A Complete Guide to Opening an Account with Corporate Banking in Malaysia

This guide is intended to summarize the requirements for opening a company bank account and to help you choose the right bank to meet the banking needs of your Malaysian company, especially for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Please note that the information provided here is for general guidance only. Once you have selected a few of these banks, you should confirm the nature of your bank account directly with the bank to ensure that you are aware of their latest policies and products.

In recent years, most banks in Malaysia have tightened up the process of opening a corporate bank account. The latest message is that an expatriate who wishes to act as an authorized signatory for a company bank account may have to be in possession of a valid business/work visa/permit, otherwise he may not be allowed to act as a cheque signatory.

Nonetheless, Rising Global Consultants Sdn. Bhd has a proven track record as Malaysia’s company formation experts and bank account opening specialists, having assisted numerous expatriate clients to successfully open their company bank accounts. Malaysia continues to be a country that welcomes foreign investors to invest and do business in order to help develop the job market and contribute to economic growth. If your company has a strong holding company overseas to support its finances, the chances of successfully opening a bank account can be greatly increased.

Generally, banks in Malaysia will require you to provide the following in order to open a company bank account for your company incorporated in Malaysia：
– Standardized account opening form signed by an authorized signatory
– A copy of the document certified by the company secretary as follows：

• Resolution of the Board of Directors approving the opening of a corporate bank account
• Super form
• Articles of association
• Registration Notice

– Copies of passports or identity cards of directors, authorized signatories and ultimate beneficiaries and proof of address.
– A copy of the Certificate of Incumbency of a Holding Company (for corporate shareholders only). A Certificate of Incumbency is an official document that lists the names of the current directors and officers of a corporation’s organization and their positions within the corporation. The Certificate of Incumbency is used to confirm the identity of those who are authorized to sign for the corporation and to certify that they are authorized to sign legally binding transactions on behalf of the corporation.
– If the bank requires an introducer

Different banks have different requirements for opening a bank account. If necessary, you are advised to visit your preferred bank to confirm its requirements. In general, you will need to provide us with the following information so that we can prepare the resolution and related documents for opening a bank account:

• Bank name, branch and address
• Type of account – E.G 例如 Current account, Internet banking, Foreign currency account etc…
• Sample/format of bank resolution for opening a bank provided by the bank
• Type of prescribed form and number of copies required by the bank
• Details of authorized signatory (name on identity card, identity card number, designation (if not a company director))
• Mode of operation (sole proprietorship or joint venture or other)

Most banks require the signatories and directors of the head of account to be physically present in Malaysia to sign official documents when opening a company bank account. Some banks may even require the company to set up a physical office before processing the bank account opening application. In addition, the bank may require additional documents from the company on a case-by-case basis.

It is important to note that all banks in Malaysia are required to comply with strict legal requirements. Therefore banks will conduct a series of thorough checks and investigations on their potential clients before opening new accounts for individual companies.

This is not only to protect them from any potential default risk, but also as part of the regulatory compliance and strict anti-money laundering policy – as you are aware, Malaysia is very serious about combating Terrorist Financing and other illegal or suspicious transactions. As a result, companies involved in unsavory transactions can face difficulties.

It can take anywhere from a few weeks to three months to open a new company bank account, depending on the amount of investigation the bank conducts in confirming the identity and/or creditworthiness of the company’s directors, secretary and the company itself. For those who do not physically come to Malaysia to make the application, the processing time for the application to open an account can be even longer, and the likelihood of the application being approved is extremely low unless your holding company has a strong relationship with the bank.

Therefore, it is highly recommended that you apply to open a company bank account in person in Malaysia to avoid any delays and to improve the chances of approval. The bank always reserves the right to request the beneficiary to appear in person before the bank account application is approved.

Please let us know if you would like us to arrange for a UOB banker to meet you in Malaysia. It is more convenient to open a bank account with our partner bank as they have all the information of our company secretary.

For single director company in person (please note that most banks usually require at least one director to be present in person to open a bank account), we can assist you free of charge if you wish to open a bank account with UOB. If you choose to open an account with another bank, you will need to visit that branch in person.

To open an account with your own bank of choice and to request our nominee director/secretary to sign the bank account opening form, a written resolution from the directors must be prepared to authorize the director/company secretary to execute it. We will assist in the preparation of the resolution and signing of the bank documents at a cost starting from RM150 per bank account.

It is important to note that you need to ascertain with the bank first whether the bank will allow us to sign without physically visiting the branch. If you require our nominee director/secretary to visit the bank branch for signing, an additional fee of RM500 will be charged.

For companies that want to open a bank account, some banks may require all directors to visit the branch/other branches/overseas branches. However, please note that not all banks are able to certify signatures at other branches/overseas branches, and certification at overseas branches usually has a lower approval rate.

In the process of opening a bank account, we can only provide document authentication services including passport / ID card copy authentication if the person concerned is physically present in our office and has the original documents. (Additional charges will apply)