Bank Account for a Free Zone Company in the UAE
The same file for a free zone company, with the zone authority's documents the bank reads.
A free zone company's first bank account
A free zone company is licensed by its zone authority rather than by the mainland economic department, so its certificate of incorporation, licence, register of shareholders and lease all come from the zone. A UAE bank opening an account for it still runs the same federal due diligence. We prepare the file from the zone’s documents, make the ownership and the signatory clear, and follow the application to the bank’s decision.
The rulebook does not set a separate track for free zone companies: its company due diligence starts from a company that is “registered and based in the UAE” (CBUAE Rulebook 3.3.3, effective 15 August 2021). What differs is where each document comes from, and how a bank reads a flexi-desk or shared-office address.
The work, step by step
- The zone's papers in the order a bank reads them: certificate of incorporation, licence, registers and lease
- The registered address on the file matching the zone's lease or desk agreement
- Ownership and signatory made clear, down to the individuals behind any holding company
- Foreign documents attested or translated through our PRO desk, where an owner is a company abroad
- The bank's questions answered and chased, on Application Follow-up
- Outside this service: picking a bank or an account type for you
Get this quoted
Itemised in writing, government charges shown separately, before anything is filed.
Which one do you need?
Free zone companies we work for
- A newly incorporated free zone company in any of the zones we work with, or elsewhere in the UAE
- A company on a flexi-desk or shared office, whose address the bank will want explained
- A company owned by another company, where the bank must reach the individuals behind it
- A free zone company opening a second account or moving banks
Still choosing a zone? That comes first: Free zone company setup.
The papers a bank expects
The same five items the rulebook names for every company (CBUAE Rulebook 3.3.3, Step 1, effective 15 August 2021): the company's name, its legal form, "The address of the legal person's main office or headquarters;", "The legal person's trade license; and" the name of its senior managing official.
On a free zone file these usually come from the zone: the certificate of incorporation or registration, the licence, the memorandum and articles or the zone's equivalent, the share register, the lease or desk agreement, and passports and Emirates IDs (or entry stamps) for owners and signatory. A corporate owner's papers come from its home country and may need attestation. Which of them your chosen bank insists on, we settle together when we quote.
From zone paperwork to an answer
- The zone's papers collected and read against each other.
- A written quote.
- The ownership chart drawn to the individuals, with the corporate owner's papers attested if needed.
- The file made up for whichever bank you settle on.
- The application made by your signatory on the bank's form, with us beside them.
- Chasing the answer, question by question, to the bank's decision.
The Central Bank's timing rules
The Central Bank's rules (SME Customer Protection Regulation, C 2/2026, effective 13 September 2026): an account opened in three business days where the bank rates the applicant low risk and its usual documents satisfy it (Article 4.46), and a postponement for some other valid reason that "must not exceed two (2) weeks" (Article 4.48). The regulation applies to small and medium businesses as Cabinet Resolution No. 22 of 2016 defines them, in either kind of zone.
Our own timing: none promised.
Fees: Quote on request. Our service fee is quoted in writing after a short look at your company documents. Anything a bank charges is the bank's own and is not ours to quote.
What is the same
A free zone licence does not change the bank's federal obligations. The same five recorded items, the same search through the ownership for each person holding a quarter or more, and the same authority-to-act letter for the person who signs apply whether the licence came from a zone or from Dubai's mainland registry.
The zone's documents
The zone issues the certificate of incorporation, the licence and, in most zones, the share register and the lease or desk agreement. The bank wants them current and consistent: the same company name, the same address and the same owners on every page. A renewal due during the application is planned for rather than discovered.
Not published officially
- Which banks accept which zones or which activities. That is each bank's own risk policy.
- Whether a flexi-desk address is enough. No official page settles it; each bank decides.
- Any bank's charges or minimum balance. Quoted by the bank, never by us.
Questions from free zone owners
Is opening an account harder for a free zone company?
The rulebook sets no separate rules by zone (CBUAE Rulebook 3.3.3). Each bank applies its own risk policy, which is why the file has to be clear.
Can a flexi-desk company open an account?
The bank records the main office address, so it will look at the desk agreement. Whether that is enough rests with the bank; our part is keeping the address consistent across the papers.
Our shareholder is a company abroad. What does the bank need?
The rulebook's rule is that "RHP must identify every individual who owns 25% or more of the legal person customer" (Step 4), so the file goes through the foreign company to the people behind it.
Do foreign corporate documents need attestation?
Often, and translation too if they are not in Arabic or English. Our PRO desk handles that: Attestation & translation.
Which free zones do you work with?
Our team works with SPC Free Zone, SHAMS, Dubai South, Meydan, RAKEZ and Ajman NuVentures Centre; a company in another zone can still use this service.
Does the free zone open the account?
No. The zone issues the company's licence; the account is between the company and the bank.
Is there a standard processing time?
The Central Bank's rule sets three business days once a complete request is in, where the bank rates the applicant low risk and its usual documents satisfy it (Article 4.46). We set no date of our own.
And if the answer is no?
Unless the reason concerns financial-crime risk, the bank must put it in writing (Article 3.12). Correcting the file is covered on Application Follow-up & Rejections.
Every rule above names its source and the date shown when we read it on 14 November 2026: the Central Bank of the UAE's rulebook (rulebook.centralbank.ae) and the federal portal u.ae. AL HUDHUD is not a bank. We do not open accounts, introduce banks or advise on banking products: we prepare your company's file and follow it up. Each bank sets its own document list, charges and minimum balance, and the decision to open an account is the bank's alone.
Last updated: November 2026.
All banking services
Opening the account
- Mainland Company Bank Account
- Free Zone Company Bank Account
The file and the decision
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