Situation
A fast-growing French retail concept, headquartered in Paris, expanding into Asia and needing operating bank accounts for its Singapore and Hong Kong entities. Management in Paris; the banks, the compliance officers and the in-person requirements 10,000 km away.
Industry
Experiential retail — personalised artwork and lifestyle products, franchise network
Company size
EUR 60 million annual turnover — 250 staff — 200+ locations worldwide
Account opening in Asia does not work the way it does in Europe. Banks in Singapore and Hong Kong expect a documented view of the group, a clear rationale for the local entity, evidence of genuine local activity, and a physical first meeting with a director. Applications filed remotely by a foreign parent, with no one on the ground to carry the file afterwards, are routinely deprioritised or declined — often without a stated reason.
The group needed to open accounts in Singapore and Hong Kong despite being managed from Paris and having limited local banking history. Each jurisdiction applied its own onboarding and compliance requirements, even when dealing with the same banking group. Mandatory in-person meetings required carefully coordinated travel, while the absence of a local representative made it difficult to advance the applications and respond to banks during Asian business hours.
Management involvement reduced to a single trip
One local counterparty owning the process end to end
Banking infrastructure in place for the group’s regional expansion
