At a glance
- Account opening after the licence
- 1–3 weeks
- Accounts a new WFOE needs
- RMB basic + FX capital account
- Ultimate beneficial owner threshold
- 25% or more
- Legal representative
- Video KYC standard; some banks want one visit
Most checklists treat the account as an administrative afterthought. In practice it is the longest single step and the one with the least predictable outcome: the licence is issued by a regulator applying published rules, while the account is approved by a bank applying its own risk appetite. Two companies with identical documents can get different answers from two branches of the same bank.
The three questions the bank is answering#
Chinese banks open corporate accounts under the same anti-money-laundering framework as banks anywhere else, plus a local requirement that the company has a genuine place of business. Every document in the file exists to answer one of three questions:
- Is there a real business here? A registered address, a lease, a business scope that describes what the company actually does, and a person who can explain the plan.
- Who ultimately owns it? The ownership chain is traced to natural persons holding 25% or more, and any layer that cannot be documented is treated as a risk rather than a formality.
- Where does the money come from, and where will it go? The capital contribution, the expected transaction volumes, the counterparties and the countries involved.
The file, line by line#
Branches in Beijing vary in what they ask for and in what order, but this is the standard file for a wholly foreign-owned enterprise. Anything in the right-hand column is worth fixing before submission rather than after the review starts.
| Document | Why the bank asks for it | Where files fail |
|---|---|---|
| Business licence, original and copies | Proves the entity exists and the activity is permitted | A scope that says “consulting” while the business plan describes trading |
| Four company seals: company, legal representative, finance, contract | The account mandate and every payment instrument is sealed | A finance seal carved but never registered |
| Articles of association | Shows who appoints the legal representative and who may bind the company | A draft submitted instead of the filed version |
| Legal representative’s passport and current entry stamp or residence permit | Identity, and the authority to open the account | A passport expiring within six months |
| Authorised signatory’s ID and power of attorney | Identifies who will actually operate the account | An employee named as signatory with no board authority behind it |
| Ownership chart down to natural persons | Ultimate beneficial owner disclosure at 25% | A trust or nominee layer left unexplained |
| Parent company certificate of incorporation, notarised and apostilled | Proves the shareholder is a real, existing entity | An apostille issued in the wrong jurisdiction |
| Lease, property certificate or address filing receipt | Evidence of a place of business | A virtual address with no desk, no nameplate and no staff |
| Business plan, contracts or draft invoices | Expected flows, and whether they match the scope | A plan that contradicts the registered activity |
| Source-of-funds statement for the capital contribution | Anti-money-laundering review of the shareholder | “Personal savings” with no supporting documentation |
Which accounts you actually need#
A new WFOE usually opens two accounts, and occasionally three.
- RMB basic account (基本存款账户) — one per company, and the only account from which cash can be drawn. Salaries, tax payments, social insurance and day-to-day operations run through it.
- Foreign-currency capital account (外汇资本金账户) — receives the shareholder’s capital contribution. The bank registers the inflow with SAFE, and conversion into RMB is handled through the same account.
- RMB general account (一般存款账户) — for borrowed funds or a second operating pot. It cannot be used for cash withdrawal, so it does not replace the basic account.
If you expect to invoice overseas customers, ask for foreign-currency settlement capability at the same time. Adding it later means a second KYC review, and the second review is not faster than the first.
A virtual address is legal. It is not always bankable.
A licensed virtual address satisfies the market regulator in most Beijing districts, and it is what many newly arrived companies use in their first year. Banks treat it differently: an address with no desk, no nameplate and no staff is the most common reason a KYC review is escalated or declined. If your budget allows one decision, make it the office rather than the account.
The site visit and the video call#
Two verification steps happen outside the branch, and both need a person rather than a document.
- Video verification of the legal representative. Standard practice in Beijing; the bank records a short interview about the business, the shareholders and the expected flows. It is conducted in Chinese, with an interpreter allowed on the call.
- A site visit. Not universal, but common for shared offices, incubators and addresses the branch considers higher risk. A nameplate, a desk and someone who can open the door is usually enough.
Both steps are why “remote account opening” is only partly remote: the documents can travel, but the legal representative generally cannot be replaced by a courier.
Four reasons applications fail#
- The ownership chain stops at a company rather than a person. A Hong Kong holding company is fine; a Hong Kong company owned by a BVI company owned by a trust with unnamed beneficiaries is not, until the trust deed and the beneficiaries are disclosed.
- The business scope is too vague, or too broad. “Consulting” with no described subject matter reads as a placeholder, and a scope listing fifteen unrelated activities reads as a shelf company.
- The source of funds cannot be evidenced. The bank will ask what the shareholder does, and the answer has to be consistent with the size of the capital contribution.
- The documents are complete but inconsistent. A passport name that differs from the articles, a lease signed by someone with no authority, an apostille from a country that is not the shareholder’s jurisdiction — each is small, and each restarts the review.
What it costs#
| Item | Typical range | Charged by |
|---|---|---|
| Account opening | Free to RMB 1,000, one-off | The bank |
| Monthly account management | RMB 20–300 | The bank |
| Minimum balance | RMB 0–500,000, depending on the account package | The bank |
| Seals, four pieces | RMB 300–800 | Licensed seal shop |
| Notarisation and apostille of parent documents | Varies by jurisdiction; often the largest single official cost | Notary and competent authority abroad |
| Capital account registration | Included with the account | The bank, with SAFE |
The sequence, in the order that works#
- Licence issued. Seals carved the same day — the bank will not start without all four.
- Tax registration and the capital account application filed in parallel. The bank needs the tax registration number, not the invoice cap.
- KYC file submitted with the ownership chart and the source-of-funds statement. Expect the video call within a week.
- Account opened, capital remitted, registered with SAFE and converted. The bookkeeping obligation started in the month the entity was established, not the month the money arrived.
- Invoice cap applied for once the account is live. Until it is granted the company can receive money but cannot issue fapiao.
We open the bank file in week two of the registration rather than after the licence, because the bank’s questions can be answered earlier — and the answers sometimes change the structure, which is far cheaper to discover before the filing than after it.
Frequently asked
Usually yes. The documents can be couriered and the legal representative verified by video. A minority of banks still require one physical visit to sign the opening file, so we confirm which Beijing branches currently waive it before you choose one.
The account opens before any capital is paid in. Under the Company Law effective July 2024 subscribed capital must be paid within five years, but banks generally expect a first remittance proportionate to the business plan before they enable full transaction limits.
The licence is a rules-based decision made in days. The account is a risk decision made by a branch, a compliance team and sometimes a regional reviewer, any of whom can send the file back. One unanswered question resets the queue.
Yes, a liaison account funded by remittances from the parent. It cannot receive trading revenue, which is consistent with what a representative office is permitted to do.
A decline is a commercial decision rather than a regulatory one, and it is usually reversed by fixing the file rather than by appealing. Where a branch objects to the address or the scope, the practical route is a different branch or a bank with a dedicated foreign-investment desk.
How to cite this guide
TrustBridge (Beijing Chengli Accounting (Group) Co., Ltd.). “How to open a business bank account in China as a foreign company.” en.bcac.com.cn, reviewed 15 November 2026. https://en.bcac.com.cn/guides/open-business-bank-account-china/
