Offshore Company Bank Accounts

The Vanuatu based banks

There are 3 major international banks licensed to operate in Vanuatu and 1 local bank.

International banks are:-

Westpac Banking Corp, www.westpac.vu,

BRED (Vanuatu) Limited, http://www.bred.vu,

The ANZ Bank (Vanuatu) Limited, http://www.anz.com/vanuatu/en/personal/.

The local bank is the Vanuatu Government owned bank:-

The National Bank of Vanuatu Limited, http://www.nbv.vu/.

Each bank offers facilities which may not be available at the other banks. Please contact us for options for facilities required to operate your business.

Will the bank release information about the company account to anyone else?

Banks are subject to the usual bank/customer confidentiality practices. In addition to this, Vanuatu banks are bound by the confidentiality provisions under Section 125 of the International Companies Act of 1992; where they provide their facilities to companies incorporated under this Act, to keep confidential all information pertaining to the company. No information can be released without a Vanuatu Court Order in a Vanuatu recognized criminal investigation. practices.

What happens if there is no money in the account?

All banks have different criteria. Some will charge a monthly penalty fee for balances falling below the minimum, some banks will close the account when it falls below 1,000 of the denominated currency. All banks will close the account if it falls to nil balance and after a month or a few months. This will depend on how soon they pick this up.

How do I make deposits?

You may send funds by telegraphic transfer (TT), bank drafts and cheques. The cheapest and most reliable option is to send by TT. Details will be provided when you incorporate a company. Bank drafts and cheques drawn on a foreign bank are physicall sent back to the issuing bank for clearance before the bank will credit the funds to the company’s account. This, you can imagine will take up to 6 weeks in some cases, depending on where the issuer bank’s jurisdiction is. During the cheque clearance process, all intermediary banks will take out their fees as it passes through them and you will end up with significantly less funds than expected at the end of the process. Needless to say, this induces one to poetic waxing.

All banks have fees to clear TT, Drafts and cheques. Please consult their website for more details.

Bank drafts or personal cheques can be mailed to Moores Rowland for on-forwarding to the bank.

When wiring funds by Telegraphic Transfer to Moores Rowland for deposit in your corporate account you will need to advise your bank to remit the funds to: 

Bank : Westpac Banking Corporation
SWIFT Code : WPACVUVX
BSB Number : 039-033
Account Name : Moores Rowland
Account Number: 01-650577-08 USD Trust Account.
Reference : Please use your company or your name as reference, for us to identify the beneficial owner of the funds.

How do I make withdrawals?

Some of the Vanuatu Banks offer Debit card solutions to access funds in the company’s account. Please email us for more details. Alternatively you may set up a Credit Card in the company’s name for company expenses, i.e. car rentals, online hotel bookings/payments etc. This card also has ATM cash withdrawal facilities.

For general day to day business TT transactions, banks will accept signed instructions sent by facsimile. Most banks also do accept emails instructions.

How do I get bank statements?

Company bank statements are sent to the company’s registered office once a month. Some banks do offer internet access to view the company’s account balances and transaction history.

Moores Rowland Vanuatu, on the client’s instructions, will forward bank statements when in receipt.

http://www.mooresrowland.com