The certificate of incorporation arrives, and it feels like the finish line. Then you go to the bank, and you find out it was one item on a list.
None of what the bank wants is unreasonable. All of it is specific. And the difference between opening an account in one visit and opening it in three is entirely whether you knew the list before you went.
The pack, in the order you will be asked for it
Once the company is registered you can open an account — but banks ask for more than the certificate. Expect to produce:
- Your company documents — the certificate of incorporation and the company’s constitution and registration details.
- A bank account opening resolution: the directors formally resolving to open the account, with that bank, and authorising who may operate it.
- A mandate letter for the signatories — who can sign, on what, and in what combination.
- Proof of a physical address for the business.
- ID or passport copies for directors and shareholders — an Omang for citizens, a passport copy for non-citizens.
- The bank’s own application form, which every bank has and no two of which are the same.
Your BURS tax number belongs on that list too, in practice. Most banks will ask for it, and it is the reason the order of operations matters more than people expect.
The two documents people have never heard of
The certificate and the ID copies are obvious. The resolution and the mandate are the ones that send people home.
The resolution is the company deciding, on the record, to open this account at this bank. The bank needs it because a company cannot simply want things — it acts through its directors, and the resolution is the evidence that they acted. It is also where a company with a secretary who keeps proper minutes has a very easy afternoon and a company without one does not.
The mandate letter is the companion piece: it tells the bank who may operate the account and how. One signatory, or two together? Is there a limit above which both are needed? The bank will do exactly what the mandate says, which is the point of it — and it is far easier to set sensibly now than to change later.
Decide your signing arrangement before you write the mandate, especially if there is more than one shareholder. "Any one of us" is convenient and is also how a partnership discovers a problem.
Why the order saves you a fortnight
The sequence that works is boring and it is the whole trick:
- Register the company with CIPA and get your certificate.
- Register with BURS for your TIN. PulaGo does this for P350 and obtains your tax clearance certificate at the same time.
- Choose your bank, and get that bank’s current requirement list — they differ, and they change.
- Prepare the resolution and the mandate to match the signing arrangement you actually want.
- Assemble the pack, including proof of address and ID for everyone named, and go once.
Going to the bank before step two is the single most common way to lose two weeks, because the tax number is the item you cannot produce on the spot.
What banks look at beyond the paperwork
For a plain transactional account, the pack is usually the whole conversation. The moment you want anything more — an overdraft, a facility, a merchant arrangement — the question changes from who are you to what does this business do, and that is where a company profile and a set of projections start earning their place.
That is also where a clean line between personal and company money pays for itself. A bank assessing a business wants to see the business’s figures, and a year of mixed personal and business transactions is not a set of figures. It is a reconstruction project.
If you would rather not assemble it yourself
PulaGo prepares and lodges everything your bank needs to open a business account for P350. It is also included free inside the P1,300 start-your-business bundle, alongside registration and BURS — which is the combination most people actually need, because those three steps are one errand pretending to be three.
Requirements differ from bank to bank and are set by the bank, not by us. Confirm the current list with your chosen bank before you travel.