How to Open a Business Bank Account for Your Company in Cameroon

One of the key factors in successful business management is to keep your business and personal finance separate. This can be done easily by having a separate bank account for each. In this case, you will have to open a business bank account that will run entirely for your business.

A corporate or business bank account can be opened for any type of business – sole proprietorships, partnerships, private and public limited companies, cooperative societies, etc.

Having a business bank account today allows you to:

• safely make payments worldwide
• easily manage your bank account online
• withdraw cash instantly from any international automatic teller machine (ATM)
• make cashless as well as online payments
• keep track of your expenses
• plan your budget more accurately
• manage employee pay

Having a business bank account for your company helps to legitimize and proof you are in real business. It also helps you to keep a track record of what you will report as income and expenses when declaring your statistics and tax returns. In this case, having a bank account is very vital in the management of your taxes.

You can check out the tax guide for limited liability companies in Cameroon. This will help you to know your tax liabilities as a company. You can also check on these 8 common council taxes in Cameroon you may have to pay.

In order for you to get a corporate or business bank account, you need to follow the simple steps below:

1. What type of bank account do you need?

You have to first know the type of account you will need. You have many types of bank accounts in Cameroon depending on the financial institution where you want to open an account. The following type of bank accounts exists:

• Individual bank accounts – mainly for salaried workers
• Student bank account – for students
• Pensioner bank account – for retirees
• Traders bank account – for traders, especially those under the discharge tax system
• Non-resident bank account
• Bank account for associations and non-profits
• Sole-ownership business accounts for liberal professions
• Business and corporate account for limited companies
• Civil servants bank account
• Bank account for public and parastatal organizations

In our case here, we are talking of a corporate or business bank account. You need to discuss with an accounting professional so they can explain to you the type of bank account you may need.

2. Choose a bank for your business bank account

Before you choose a bank, you are supposed to know why you need a bank in the first place. It may be that you are looking for a bank that offers specialized services like giving out loans to small businesses or investment help. You need to have the following in mind when choosing a bank for your corporate bank account in Cameroon:

• Find out about their monthly maintenance fee
• Find out if they have cash and transaction limits
• Can it easily integrate with your accounting software?
• Do you they offer loans or have special offers for their clients
• Can one carry out transactions online, etc.

Your intuition may be of help when choosing the best bank to open your corporate account. This is because the corporate account and bank practices are fairly similar and the visible difference is the financial institution that offers them.

3. Is your business registered?

To open a corporate or business account for your company in Cameroon, you will need to first of all have it incorporated. The basic requirements of this type of bank account requires that you have your business incorporated, have a taxpayers identification number and an operating business license.

You can download the requirements for incorporating a company in Cameroon. Note that all the documents received after incorporation are required in the opening of a corporate bank account.

Below is a list of some of the documents required by commercial banks or credit unions to open a business bank account in Cameroon:

• An application for opening a bank account (usually on company letterhead). Want to have your corporate branding done by a professional? Get in touch with us so we can refer you to our partners.
• 4X4 passport size photographs
• A photocopy of national identity cards or passports of the signatories
• Photocopy of incorporation certificate
• A copy of the articles of associations (notarized)
• A photocopy of your business license (still in validity)
• A photocopy of your taxpayer card
• Attestation and localization plan certified by the tax office
• An initial deposit that depends on each bank
• A company stamp is required

Various credit unions and commercial banks may have additional demands which we will be exploring in different posts in the future.

However, you need to know that before heading to the bank, you are supposed to have all the requirements and paperwork needed to open a corporate or business bank account. If you are still to incorporate your company or want to do it now, we are just an inbox away to guide you on how to go about it.

You may also want to read a previous post on this blog on how to incorporate a limited liability company in 5 easy steps. You can also download the requirements needed to incorporate a company in Cameroon.

Checkout these useful links:

Open a Corporate Bank Account with Ecobank Cameroon

Open a Corporate Account with Afriland First bank

Open a Corporate Account with BICEC

Open a Corporate Account United Bank for Africa

OpenHub Digital does its best to provide accurate and up-to-date information. Don’t hesitate to notify us if you have seen any inaccuracy in this post. Let’s know in the comment section.