Open a corporate bank account for your WFOE in China – even with a difficult passport.
Until the RMB Basic account opens, a registered WFOE cannot pay its suppliers and staff, and it cannot settle tax. The bank’s decision depends on who owns the company and what it trades, and the legal representative has to go to the branch in person. We pre-screen your profile with banks and prepare the file before that trip.
What we open
Which accounts your Chinese company needs, and what each one is for
A WFOE’s banking has two parts: payments inside China in RMB, and transfers across the border. SAFE, the foreign-exchange regulator, monitors the second part.
RMB (yuan) Basic account
This account handles RMB transfers inside China only. The company uses it to pay staff and suppliers and to collect from domestic customers. Tax and rent are settled from it too. Every WFOE must hold one as its core domestic account.
Foreign-currency account
This foreign-currency (FX) account holds currencies such as USD and EUR and handles payments in and out of China. It works under the company’s SAFE registration. Every inbound and outbound transfer is matched against a documented purpose. Your WFOE needs it to receive money from foreign customers and to pay foreign suppliers for goods. Converting between RMB and foreign currency also goes through this account.
How Chinese business bank accounts work
The video explains why some passports lead to weeks of “we need to confirm with headquarters” and why major banks are stricter but more stable. It also covers why outgoing transfers are harder than incoming ones.
Watch on YouTube →
Find your passport tier
How Chinese banks read your passport
Your passport is the biggest factor – though not the only one – in which China accounts open, and which restrictions they come with. These tiers match how the banks read you. They are built from public sanctions and FATF listings plus what we see banks do at onboarding. Policy also differs from branch to branch: a founder refused at one branch may be accepted at another, which is why we pre-screen. Where a passport can be obtained by investment or naturalisation, the tier is indicative: some banks also check the place of birth. Find your country below to see which account types are realistic.
Banks run standard KYC checks. Many Chinese banks work with these profiles without additional scrutiny. Accounts open in 3–10 business days after the face scan. Rejection is rare; when it happens, the cause is the business model or the payment geography.
Banks ask for source-of-funds evidence (where your money comes from) and extended KYC. Major Chinese banks open these accounts with EDD. An introducer helps, and we act as that introducer.
Most major Chinese banks decline these profiles. The realistic route is a regional bank, with the application made through an introducer. The outcome depends on the case, and enhanced due diligence is required.
Almost all Chinese banks reject these profiles. The realistic route is an application through an introducer to a small number of regional banks.
These countries are under comprehensive OFAC or UN sanctions programmes. No account opens in China for these passports.
How we work
Opening the account starts before the company is registered
Step 0 happens before the WFOE is registered – we tell you on the scope call whether the path is realistic for your profile. Steps 1–4 run after the WFOE is in place.
Scope call
We look at your passport and business together – what you sell, and where the money flows – and check this against the banks we work with. If none would take the profile, we tell you before you pay for a company.
Pre-application introduction
After your Chinese company is registered, we introduce your profile to the bank and ask for a preliminary answer. If that bank declines the profile, we move to the next one before the branch visit.
Legal rep visit to bank
The legal representative – the person named on the business licence – appears at the branch in person. The bank scans their face against the passport, and the account papers are signed by hand.
Bank review
While the file is reviewed at the branch, the bank also visits your registered address to check the office is real – with a virtual office, the office provider must be present for that visit. The RMB Basic account is approved first, and the FX account follows.
Account live
The RMB Basic and FX accounts are active. The bank issues online banking credentials, typically tied to one or more physical USB tokens whose drivers need Windows on most banks.
Common questions
The bank account behind a WFOE
Can I open a corporate bank account in a Chinese bank without a WFOE?
You can – a foreign company, a Hong Kong one for example, opens a non-resident account at a mainland bank. The NRA (non-resident account) is widely available and mostly serves RMB, the Chinese currency. The free-trade-zone account (FTN) converts between currencies much more freely, but the bank asks for an affiliated company in mainland China, so a foreign company with no mainland company cannot open it. As a rule, the NRA is opened in person. We cover this route from the Hong Kong side separately.
Do I need to visit China in person? What if I can’t travel?
The legal representative must appear at the branch for a face scan and signatures. Almost every Chinese bank requires this. The rule applies to the legal representative, not to the shareholder: if you cannot travel, the role can be held by a person you appoint. Changing the legal representative later is a registry filing, so decide before registration.
How long does it take to open an account in China for a WFOE?
Once the company is registered, it typically takes 2–4 weeks from document submission to active RMB Basic and FX accounts.
How does money move in and out of China for a WFOE?
Every cross-border transfer is matched against a documented purpose, and SAFE (the foreign-exchange regulator) tracks both directions.
Inbound payments (from abroad into China) land in the FX account. Each transfer has to match an invoice or a contract. Standard inbound payments from stable counterparty countries are relatively straightforward when the documents are complete.
Outbound payments for goods (from China to a foreign supplier) need more documents and a SAFE filing. Service payments to foreign providers are rarely cleared for small WFOEs – most Chinese companies route their international contractors through a Hong Kong entity instead.
What happens if a bank declines my application?
Our formula for mainland banks: if after pre-screening we promise you an account, it will be opened. Where a bank says no at pre-screening, we go to the next bank before any formal application is filed. Credit or trade financing is another matter: for foreign-owned companies with difficult-passport owners it is close to impossible.
My passport is Tier 3 or Tier 4. Is there a realistic path for my WFOE?
Yes: through regional banks, after we pre-screen your profile with them. Some regional Chinese banks accept these profiles when the file comes through a bank manager we work with. Sometimes a major Chinese bank accepts too, but it limits the account to payments inside China. Each case is decided individually.
Whatever the tier, we do not open accounts for trade that exists only on paper. We also do not open them for transit trade: a Chinese company buys goods in one country and sells them in another, and the goods never enter China. China does not allow it. The structure for that trade is a Hong Kong company.
Book a free call
Take the thirty minutes first – the call answers whether an account can open for your passport and trade.
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