Director and Shareholder residency requirement for opening a UK business account

Director and Shareholder residency requirement...

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Hi everyone, 

I would like to get some clarification about the residency requirement to open a UK business bank account. I'm aware that at least 50% of the director has to be a UK resident. However speaking to Barclays today I was informed that if the majority shareholder (more than 10% holding) is not a resident in the UK , the business account would be classified as an offshore account. Does this make sense to anyone? 

Speaking with another bank, RBS, they told me at first that as long as the company is incorporated in the UK, the Directors could live anywhere. However upon further probing, they did then say a similar thing, the majority shareholder has to be a resident in the UK because they are seen to be the "person in charge".

Does this sound right to anyone or is this just a case of call center operators reading off a script? Can anyone tell me where I could find general information about the residency requirement for director/shareholder in the UK? I'm getting a feeling that there is a bit of a mix of banking policy and legal requirement (MLR for example).

Thanks for the help. 

Kasih

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By Darren Loring
18th Nov 2014 13:26

Same Info I was given

Hi.

That is the same as I was told the other year when I checked with all the major banks - majority shareholder has to be UK resident - as they all told me that I had to accept it!

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By Jim100
18th Nov 2014 14:08

Director

Not sure what the implications are but to help your client can't you become a director until the bank accounts is opened and then resign as a director.

 

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