Open Bank Account in Georgia Remotely: Guide for Non-Residents
Foreign entrepreneurs are increasingly choosing Georgia to open a business. After all, in addition to preferential tax regimes, Georgia has a complete absence of corruption and bureaucracy, absolute confidentiality of data and excellent prospects for development.
To open business in Georgia, entrepreneurs must obtain permission to open a corporate account with a bank. What features of remote opening of a multi-currency account in Georgia exist, we will talk in this article.
Georgian banks that allow you to open an account online
In Georgia, several banks offer the opportunity to open a multi-currency settlement account remotely. These include TBC Bank and Bank of Georgia. These are the two largest banks in the country, which provide a huge number of services to their clients, including foreign ones.
TBC Bank
The main bank of Georgia, offering its customers any banking services, including premium class. Moreover, their cost is much less than in European banks.
Excellent conditions for foreign citizens, including the availability of remote account opening and management. The TBC Bank client independently chooses a convenient way for him to interact with the bank, whether it is an online application, Internet banking, SMS notification.
The account is opened on the day of the request, there is no need to collect a large package of documents. All operations can be carried out by a trusted person, without the personal presence of the account holder.
Bank of Georgia
The second largest bank in Georgia by assets. However, in terms of the number of clients, it is considered the most numerous.
Checking the bank may take several days, so there is no guarantee that the account will be opened on the day of the request.
As in TBC Bank, the Bank of Georgia provides for the possibility of opening an account by proxy without the personal presence of the owner.
Current tariffs for banking services in Georgia
It will not be difficult to open an account remotely in the Bank of Georgia. But in order to avoid misunderstandings, it is better to study in advance the current tariffs of Georgian banks in order to choose the most optimal one.
The following tariffs are available for individuals, including foreign citizens:
- minimal (for those who rarely use the services of the bank),
- universal (for customers who often use the services of banks),
- premium (for obtaining a gold payment card, with high deposit rates).
The cost of annual maintenance for them varies from 20 to 170 GEL. At the same time, the account holder is exempt from the monthly fee, commission for opening an account.
For new customers who issue a corporate account, they immediately issue a login and password from the Internet bank, an activation code for Digipass and a multi-currency Visa card. Linking to a mobile phone does not oblige the account holder to purchase a Georgian SIM card.
The commission for transfers to other banks is 0.5 for the premium rate in TBC bank for transfers to lari. For transfers to other banks in dollars or euros, the commission will be 9.9. The maximum rate for transfers in another currency is 15.
In addition to basic banking services, foreign citizens in TBC Bank can apply for a mortgage, a loan, insurance or open a safe deposit box.
Bank of Georgia offers similar services to its customers with an annual service cost from 40 to 150 lari, depending on the type of card.
Documents required for remote account opening in Georgian banks
After choosing a suitable bank in Georgia and after studying the terms of service, it is necessary to draw up a power of attorney for a person who will represent the interests of the account holder in Georgia. Usually such a person is a lawyer who knows the Georgian language and has knowledge of the banking systems of Georgia.
After the power of attorney is certified, the owner of the future account sends it and a certified copy of the passport to the authorized person. Further, the authorized person performs all the manipulations necessary to open an account with the Bank of Georgia and sends the received documents confirming the opening of the account to the owner.
At the same time, the account holder immediately gets access to the Internet bank and can use the account without waiting for documents to be received by mail.
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