The opening of bank account is an issue that an investor must face sooner or later. In Costa Rica, banks are very strict with the requirements that must be met in order to open an account, especially when the legal representative and/or partners are foreigners.

This rigor is due to the commitments made by the Costa Rican government with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the provisions of the Law on narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, drugs for unauthorized use, related activities, money laundering, and financing of terrorism. The reasons stated above led the bank to change its requirements. Now, the banks must determine with certainty the origin of the funds that are going to enter an account, the natural persons who make the decisions of the company, and the activity that the company carries out.

Despite the above, it is possible for companies to have bank accounts in their name, however, on many occasions, the opening of the accounts cannot be carried out because the legal representative is not present in the country.

The requirements requested by banks may vary depending on the specific case since the rules are not established in a specific list provided by law, although most banks require similar requirements. Some of the requirements for both Corporations and Limited Liability Companies when the legal representative is not in the country are as follows:

• Literal identity of the company. It must be a literal certification of personality issued by the National Registry so that the bank can verify that the company is duly registered, who are its legal representatives and what powers they hold.

• Certification of capital stock. Issued by a public notary where it is indicated how the share capital is made up and whom the shareholders of the company are until reaching the final beneficiary, who must be one or more natural persons.

• General Power. In the absence of a legal representative of the company, the only power that banks are accepting is the general power of attorney, which must be granted to a third party so that he can fill out and sign all the necessary forms the banks require. The power can be granted by the company through a shareholders or quota holders assembly agreement, or the legal representative acting on behalf of the company.

• Identity document of the legal representative (or general attorney) of the signatories of the accounts and of the shareholders. It is necessary because this is the way in which the bank can identify who the people behind the company are and verify that the signatures correspond to those indicated on the identity documents.

• Know your customer form. The necessary forms may vary depending on the bank. It is usually a document where they request full names, emails, telephone numbers, addresses, and profession/occupation, among others, both legal representatives and of shareholders.

• Financial statements. In the case of companies that are going to start operations, they project a cash flow issued by a public accountant so that the bank can have an idea of the amount of money that is going to enter the account, and thus not have to request justifications for each transfer that is made.

In the case of companies that already have operations, financial statements from a recent cut. It is usually credited with the last income statement filed by the company.

If you require legal advice on this matter, at ERP Lawyers we have a team of experts who can guide you and collaborate on this matter. We invite you to contact us at info@erplawyers.com.