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That's why I suggested BBK.  Yes, they have a non-refundable fee but then again, your capital is too low and you don't have a CPR/residency.   The question is, are they willing to open without CPR/Residency?

Generally, nowadays, company in formation accounts are tough to open.  CPR/Residency is another issue on top and as I said, to my knowledge, no bank allows without that.  So if you get any option, even with payment like the 450 BD, go for it!

The only other options that I can think of is

1) To create a power of attorney in favor of your law firm here in Bahrain authorizing them to open bank accounts and be a signatory on them.  But it may be that MOIC will ask the SPC to be changed to WLL to add the law firm as a partner.  Even if that is the case, you can do that to open bank account and get the firm active and then change it back
2) Get bank reference letters from your current bank and use those to try again

Ok, so an update.  I spoke to some friends.

One of them was in a similar situation as you and opened an account with BISB but with capital of 10,000 BD.
Another is opening with UBL with capital of 5,000 BD.  He doesn't have CPR or residency either but has gotten positive feelers from the bank.

The problem seems to happen with low capital amounts as banks don't take you seriously.  They want to open accounts which are worth the administration and compliance costs through a transaction volume - which accounts set up only for the company activation / visa angle don't qualify for.    So they make it difficult for low capital companies to open accounts.

The suggestion that came is to try with HBL (Habib Bank) in Manama or UBL as they generally facilitate a lot of Indian / Pakistani expats who work in Saudi and set up companies in Bahrain (without CPR or residency initially).   As expat focused non-local banks, they are generally more helpful in these areas. Obviously, you will not be able to operate the account until you get your visa / CPR on the new company.  But you can get the capital deposit certificate needed to make your CR fully active.

Let me know how it goes.

Swift and smart response always from you man,,,X Tang,impressive replies.. appreciate.

UPDATE

I went to NBB Bank today and was able to start the process of opening an account with 100BD capital. The catch, they need to also hold 500BD for a 5 week period however they will release it after that period. It will take 48 hours so Friday I should be able to pick up all my documents to finalize my SPC. I will reply once it is all completed.

Below is an updated list of banks and the responses I received:

Ahli Bank - Not without CPR/Residency.
Khaleeji Bank - Not without CPR/Residency.
Al Baraka Bank - Not without CPR/Residency.
ICICI Bank - Not without CPR/Residency.
BBK Bank - Any capital under 20,000BD = 450BD fee.
Ithamr Bank - Not without CPR/Residency.
Al Salam - Not without CPR/Residency.
HSBC - Not without CPR/Residency.
Al Mashreq - Not without CPR/Residency.

Final update regarding opening a bank account without a CPR or residency.

My account is now finalized and active. So from all the banks I tried only NBB was able to open me an account in a reasonable manner and I would highly recommend them. They fully understood my situation ad were able to answer all my questions and open an account within 3 days.

DCMike can you please share information what documents you submit in bank and how many days  they take  for approval and what is account opening fee+ balance latter fee
thanks

Hi,

I just saw your message. Sorry about the delay.

Below are the documents and BD amount they required:

-  500BD (100BD was my deposit however to open the account they needed 500BD min. After I showed them an active CR they released the funds to use which I could use as I see fit. However, the account is a minimum account meaning if you don't keep at least 500BD they withdraw 1BD or 2 BD a month to have it.)
- Passport
- A copy of a notarized Founder Declaration (Bring the originals just in case they ask.)
- A copy of a notarized Articles of Association (Bring the originals just in case they ask.)
- A copy of an electric bill of the space used for the business or a copy of the contract for a virtual office. (This is what I used. Bring the originals just in case they ask.)
- A copy of the CR Registration Form (Bring the originals just in case they ask.)
- Lastly, the bank required a signed Board Resolution Form which they sent to me. This is a form that is to be signed by the board of your company giving you permission to use the account you are opening. Since I was the owner I revised the appropriate verbiage giving myself full permission to use my companies account as needed. Silly and redundant? Yes. But it is required. I'll paste below verbiage they sent to me that I revised for myself.

