Imagine a new design company in Seoul preparing to bill its first customer. The customer will pay in Korean won. The company also needs to pay an overseas software supplier, and its founder wants an employee to prepare payments for her to approve.
Those three jobs help explain what the company needs from a bank. It needs somewhere to receive money, a way to pay its bills, and controls over who can move its funds. Opening a business bank account starts that process. The account and the services around it need to work together before the company can rely on them.
This guide follows that fictional company through a first branch inquiry, document preparation and a payment check. Its founder, Maya, is a foreign national. She owns an overseas company, which owns the Korean company. This ownership arrangement adds questions the bank needs to answer. Another business may need a different set of records or services.
The business applying for the account
A bank first needs to know whose money it will hold. A sole proprietor runs a business as an individual. A corporation has a legal identity of its own, separate from its owners. The application should identify the business form because the forms and evidence can differ.
Maya's Korean business is a corporation. She is its registered representative, the person named to act for it. The overseas company is its shareholder, meaning it owns shares in the Korean company. Maya explains both roles: owning a business and having authority to act for it are separate facts.
A Korean branch of an overseas company has another structure. It remains part of the overseas company. A subsidiary is a separate company owned by another company. Invest Korea's business-form guide explains the difference. A branch applicant should identify that structure from the first inquiry.
For a business still choosing its form, our sole proprietor and corporation guide covers that earlier decision. For Maya's company, the immediate task is to find out what a bank needs to assess its application.
A useful first conversation with the branch
Maya contacts a branch that handles business accounts before gathering documents. She describes what the company sells, its owners, the person who will apply and its expected payments. She also says that it has no completed sales yet. That gives the branch enough context to explain the next steps.
A first message could say:
“I am the registered representative of a new Korean design corporation. My overseas company owns it, and I own that company. Our first customer expects to pay in Korean won. We will also need to pay an overseas software supplier. Please confirm the documents for this ownership arrangement, who must attend, and how we can apply for online banking. Is English help available at the appointment?”
The branch's reply becomes the starting document list. The bank may request more information during its review. A list published by another bank can help a founder prepare questions, but it does not establish what this branch will accept for this application.
Maya also checks which documents must be originals, how recently they must have been issued, and whether foreign records need translations or proof that they are genuine. If an interpreter is needed, she can arrange one before the visit. A founder hoping to apply online should ask whether the remote route covers their particular circumstances.
Maya sends identity and company records only through a secure channel confirmed by the bank.
Someone applying for another person or company is acting as an agent. A power of attorney records the authority given to that person. Woori's account-opening guide includes identity and authority records for agents and representatives. Its examples are useful questions to take to the branch, rather than a complete foreign-owned-company checklist.
Why the bank asks about owners and business activity
Before providing an account, the bank needs to establish who its customer is and who stands behind the business. These checks are called customer due diligence. Korea's Financial Intelligence Unit explains that they include identity and ownership checks, with the purpose of transactions and source of funds also examined where required.
This explains why a business registration certificate may be only one part of the folder. The company can exist and still have information the bank needs to verify. If the required checks cannot be completed, the application may not proceed.
For Maya, it helps to organize the requested evidence around three questions: who may act for the company, who owns it, and what it plans to do.
Who may act for the company?
The branch should identify the accepted identity documents for the person attending. Woori's published examples include a passport or foreigner registration card, alongside separate evidence of authority when relevant. A founder should confirm the whole list for the actual application rather than assume a passport alone will be enough.
Maya asks how to prove her role as representative. If an accountant or employee will attend instead, she checks what authority that person needs. Helping with the company's finances does not by itself answer who may apply for an account.
Who owns the company?
The bank may ask for several business records. A business registration certificate shows tax registration details. A corporate registry record shows registered facts about the company. A company seal is its official stamp, and a seal certificate verifies a registered seal. The branch can confirm which records, seal or signature the application requires.
KB Kookmin's customer-verification guidance lists corporate and ownership records and explains looking through corporate shareholders to the people behind them. A person who ultimately owns or controls the business is called a beneficial owner.
Maya prepares a simple ownership diagram: she owns the overseas company, which owns the Korean company. The diagram helps explain the arrangement. She then asks which official records must prove each part. A clear drawing supports the conversation; the bank still decides what evidence it needs.
What will the account be used for?
KB's guidance also lists possible evidence of business activity, including a business plan and financial records. A new company may not yet have a sales history, so Maya asks what evidence is suitable at that stage.
She can explain the design work, the first proposed project and the expected software bill. If a customer has only asked for a proposal, she describes it that way. A proposal offers work at a price; it does not show that the customer has bought it. Records should reflect what has actually happened.
When something is missing, Maya notes the fact the bank is trying to verify, the record requested and who will supply it. This helps her prepare the missing records for a follow-up visit.
