kong? What is the difference between opening a business account and a personal bank account? How long does it take to open a business account? How much does it cost to open a business account? Read on, you will know the requirements of each commercial bank account, and become a company account opening expert immediately!

Why do you need a business account?

There are 3 main reasons why startup companies choose to apply for a corporate bank account:

• Comply with regulatory requirements: Banks have always had stringent compliance requirements and will pay extra attention to unusual fund flows; if a merchant makes payments from a personal account and the amount involved is huge, the bank may freeze the account for investigation, which will affect the company's operation; opening a company account with a bank will prevent similar incidents from occurring.
   

• Convenient financial management: Start-up bank accounts have a lot of incoming and outgoing payments, so it would be too complicated and confusing for a merchant to handle both personal and company funds in a personal account at the same time. Opening a company account ensures that personal and company finances are kept separate and enhances the transparency of the company's accounts, especially when regulators require a check on the fund records of limited company bank accounts.
   

• Enjoy additional services: After opening a business account, the bank will provide exclusive financial services to corporate clients, such as corporate-specific interest rates and financing solutions, etc., so that the company can utilise the various banking services at a more favourable price, so a business registration bank account can be considered a must.

Additional services of business accounts

In order to attract more companies to apply for corporate accounts, corporate account opening banks will provide additional services for corporate customers, such as:

• Integrated account services 

• Corporate card

• Financing program

• Corporate loan and mortgage

• Employee payroll service 

• Unsecured overdraft facility

Time it takes to open an account in 8 major banks

Unlike opening a personal account, there are more stringent vetting procedures for opening a business account, so banks need more time to check the documents for opening a business bank account. Below is a summary of the time required to open a business account at different corporate banks:

Account opening fee of 8 major banks (in HKD)

In addition to the company bank account opening documents, there is also the so-called “account opening fee”, which usually includes administrative fee and service fee. Below is a comparison of company account fees charged by major local banks.
 

Minimum deposit + monthly fee of 8 major banks’ business account (in HKD)

SME plan provided by 8 major banks

Some banks will offer special SME account opening programs to attract customers by offering various discounts or reducing the documents for opening a corporate bank account. Below is a list of the top 8 banks' SME account opening programs for corporate banking account applications:

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