We commented the draft law relating to the establishment of a right to a bank account in the Principality of Monaco, on our website « http://www.alfa-monaco.mc/en/the-right-to-a-bank-account-in-monaco/ », a draft that had been submitted to a Public Session in order to draw the consequences of a reality: opening an account with a credit institution is now essential, whether for the needs of everyday life of individuals or for the legal and economic existence of commercial companies established in the Principality.
Law n ° 1.492 of July 8th, 2020 relating to the establishment of a right to a bank account, published in the Monaco’s Gazette “Journal de Monaco” dated July 17th, 2020 (the « Law »), voted in Session on June 30th, 2020 enacted this right. We wanted to highlight for you a few major points.
This right is granted to the following people who do not already have a bank account opened in the Principality:
- Natural persons of Monegasque nationality, natural persons domiciled in the Principality, as well as natural persons in the process of settling and holding a receipt for the application for administrative authorization provided for this purpose,
- Legal persons domiciled in the Principality or in the process of being incorporated (able to prove that the related administrative formalities have been completed).
The Law provides for two exceptions relating to the benefit of said right to open a bank account, first for the benefit of natural persons acting within the framework of their professional activities or as a financial agent for the needs of said professional or electoral activity even if this person would already benefit from a bank account for his/her personal needs.
The second exception concerns legal persons holding an administrative authorization to issue an offering of tokens by virtue of Law No. 1.491 dated June 23rd, 2020 relating to token offerings (law discussed on our website: « http://www.alfa-monaco.mc/en/law-relating-to-token-offerings/ »).
The law also provides for the obligation to hold an account with a Monaco credit institution for natural or legal persons, regardless of their legal form (SAM, SNC, SCS, SCA, or SARL) conducting an economic activity in Principality.
In case of acceptation of the chosen credit institution, the account is opened no later than 15 working days from receipt of all the documents it needs, the list of documents being determined by Ministerial Order. In the event of refusal by the chosen credit institution, the Budget and Treasury Department (“Direction du Budget et du Trésor”) may be contacted for the purpose of designating a credit institution providing deposit and payment account services, within 15 working days from receipt of the required documents, the list of these documents also being specified by Ministerial Order.
The right to a bank account came into force in the Principality on October 17th, 2020 and natural or legal persons, whatever their legal form (SAM, SNC, SCS, SCA, or SARL) conducting an economic activity in the Principality (professional, craft, commercial or industrial) benefit from a period of 9 months from this date to comply with the provisions of the Law.
Our team remains at your disposal to support you and answer your questions in this matter.