Getting working access to the money
Once the account is approved, Maya needs to use it. She asks separately about business online banking: how to sign in, view incoming payments, download records and make the transfers the company needs.
Hana's new-user guide shows why this deserves its own check. It describes electronic-banking enrollment, documents, certificate registration and user permissions. Those instructions belong to Hana's service. They are not a universal account-opening list.
A digital certificate is an electronic credential used to identify a user or sign an action. An OTP, short for one-time password, is a temporary security code. Maya asks which security tools her bank requires and completes the setup with the bank's instructions. She checks that she can use the account on the device she will rely on.
The company also needs to decide what each person may do. Hana describes a master user who manages other users' permissions and payment-approval arrangements. Maya asks whether an employee can prepare a supplier payment while she retains the final approval. The bank can explain whether its service supports that arrangement and how to set it up.
Each person should receive the access needed for their role through the bank's controls. Hana's business-banking safety guide discusses access management and approval controls. Its certificate guidance also warns against lending certificates or using someone else's. Sharing a password or security code would undermine the separation Maya is trying to create.
The first customer payment and supplier bill
An invoice is a bill explaining what was sold, what the customer owes and how to pay. Before sending the first one, Maya asks the bank to confirm the account holder's name and the receiving details for a payment in won, Korea's currency.
She also checks any restrictions on the new account and the available limits for outgoing payments. Receiving money and sending a particular payment involve different checks. If a needed service or limit is unavailable, she asks what must happen before the company can use it and plans payment dates around the answer.
An overseas payment needs further detail. Woori's incoming-remittance guide, for example, lists the bank's English name, the recipient's name and account number, and a SWIFT code. A SWIFT code identifies a bank for an international payment. The company should use instructions supplied for its own account.
For money arriving from abroad, useful questions include which currencies the account accepts, whether funds will stay in that currency or be converted, and what charges or evidence may apply. For the overseas software bill, Maya separately asks about the outgoing service, documents, limits, fees and expected timing.
These answers should be specific to the payment. A bank's general international-transfer page may describe several customer types, so a published limit or processing estimate should not be copied into a business plan without checking that it applies.
The company keeps the invoice, payment reference and bank record together. If a charge reduces the amount received, or currency conversion changes the won amount, the accountant needs enough information to explain the difference.
Money used to establish the company
The account in this example is for a company that already exists. A founder still bringing in its starting funds has an earlier question to resolve.
Investment capital is money provided in return for ownership. A shareholder loan is money an owner lends to the company. A customer payment pays for a sale. Explaining the true purpose helps the bank identify the appropriate process.
Invest Korea's incorporation sequence places investment remittance and share-payment steps before the later corporate account. A founder should confirm the route with the handling bank before sending money, including which records will be needed afterward. Instructions for an operating account may not fit funds sent before the company exists. Our business-establishment guide explains the wider sequence.
Company cards and customer checkout
A corporate credit card lets a company make purchases on credit under the card's terms. It has a separate application and review. Woori's corporate-card page gives examples of business, applicant and financial evidence. A new company should ask what is available, how the card bill will be paid and who is responsible for it.
Accepting a customer's card online is another service. A payment gateway connects a website's checkout to payment methods and related payment services. Toss Payments explains the contract, review and technical connection involved. Settlement is the provider sending purchase money to the business under the agreed terms.
A company planning online checkout needs to confirm the provider's requirements for its business and website, supported payment methods, fees and settlement arrangements. It should allow for the required review before promising a launch date. Maya's first customer will pay by bank transfer, so she can prepare that route while considering checkout for later sales.
A final check before the invoice goes out
Suppose the fictional company's application has been approved. Maya checks four things before sending the first invoice:
- She can sign in, view the account and use the approval controls the company needs.
- The invoice contains the bank-confirmed account name and receiving details.
- The overseas supplier payment has an available route, with its evidence and limits understood.
- The company can download a bank record and knows where to keep it with the invoice and payment reference.
After payment, Maya matches the amount received to the customer's bill. Personal spending stays separate, and the reason for each business payment is recorded. Our business-tax guide explains how these records support the next accounting steps.
The first useful action is a specific branch inquiry. Describing the business, its owners and its planned payments gives the bank a clear case to assess. It also gives the founder a practical way to see what is ready and what still needs an answer.
Sources and scope
Primary bank, provider and public-agency pages checked October 14, 2026. The company and payment sequence are fictional. Bank examples support preparation questions, not a guarantee of eligibility, a universal document list, fixed fees or a promised completion time. Confirm the current requirements with the branch handling the application. This is general preparation guidance, not an assessment of an individual banking arrangement.
Cover: Business banking needs the right verification and controls before funds can move. Cover illustration created with AI for PIN Insights.
