Open US Bank Account
How to open an account in the United States
US Bank Account
Opening a bank account in the United States is a smart choice for operating an LLC. Opening a U.S. checking account online is a viable option for corporate accounts, i.e., in the name of an American company. It becomes even easier when the person requesting to open a checking account in the United States from Italy is a person with a personal account in the United States. In this case, account openings can take just a few hours.
Opening a checking account in America is a recurring request from all digital nomads. In some cases, it's possible to open a corporate or personal account through American banks operating in Italy, but these are difficult to obtain approval. To open a personal online American checking account from Italy without traveling, you'll need an ITIN number and you'll need to select only specific institutions.
The rule is local presence. You can apply for an ITIN number with us without traveling to the US. We open physical US bank accounts for both personal and corporate clients in two specific US cities: San Francisco, CA, and Miami, FL. The accounts we open in US banks are 100% certified with major banks in the world. We open both personal and corporate accounts. Your presence is not required to open corporate accounts as long as we act as the company manager, but this is particularly expensive and inappropriate for most clients. For non-US residents, a US bank account is associated with an offshore account .
Consider whether an offshore account in a real offshore location is more appropriate for the type of company you open. Studio Panama Italia, as an official American resident agent and law firm specializing in corporate and banking services for Italians and non-US residents, advises, as always, that you only order a US or offshore bank account after having consulted with your accountant or tax advisor and having understood the tax and criminal responsibilities that accompany the process of establishing and maintaining accounts abroad.
Why open a bank account in the United States?
Opening a bank account in the United States gives you access to financial markets, stocks, and trading at the world's leading institutions, as well as access to American credit, which is very easy to obtain if you have a personal ITIN for personal accounts or an EIN and ITIN for a US LLC. You can therefore open a personal bank account in the United States on your own, without our help, simply by having an ITIN and a verifiable US postal address (a bill in your name at that address) and contacting specific banks through our intermediary.
Otherwise, we require your on-site presence and payment of the operating fee to open a physical bank account in the United States, that is, a presence at a branch of the American bank. Opening a bank account in the United States is essential to operating a U.S. LLC . A U.S. LLC is unlikely to open an account outside the United States, due to FATCA, unless you present yourself with capital of at least $1 million.
In that case, some banks, especially in the Cayman Islands and Panama, will make the necessary exceptions. The reason no foreign bank wants to open accounts for an LLC is the struggle with forms and paperwork to remain compliant with the US IRS. FATCA and other mandatory reporting requirements, such as AML and Fincen, are just the tip of the iceberg.
How to open bank account in USA
Opening a bank account in the United States is one of our clients' most frequent requests. American banks offer modern, reliable, and fast services, making a US bank account an essential tool for those running a US LLC, an online business, or wishing to operate in dollars.
Unlike European accounts, a US bank account guarantees greater privacy, financial stability, and full compatibility with international networks such as Stripe, PayPal, Wise, Mercury, and Bank of America.
Opening a US bank account for an LLC is now simple and legal: Studio Panama Italia provides direct intermediation with US banks and authorized fintechs, allowing you to activate it in less than an hour, even remotely. You'll be able to receive and send payments in US dollars, access corporate cards, multi-currency IBANs, and advanced digital tools to manage your global business. With us, opening a bank account in the United States is quick, secure, and fully compliant with international regulations.
What to know to open a US account for your company
Opening a US bank account for your company is now a simple, quick, and completely remote process. To open a US bank account in the name of your US LLC, you don't need to be named in the Operating Agreement or be a member of the company: you open the account as the LLC's manager, with full liability. Studio Panama Italia opens US bank accounts for companies incorporated in any US state—Delaware, Wyoming, New Mexico, or Florida—directly at our banking offices in Miami, Florida, and San Francisco, California, without you having to travel.
We partner with several regulated US banks and fintechs, selected based on the client's profile and operational needs. The corporate accounts we open include access to secured and unsecured credit cards, multi-currency accounts, and online platforms for trading, forex, and fund management. US bank account opening is reserved for LLCs established by our firm or for private clients with assets exceeding $50,000. Each account is operational within hours, with a verified EIN, physical and digital cards, and direct support in Italian from our Miami Beach and San Francisco offices.
In addition to opening your bank account in the USA, you will probably be interested in creating a life insurance policy on your taxation, taking up a second tax residence, in a country with territorial taxation, such as a residence in Panama or a residence in Paraguay
You'd also be tempted to find out what advantages moving to the Mexican economic giant would have, taking up residency in Mexico
How to open an account in USA for your LLC :
To open a US bank account for your LLC, you need to open a US business account with a US bank. The basic requirements are :
- An LLC incorporated by us
- An LLC that has an EIN requested from us with your first and last name written on it
- An LLC that has a clear Operating Agreement with your name on it
- An LLC with a mandatory NAICS number since it is now mandatory for any American bank to request it to the opening deed
- Business Address and Personal Address of the LLC member (separate costs are provided by us)
- Some banks expressly ask for a staff of the company's member staff, you can ask us online without traveling to the USA.
