Opening a bank account for a company
It is sometimes difficult for a Bulgarian company to open a bank account in Bulgaria (or even to simply maintain the existence of an account opened with a Bulgarian bank).
This difficulty is particularly sensitive for newly created Bulgarian companies or for companies owned by partners or shareholders who are not Bulgarian.
Bulgarian banks are in fact particularly cautious (in application of European regulations) to open (or maintain) bank accounts only for companies which are, on the one hand, beyond suspicion of being linked, closely or indirectly, to operations relating to money laundering, and which can demonstrate, on the other hand, the reality of their effective presence on Bulgarian territory.
To verify the reality of the effective presence of a company on Bulgarian territory, banks analyze in particular the following clues such as:
- The nationality and residence of the partners;
- The nationality and residence of the directors;
- The importance of infrastructure rented or owned on Bulgarian territory: for example, the size of offices acquired or rented, etc.
- The size of the workforce present on Bulgarian territory.
In this context, it is true that a company whose partners or managers reside abroad encounter significant difficulties in their relations with Bulgarian banks, without it being definitively impossible for them to open a bank account, particularly in the case where the Bulgarian company has premises and employs Bulgarian staff. Banks will then often require the formal designation of a contact person in Bulgaria (an accountant, a notary, a lawyer, etc.) who will assume the obligations of correspondence and communication between the Bulgarian bank and the client company.
LPG Bulgaria can, under certain conditions and within the framework of a written mandate, facilitate the opening of an account and then act as contact person with the Bulgarian bank for its clients.