Every person either is a member of any foreign company or a resident of any specific country; he needs a valid bank account to fulfill his livelihood requirements. The same is the case with Japan, as they also require their residents and foreigners to open a bank account.

Moreover, every business needs a bank account because financial transactions are done through a bank to a bank account in this modern world. Personal bank accounts are operated differently from corporate bank accounts that are specially made for completing business financial activities.

So, if your business operates in Japan, you need to open a bank account in a Japanese bank, enabling your work to proceed professionally. In addition, a corporate bank account in japan helps you in various things such as accepting credit cards, making tax filing easy and offering many signatories to the account.

The employees of foreign companies residing in japan come up with the thinking that opening a bank account in Japanese banks is a tedious task to do because the list of required documents is much longer than any other country’s bank account. But if you proceed with the process with the help of corporations, it will become easy.

We are here to provide you with a summary of opening a corporate bank account in japan if you work as a foreigner in Japanese companies. So let’s move!

Registering your business:

The corporate account in Japan cannot be opened if you still haven’t registered your business in japan. In case of opening corporate accounts, you need to register the business as a foreign company. The process of setting up foreign corporations in Japan is an easy-to-do task, and you can get information about it in the other article.

In Japanese banks, you need to open a personal bank account with a minimum capital share of 5,000,000 yawn currency, which will be deposited first. Therefore, opening a personal bank account is an easy process compared to corporate bank accounts.

You need the following documents for opening a personal account in most Japanese banks:

• Residence card
• passport
• address
• phone number in japan
• Signature stamp (as Hanko)
• phone number of the bank you choose

Once the legal affairs bureau registers your business, you can go for opening a business bank account known as a corporate bank account in Japanese banks.

Choosing one of the major banks in Japan:

Japanese banks prefer to choose the same bank for the corporate account as for the personal one. However, there is no restriction if you want to change the bank for your company according to your personal preference. Furthermore, many banks are offering easy processes for a corporate bank account.

It is recommended that a non-Japanese resident choose a bank that can meet your company’s or business’s criteria in Japan. Banks provide you with the services like online banking services, ATM transfer limits, cost of service usage, etc.

For your information, it is worth noting that many banks hire the English speaking staff to deal with foreigners in large branch offices. These banks are Shinsei bank, Sumitomo Mitsui banking corporation, Mizuho Bank, and Mitsubishi ufj bank, as they fall in the category of major Japanese banks.

Collecting documents required and submit to the bank:

Some documents are needed for opening a corporate bank account and once you get them, submit them to your chosen Japanese corporation’s bank account.

• A certified copy of the corporate register shows the complete history of your company records that can be obtained from the legal affairs bureau.
• It needs certification of official registration of the corporate signature stamp, and it is also available at the legal affairs bureau.
• The certificate of incorporation.
• Another corporate signature stamp serves as a Hanko-designed business.
• The identity card of the representative director of the Japanese company.

The corporate bank account opening needs original copies of the documents the Japanese banks require. Additionally, sometimes they request additional documents about foreign businesses. Therefore, all the documents the bank account application provides must be given on time.

Interview with the chosen Japan’s bank:        

Once the documents are submitted to the bank on time, they will call you for an interview with the bank representatives. The company or business in Japan needs proper information as you will add markup towards the Japanese economy and financial institutions.

In the interview, they will ask questions about your new company, how you operate it, your business income perspectives, which services you offer to Japanese corporations, etc.

Moreover, the bank representatives will come to see your office space and need to see your business cards, websites, customer receipts, and finance. Therefore, the non-resident should dress formally during the interview according to Japanese rituals.

Once the interview is completed, the Japanese bank took two weeks to complete the process of reviewing all the documents and services offered by your office. After completing the process, they will inform you about their decision.

Advantages of having a bank account in Japan:

The foreign company employees also come to Japan from other countries, and most of them are not fluent in Japanese, making them hesitate to open a bank account. However, some Japanese foreign banks, such as mufg bank, and several have English-speaking staff that helps people who don’t have a corporate seal.

If you open a new bank account in Japan, it will offer you the following services:

ATm’s help:

The bank account service will provide you with the convenience of taking and giving money out easily by using the ATM services open in Japan. In this case, you can withdraw your money without deducting extra charges.

Bank’s local office:

If you choose a bank on the client’s behalf, you can easily send money using the bank’s local offices. In addition, several banks offer wire transfers which can be used to receive money on the shared office documents.

The postal system in Japan:

The corporate business or company that opens a bank account should have a six-month residency in Japan. So if you extend your time period to more than six months in Japan for running an office, company, or business, then you should opt for the postal service of Japan.

Various companies that open in Japan start with the idea of residing for the settlement of their business. So, in this case, for example, you will need to post letters to other businesses or companies accordingly; that’s why postal services will help.

Every city in Japan has mailboxes through which letters are sent and received towards each other, whether a business or a company. Furthermore, in every Japanese home, you will see a small mailbox that doesn’t accommodate bigger things.

The Japanese postal services work out quite well in every circumstance for each company, and it also enables you to send office packages to others through shipping. It takes some money according to the calculation of the distance from one city or country to the other.

Banking vocabulary In the Japanese language:

Some terms are related to the banking system of Japan that foreigners should know to work out there without any problem, such as:

Bank = ginkou

balance = zandaka

deposit = yokin

Yen = en

passbook = tsuucho

Cash = genkin

Registration = kichou

Dollar = do-ru

Debt = shakkin

If you want to live in Japan for a long time, you should buy some English-Japanese dictionaries because those will be very helpful for getting information about the system of Japanese.

Additional Documents needed for the corporate bank account:

As we have discussed earlier, Japanese law is strict about foreign office opening because they only allow businesses to reside with the potential and service that will help their people and economy efficiently.

In 2017, the government of Japan revised the laws for foreign companies because of the increased rate of scamming and fraud, money laundering, and the funding of criminal or terrorist activities. These things made the government change the rules for companies in Japan for their business.

It needs the following documents:

• Company’s registered address, which works as a combined office (in the case of a shell corporation)
• apply for the bank that is near to the address of your company’s office, choose the branch offices in your city
• purpose of business
• Paid-in capital with a range of minimum and maximum amounts you can pay easily for registering your company
• Personal mobile number
• If the director of the company lives outside Japan, then do not provide information about them as it will increase the rate of declining your request to open a corporate bank account
• Details about shareholders
• Every document with the Japanese translation
• Obtain a business license or permit before applying for a bank account

Conclusion:

Opening a new business in Japan requires many things which should be ready before applying for a corporate account. Each and every detail of the documents is mentioned above, which will be very helpful if you carefully consider them and then go for a business account in Japan.

Japan offers many advantages to their foreigners if you keep them satisfied with your operating business. If you work out there with loyalty, you will have no problem even if you live for several years in Japan.

I hope it will be helpful for you!