Seychelles is one of the most well-known and commonly used offshore jurisdictions. The country has a comprehensive offshore corporate services sector, being the registered domicile of a few hundred thousand international business companies operated by nonresidents. The main key drivers of such popularity across the offshore industry have been its lenient regulations and corporate compliance requirements as well as its low costs.
Considering its size, Seychelles has a notable securities industry, regulated by the Seychelles Financial Services Authority (FSA) overseeing the regulation and supervision of non-banking financial services. Most players in the securities industry are offshore securities dealers trading in OTC derivative instruments.
Despite having a large offshore company industry, most banks in Seychelles do not generally serve offshore companies.
The necessity to maintain solid correspondent banking relationships - which are paramount for the local economy, especially the local tourism industry, and the fact that Seychelles has a dependency on the import of foreign goods - has led to Seychelles’ banking sector being considerably risk-averse, and have a very low risk appetite. Therefore, most offshore companies registered in Seychelles generally bank outside of Seychelles.
Seychelles' banking sector is small. It currently has 7 licensed operating banks. These include both locally-owned banks and subsidiaries of foreign banks.
The Central Bank of Seychelles (CBS), established in 1983, serves as the primary regulatory authority overseeing the country's banking sector.
Local banks, such as Seychelles Commercial Bank and Nouvobanq, primarily focus on retail banking services, catering to local residents and small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with a strong emphasis on personal banking, loans, and basic investment products.
Foreign-owned banks operating in Seychelles are typically part of South Asian and African banking groups such as Al Salam Bank, Absa Bank, and Mauritius Commercial Bank provide a broader range of services, including large corporate banking, and wealth management, targeting international businesses, expatriates, and high-net-worth individuals. Such banks generally serve companies trading between Seychelles and its main trading partners in South Asia and Africa.
Our services in Seychelles consist of helping non-residents operating through Seychelles IBCs or other offshore companies seeking to open corporate bank accounts in Seychelles.
We work with 1 different banks in Seychelles, each bank has different eligibility requirements, types of accounts available and onboarding processes.
We invite you to carefully review each banks requirements and services to better understand if their banking services meet your needs.
The Republic of Seychelles is a country member of the Commonwealth, comprised by a group of 115 islands located in the Indian Ocean, to the northeast of Madagascar, with a total surface of 455 sq. km.
It is inhabited by about 100,000 people. Its capital is Victoria, the only city in the archipelago, located on the island of Mahe and inhabited by a third of the population. It has the only international port and airport of the country, which receives flights from the most important international airports worldwide.
Its official languages are English, French and Seychellois Creole, a French-based creole. The Seychellois Rupee (SCR) is its official currency.
The president of Seychelles is the head of state and government. It is elected by universal suffrage for a term of five years.
The Seychelles parliament is unicameral and is called the National Assembly. It is made up of 34 deputies, 25 of whom are directly elected by popular vote in single-member constituencies, and the remaining nine are elected proportionally by the total number of votes to each party.
The main economic sectors are Tourism, with over 300,000 visitors in 2016, fishing and financial services. Other important industries include processing of coconuts and vanilla, coconut rope, construction of boats, printing, furniture, and beverage. The public sector is considerably large employing two-thirds of the labor force.
The financial services sector is the other pillar of its economy, offering offshore banking services, offshore companies registration, registration of investment funds and insurance companies, vessels registration, among others.
Our banking support service is not just a mere introduction to the bank. We assist you in filling out the business questionnaires appropriately and help you understand and provide business details, commercial information and purpose/use of the bank account that a given bank wants to know in order to approve your account application. Banks want certainty and clarity on how the account will be used. Everything must be watertight. We will work with you to make sure there is minimal 'back and forth' and a smooth account opening process.
Bank Account opening requirements are subject to change at the discretion of the bank. There might be additional fees charged by the bank itself. Bank account opening is not guaranteed and is subject to the bank policies and compliance department. There might be restrictions on UBO nationalities, business activities and/or jurisdictions. A refund is available if the account is not successfully opened subject to our terms of service (30% to partly cover service and payment processing and administrative costs apply).