The tension in pro-democratic protest in Hong Kong SAR has been for months; this induces problems among business owners who are concerned with the safety of Hong Kong banking industry, and the protection of their capital asset, i.e. savings in Hong Kong banks.

Long story short, business people alike begin to get prepared for the mayhem in Hong Kong; they are diversifying their money globally. What they are doing is to choose offshore bank accounts, open them remotely, and deposit their savings outside Hong Kong to protect their wealth.

Here are three reasons why you should consider setting up an offshore bank account in Singapore for your foreign company, i.e. Hong Kong, Seychelles, the BVI, and the UK.

Minimize Your Political Risk (As Much As You Can)

Nowadays, Hong Kong entrepreneurs widely perceive that political influence from Beijing poses a considerable risk to banking safety in Hong Kong (ext. link).

But you can rest assured by placing a part of your savings just out of reach of your domestic government into an offshore bank account. It is an easy way to secure your savings because your government, which is Chinese PRC Government in Hong Kong currently, cannot impose capital control, freeze, confiscate or devalue all of your savings with a notice.

An offshore bank account in Singapore ensures you easy access to your deposit when you need it urgently. But why banking in Singapore over other jurisdictions? Because in the field of the world’s safest bank, Singaporean banks (DBS Bank, OCBC Bank and UOB Bank) have ranked the top in Asia (ext. link).

Diversify Your Risk Portfolio of Currencies Volatility

Singapore is a leading global financial center; it offers top-notch banking infrastructure to support international business. For example, Singapore does not impose capital control, so currencies are freely exchanged and move in and out of the city-state (ext. link).

The offshore bank accounts in Singapore offer convenient platforms for you to hold your funds in foreign currencies and collect and send their fund to worldwide bank accounts.

Singapore Dollar (SGD) is not the mandatory base currency of Singaporean business bank account. Holding a broad range of money in your offshore Singapore account is possible and is an obvious way to moderate the volatility of your base currency in the market and to secure your purchasing power.

Being Prepared To Act Quickly

It is better to be a year early than a minute too late in the event of international diversification of your savings. As when governments impose capital controls or levy bank accounts, it gets too late to secure your savings.

However, if you don’t already have one, you should consider opening a Singapore bank account before it gets too late. It is a misconception that only wealthy can set up offshore bank accounts, it is not true at all. Only a minimum deposit of SG$ 30,000 (or other currency in equivalent value) is required to keep your Singaporean account activated. Before that Singapore banks take 2 to 3 weeks to open an account provided that you have got the following information ready:

• The personal information and identity document of your company owner(s); and
• The company business proof such as signed contracts/agreements, existing bank statements, invoices, and receipts, etc.

What’s more? You can own a Singapore business bank account if you or other shareholders are neither a Singapore citizen nor a Singapore resident. And, some Singaporean banks allow remote account opening for companies. So you do not need to travel to Singapore, you can complete the account opening application in Hong Kong.

THE BOTTOM LINE 

Even though Hong Kong has ranked as the world’s freest economy of doing business for years, its state of a global financial hub is questionable (ext. link). This change has become a topic of growing concern for people to secure their capital assets in Hong Kong.

For regular business people, all it needs to open an offshore bank account in Singapore are the proofs plus the cash to fulfil the minimum balance requirement, just like any Hong Kong banks would ask. 

Take the right step before it gets too late! Work with AsiaBC as your Singapore banking intermediary, so you are assured to open Singapore business or corporate account in selected prestigious Singaporean banks remotely – without travelling to Singapore – after you go through the Pre-approval Assessment for free-of-charge. Click here for more details.