Applying for a Dutch Bank Account Made Easier for Foreign Companies
This new uniform process applies to both larger established companies and innovative foreign start-ups from outside the EU
It will be easier for companies outside the Netherlands to apply for a bank account with a Dutch bank. This is due to an initiative of ING, ABN Amro and Rabobank, together with the Dutch Banking Association (NVB) and a number of public parties.
Starting 20 May 2019, entrepreneurs outside the Netherlands can apply for a Dutch bank account using the ‘Quick Scan Dutch Business Bank Account’. Based on the information which a company must provide, the bank will be able to assess whether a bank account is feasible. As a result, the company will know where it stands more quickly. If the assessment is positive, the bank will then commence its usual customer due diligence procedure.
With this service, the banks, the NVB, the government and various other parties involved, hope to improve the attractiveness of the Netherlands as a business location without raising unrealistic expectations or infringing on banking regulations.
“The banks want to contribute to the ambition of ‘The Netherlands Incorporated’ to attract foreign businesses,” says Chris Buijink, chair of the Dutch Banking Association. “Being able to arrange your banking affairs quickly and efficiently is an important precondition for an attractive business location.”
In coming months, the new methodology will be tested in practice. Other banks will be able to join at a later stage if they so wish.
Contributing to ease of setting up business
Cooperation makes the Netherlands more attractive for any kind of business. Entrepreneurs can only do business in the Netherlands with an IBAN account opened in a country belonging to the Single European Payment Area (SEPA). Larger internationally operating companies usually already have such a bank account. But this is not the case for companies such as start-ups looking to establish themselves in the Netherlands. When foreign companies come to the Netherlands, they mostly start small and then expand later on through further investment. In recent years, it has become evident that Dutch banks have been cautious with respect to opening bank accounts for these commercial customers as a result of American and European integrity regulations. The parties involved are now addressing this issue together to make the Netherlands even more attractive as a business location.
Jeroen Nijland, Commissioner of the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA), the agency of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy engaged in attracting foreign investors to the Netherlands: “If we want to continue to benefit from being an international economy, it is important that foreign businesses can make a good start and get on with doing business from the Netherlands without delay. So this cooperation is important for all of us. For our future economic growth and employment, and also for the attractiveness of the Netherlands as a business location.”
Source: Dutch Banking Association
24 May 2019