Procedure for opening a bank account for an American company, LLC or Corporation USA
Here is explained the practice of opening a bank account in a US bank for a United States company. In general, the practice described is suitable for opening an account in the United States in the name of the most classic of United States companies opened by non-resident foreigners : the LLC .
At the bank, bring your passport, United States company opening documents ( LLC ), then Certificate Of Incorporation, Operating Agreement, Certificate of Organization, EIN , NAICS Code .
Present a business address, usually the same as on the organization certificate. Present an email / physical address where you actually operate ( where you keep the books for example ) . To open an account in the United States you need an ITIN which is now required by almost all banks, now since 2023 CHASE, Bank of America, Choice Financial Group, Wells Fargo have been asking for it. Our banker, in Italian (we have one of our Italian partners who work in the bank, so they will open your account speaking Italian bypassing any linguistic gaps) will open your account easily in about 30 minutes, you just have to sit down and wait as well as answering any questions for the online form that makes up the banker with the requirements described above (essential). Once you have opened your bank account in the United States of America, you will receive a debit card (ATM card) and if you have an ITIN registration, possibly your first credit card. Both debit and credit cards must by law be sent to a physical address, the same one you will give to the American bank when opening an account in the USA.
The Best US Neobanks
Knowing what are the requirements to open an account in the United States, for various reasons one is not always willing to travel to the States for this purpose and therefore in the background they can be considered valid alternatives to open an account in the United States.
Neobanks satisfy some and often all of the need for a bank account in the United States.
Neobanks are state-of-the-art banks that emphasize these parameters:
- American bank with a purely or almost totally online presence
- Speed of account opening in the United States and speed of acceptance or denial of American account opening
- Bank of the United States account opening procedure directly online
- Maintenance costs, and receiving money, sending money, and Forex much lower than the traditional American bank
- American Bank with the possibility of multi-currency accounts, sending anywhere via rapid remittance
- Much more transparent in terms of costs and procedures than traditional American banks
CHIME :
Chime is an American neobank. With 12 million customers and positive reviews since its founding year, 2013, the American digital bank Chime offers a perfect bank account for all Americans, non-Americans, residents and expatriates with first residence permits in the United States. It does not accept foreigners who are not yet resident in the States.
JUNO :
JUNO is an American fintech neobank, offering digital and physical paper and deposits as well as access to the crypto market. Very young and therefore still with few reviews.
CURRENT :
CURRENT is another American digital bank with good performance as an online wallet and simple current account options.
WISE :
The non plus ultra when you cannot travel abroad and necessarily require a full-featured online bank account. It allows for both personal and business accounts. An excellent account with both USD + SWIFT accounts that allow ACH deposits and IBAN accounts for SEPA deposits. It acts as a remittance provider with excellent costs and speed of execution which in certain countries such as the USA, Canada and Mexico are instantaneous.
It is better to read their Policy carefully on what is possible and what is not, I risk seeing the account blocked and closed forever, not the best option for those who work on accounts in countries such as Panama, Paraguay, etc.
REVOLUT :
Like Wise , same services but unlike Wise requires presence on American territory for business accounts , proof of domicile is required
MERCURY :
This is a 100% online bank, but with all the features you would expect from a bank of the caliber of Bank of America, but 100% online
IMPORTANT NOTE : Mercury is not a simple neobank, it is a real account in the United States, which can be used through CHOICE FINANCIAL. FDIC Guaranteed.
Open bank account in USA with Mercury
Studio Panama Italia, through our American platform Expat Brokers LLC, managed to obtain an immediate and rapid procedure of a few hours for the often instantaneous opening of its new bank account in the USA. All you have to do is just open an LLC with us and then you can on your own without spending on the account opening cost, proceed to open the Mercury USA bank account through our Introduction Link:
https://app.mercury.com/r/expat-brokers-llc
This link is valid for all those who make transactions exceeding 10,000 USD within 28 days of opening, it is therefore a link dedicated to speeding up the process and putting you ahead of all the others who are opening an account with Mercury only if within 28 days of opening When opening an account, deposit at least 10,000 USD.
Otherwise you can take advantage of our opening costs of 850 USD if you want us to open the account for your LLC. The Mercury Bank Account is a real bank account, just like any other bank account in the United States. The Mercury bank account is also the only true American bank account that can be opened online remotely without traveling to the USA. Opening a Mercury bank account guarantees security, thanks to the best banking technologies adopted and thanks to the economic strength of the mega American banking group to which it is part, Choice International. Mercury Bank offers the opening of a bank account for your company directly online, in privacy and security. Millions of customers rely on Mercury bank and the sophisticated solutions it guarantees. All Europeans are extremely welcome at Mercury bank. Mercury bank guarantees the opening of bank accounts to all Europeans who own an American LLC. Not only does Mercury open an account to everyone and not just to Europeans. Americans can also open an account with Mercury. Furthermore, only Mercury allows you to easily start a corporate credit history with your new American LLC. In fact, by opening an account with Mercury Bank you can obtain a credit card that scores with American credit agencies.
