Who can open an account?

1. In which countries does Holvi offer services?

We currently offer our services in Finland, Germany, Austria and also in Belgium, Ireland, and the Netherlands. Please note, that as an account creator and admin you must have your main residence in the same country as your company is registered, but you don't need to be a citizen of that country.

Editors and beneficial owners (who are not account creators) may live in another country within the EEA or in the UK, please find more information about this here.

Holvi is not able to support residents of countries that are not FATF compliant and listed as "High risk and non-cooperative".

Please note, you must be 18 years or older to open an account with Holvi.

Important – Country of registration

Your business must be fully registered within your country and you must have all required documents available when opening your account. (With the exception of a German GmbH or UG opening a founder account)

FATCA (US reporting)

Holvi currently does not support FATCA reporting, so, unfortunately, we can't offer accounts for customers that represent US indicia and might be liable for FATCA reporting (e.g. US citizens).

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is a 2010 United States federal law to enforce the requirement for United States persons including those living outside the U.S. to file yearly reports on their non-U.S. financial accounts to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

Who is affected by FATCA?

The Act applies to "U.S. persons" (US taxpayers), individuals and legal entities who meet any of the following US indicia:

Identification of the Account Holder as:

U.S. citizen or resident
Unambiguous indication of a U.S. place of birth
Current U.S. mailing or residence address (including a U.S. post office box)
Current U.S. telephone number; (with the prefix +1)
Standing instructions to transfer funds to an account maintained in the United States
Currently, effective power of attorney or signatory authority granted to a person with a U.S. address
An “in-care-of” or “hold mail” address that is the sole address the Reporting Finnish Financial Institution has on file for the Account Holder.

2. Which company forms does Holvi support?

Holvi does not support ownership structures that involve one or more legal entities with more than 25% shares/investments. That means if your company is owned by another company, we will not be able to offer you an account.

It's also not possible to open an account for a holding company.

We accept the following company types:

Finland:

Oy - Osakeyhtiö
Toiminimi / Yksityinen elinkeinonharjoittaja

Germany:

Einzelunternehmen / Gewerbe (nicht eingetragen)
Freiberufler
GmbH in Gründung (Vor-GmbH)
GmbH - Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung
UG - Unternehmergesellschaft (haftungsbeschränkt) in Gründung
UG - Unternehmergesellschaft (haftungsbeschränkt)

For German company types GmbH and UG, we can offer founder accounts, which allow you to pay your starting capital into your bank account before official documentation is available. All other company forms must be able to provide all relevant documents for verification before opening the account.

Austria:

Einzelunternehmen / Gewerbe (nicht eingetragen)
Freiberufler
GmbH - Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung

Eurozone:

Please find more information about the supported company types here.

3. Which business activities does Holvi support?

Please read our Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) before opening an account. For legal and compliance reasons, we're unable to support certain types of business activity. For this reason, if your business falls under one of the activities mentioned in our AUP, we won't be able to open an account.

4. Can I open a private account with Holvi?

Holvi only offers business accounts. It's not possible to open a strictly private account with Holvi.

5. Can I open an account for my GbR?

We do not offer business accounts for the company form GbR. You can find more information here.

Account opening