China during COVID: helping foreign firms navigate business challenges throughout the pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has presented numerous challenges to businesses around the world. Severe travel restrictions have revised the way in which we approach the management of overseas entities and enhanced the importance of working with high quality and reliable local partners.

Since January 2020, there have been restrictions to international travelling into China. The process to incorporate a new entity has been slowing, typically due to two reasons: the requirement to notarise parent company documents and opening a Chinese bank account.

One of the key requirements from the bank’s perspective for new bank account openings is the onsite verification of the Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise’s (WFOE’s) legal representative. To overcome the challenge of in-person presence for our overseas clients, Intertrust Group’s team in China has been working with various banks to put in place bespoke solutions to meet bank compliance requirements and help to open the bank account remotely.

Up until now, we have successfully opened bank accounts during the pandemic for several multinational clients. As a listed company, we have the same stringent compliance standards as the local banks, which have been very supportive and cooperative due to many years of mutual partnership.