All in all they were very helpful and knew exactly how to go about. I had zero issues.

After you give all this to the bank it takes 2 to 3 businesses days for them to open the account. I the went back and signed the bank documents to finalize the opening of the account and the bank gave me a letter that I gave to my lawyer to activate my CR. From there I went to the LMRA to register my company, again an easy process, and took those documents to the NPRA to apply for my investors VISA.

If you have any questions feel free to reach out to me. Good luck!

________________________________________________________________________________________

Board Resolution
Date:

National Bank of Bahrain B.S.C.

Dear Sirs,

We the undersigned, voluntarily and irrevocably hereby certify and confirm that the following is a true copy of a Resolution duly passed by the Board of Directors of this Company in accordance and in compliance with the Law, the rules and the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the Company, at a meeting duly held on ______________. 
Resolved
1.    That a current account or other accounts to be opened with National Bank of Bahrain B.S.C. (the Bank), and the following official(s) of the Company:
1.
2.
3.

is/are authorized to sign ________________ on behalf of the Company and the Bank is to act on any instructions so given by the above named designated officer(s) relating to opening or operating of the account or other accounts or transactions of the Company. The above-designated officer(s) is/are empowered to:
1.1        Draw cheques, accept bills of exchange and make promissory notes on behalf of the Company authorizing the Bank to debit the Company’s account or other accounts with the amount of all such cheques, bills of exchange and promissory notes whether such account or other accounts are for the time being in credit or overdrawn.
1.2        Give instructions of any nature involving a debit to the Company’s account or other instructions, and generally do all acts in matters relating or incidental to the operation of the Company’s account or other accounts with the Bank.
1.3        Purchase, exchange, sell or otherwise deal in or with any stock, bonds or other securities.

2.    That the Bank be furnished with the names of the authorized signatories of the Company and the limit of their authorities whether such signatories are directors or officers of the Company and with specimens of their signatures and that the Bank be notified immediately in writing signed by an authorized signatory of the Company of any changes which may from time to time take place in these details or changes in the Memorandum and Articles of Association, or any other document of incorporation. It shall be our responsibility to ensure that such notice is delivered to the designated person in the Bank who shall acknowledge receipt of such instructions by signing and returning a copy of such notice to the Company, and that until receipt of such notice as aforesaid, the Bank will continue to treat the last instructions received in connection therewith as correct.  The Bank shall be given reasonable time to communicate such changes to the appropriate operating departments of the Bank, its officers, branches and correspondents as it may deem to be concerned or affected thereby.



X_____________________        X________________________
        Board Secretary                          Director/Chairman
 Here insert singly, any two jointly or any three jointly or as otherwise appropriate.

Thanks DCMIKE for giving reply in details

Want to add some more information
HBL (Habib Bank ) also open company formation account
Reasonable fee 20BDaccount fee and 20 BD for balance latter fee if your all documents available and verified then account open in just three days
Recommend to every one

Yep, I recommended HBL in the thread above when the poster was having difficulty opening the account.

a) In WLL bank letter, do HBL require the sponsors bank statement.

If not what are the documents required ?

Thanks

HBL NEED YOUR 3 month bank statement (we give our Saudi bank account statement)
Board resolution / Memorandum
Pasport copy address proof   
Then they will collect your all docs and let you know after three day about your approval from head office then after approval they open account and deposit after deposit next day they will give deposit latter

Good morning,

quick one on the potential SPC formation account banks:
Do they all offer online banking?

Most of them do.  HBL doesn't i.e. you can see your account online but cannot make payments online - only through cheques.

Thanks for the quick reply.

Hi Mike,

Im reading this thread after 3 years from posting. Most probably rules has been changed already to better or worse i dont know. But i would like to ask, were previously an employee here in Bahrain before you started your company? And i want to clarify, you managed to open a company account for few hundreds of BD. How did your company sponsored you? Through or as an investor visa? So then you would be required to show 50k or 100k BD as investment? How did it happen?

I have covered all of the points in detail here:

/forum/viewtopic.php?id=739858