The characteristics of the bank account in the United States
But how does an American bank account work? What are the characteristics of an account in the United States?
The bank account in USA operates in the same way as any other bank in the world. Receive money in any currency and convert it into USD before automatically crediting it. International wire transfers to the US bank require entering the SWIFT information corresponding to the US bank and the account number of the US bank in the name of the beneficiary of the account (you or a company, etc.). Therefore, transfer for example from Italy to a US account requires:
- Name Beneficiary of the account in the United States
- US bank SWIFT number
- Payee's US bank account number
- Decide whether the costs are shared (SHARED) or whether to send everything at the expense of the Beneficiary (you have to ask the beneficiary if he accepts) or everything at your expense
If instead you have an account in the United States and you want to transfer to another account in the United States or you want to have a transfer from a US account of your client to your US account ( personal or business ) , then the ACH method will be used . ACH stands for Automated Clearing House , and is the first method of sending funds electronically , called EFT ( Electronic Funds Transfer ) in the United States and throughout the Americas. What is needed to make a transfer in ACH?
- Account in the United States of the Sender of the Transfer
- US account of the transfer recipient
- Beneficiary account number
- US Account Beneficiary Routing Number .
The routing number is a 9-digit code that identifies the recipient's US bank. Each bank has two routing numbers, the routing number for electronic submissions (such as ACHs) and the routing number for manual transfers (almost never used and of no practical interest to you).
Other characteristics of the bank account in the United States are:
- Access online and via app
- The token for transactions takes place via code sent to your telephone number (better to get an American number, excellent Google Fi ones)
- A second security factor can be the token via email or alternatively physical
- US bank statements are online only in PDF
What is SWIFT code
SWIFT is a code that identifies the name, headquarters and type of currency of the bank receiving the money. It is used to globally identify banks and financial institutions. It is also referred to as BIC. The SWIFT code must be used every time you prepare to make an international transfer. The international wire transfer is a transfer of money from a bank in one country to another bank in another country outside the European community. ( In Europe the swift is not needed when making transfers between accounts in the same Europe, the IBAN is used instead ) . So every time you open an account abroad outside Europe, to receive money into that account from other foreign countries, you must give your SWIFT number to the customer who will pay you, for example from Italy. The SWIFT code is used only for international transfers between banks in different countries. Even when you have an account outside Europe and you want to send money to a bank in Europe, for example in Italy, the Italian bank, in addition to the IBAN which is used to receive money between only European accounts, will have to clarify its SWIFT number to receive the money in addition to the account number . For example, if you send from the United States to an Italian bank, let's take the example of UNICREDIT BANCA, then you will have to use the Unicredit Banca SWIFT code which is UNCRITMMXXX
▶︎ The best 2 US banks to open an account
We have our 2 best exclusive partners for opening bank accounts and we offer you the two best possible options on the market. It will be difficult to find better than this. We have personally established a referral relationship for our customers at two banks. The two banks represent two distinct options for those who decide to travel to the United States to open an account personally or for those who do not want to travel and decide to open an account remotely.
- For those who decide to travel to the United States and open a local bank account, we offer by clicking on the following link the possibility to open an account and receive a 300 USD deposit bonus after your first opening deposit of 2000 USD. Note that if you are a non-resident foreigner, click the option to open in Branch and not online since you cannot. Open an American bank account at CHASE BANK with promotion
- For those who decide to open remotely and feel capable of not making mistakes in the procedure and therefore prefer to do everything online without our help, you can open a bank account in the USA with Mercury Important, you must deposit a minimum of 10 thousand USD within 30 days to be able to open an account referenced by us. Open American bank account at Mercury with promotion
- Otherwise, contact us either for the local account opened at CHASE, where we will open an account for you with an Italian banker who works at Chase and where you will open an account speaking Italian or at Mercury through our service, the costs are separate and start from USD 850 to USD 2000 depending on your account and preferences
SWIFT codes for American banks
Here are the SWIFT codes of the most important banks in the United States
CHASE BANK SWIFT :
- JP Morgan Chase Bank's SWIFT code is CHASUS33XXX
BANK OF AMERICA SWIFT :
- Bank of America's SWIFT code is BOFAUS3NXXX
WELLS FARGO SWIFT :
- Wells Fargo's SWIFT code is WFBIUS6SXXX
US BANK SWIFT :
- The US BANK SWIFT code is USBKUS44XXX
TD AMERITDRADE SWIFT :
- TD Ameritrade's SWIFT code is AMLEUS41XXX
CITIBANK SWIFT :
- CitiBank's SWIFT code is CITIUS33XXX
HSBC USA SWIFT :
- The SWIFT code for HSBC USA is MRMDUS33XXX
US BANK SWIFT :
- US BANK's SWIFT code is USBKUS44IMT
AXOS BANK SWIFT :
- AXOS BANK's SWIFT code is BOFDUS66XXX
CHARLES SCHWAB & CO Inc SWIFT
- The SWIFT code of CHARLES SCHWAB & CO inc is CSCHUS6SWTS
