Can an SMC Company open a Bank Account in Pakistan? Yes. But what if the CEO is not in country?
We received the following question regarding opening a bank account for Single Member Private Limited Companies (SMC) in Pakistan:
I have incorporated an SMC, I would like to open a bank account. I do have Certified Digital Copies. At the moment, I am not in Pakistan, can the CEO of the company open a bank account? Could you help me with the process?
Some SMC Owner
So apparently the owner of the Company is not physically present in Pakistan and is wondering if he can send someone over to a bank and have them open a business account on his behalf. That someone could pretend to be a CEO.
Can an SMC open a business Bank account in Pakistan if the CEO is overseas?
We made some phone calls and responded to them with the following:
If its an SMC, then you yourself should be the CEO and Director with 100% shares/ownership.
For SMC account opening, only you are authorized to go to a bank and have an account opened. A salaried CEO cannot do this on your behalf.
If you want someone else to open an account for you, you would need to register as a Pvt. Ltd company with another person owning some shares. This other person could then assume the role of a CEO/Director/Financial Manager and have the signing authority to open an account and perform transactions for the company.
beyond nothing .com
So the owner of a Single Member Company is the signing authority for all his/her business transactions. That includes banking transactions. Otherwise it would not be an SMC anymore as a partner is involved.
An authority letter authorizing someone to sign bank stuff for your SMC company would also not be acceptable to the bank.
One workaround this would be to turn the SMC into a Pvt Ltd by giving 1 share to someone. This could be 0.0001% of your company depending on how you have divided up your shares. Then that shareholder can open a bank account for you, though it would technically not be an SMC anymore. Then you make them sell that 1 share back to you and turn your organization back into an SMC. And then fire them.
