The procedure of applying for a License

The procedure of applying for a Vanuatu Financial Dealers License can be divided into several stages:

1. 1. Registration of Vanuatu International Company

   In order to apply for a license, firstly you need to register a legal entity in the Republic of Vanuatu with the status of an international company. To do this, each director and shareholder of the company must provide the following documents:

   • high-resolution color copy of passport;
   • proof of residential address in the form of utility bills or bank statements;
   • completed application and form.

   After all the above documents have been received, our specialists check the documents and send the package for registration. The approximate registration period for Vanuatu international company is 7-10 calendar days, in case of a fully paid invoice for our services and a positive check of the documents provided by the client.

   Subsequently, the client receives a certificate of registration of the company (Certificate of Incorporation) and a printed charter (Constitution). To prepare and receive a full package of the post-incorporated documents, you must assign our company to the role of the Secretarial.

2. 2. Applying documents for a license

   By default, VFSC issues 2 licenses. One license is issued for a legal entity and is called the Principal’s License. The other one is issued for a physical person representing this company and is called the Representative’s License. Often, the company’s representative is either its director or beneficiary. Approximate time for commission to process the application is 2-2.5 months., from the moment of filing a full package of documents and deposit remittance.

   The future Representative’s license holder must provide the originals of the following documents:

   • original notarized copy of passport;
   • original certificate of police clearance with a translation into English;
   • proof of residential address in the form of utility bills or bank statements;
   • completed and signed application forms.

   Along with the KYC documents an applicant must prepare and provide the following documents*. Some of them can be prepared by us for additional costs.

   • Business plan;
   • A Three-year financial projection;
   • Certification of the source of funds for the capital amount has to be provided by the applicant;
   • Compliance and Procedure Manual;
   • Complaints Procedure Manuals;
   • Internal Control Report;
   • Risk Management Strategy;
   • Investment Policy;
   • Director Statement detailing financial standing, current assets, contingent liabilities and professional indemnity and directors and officers liability cover.
   *Please note that the Commission which responsible for the review and issuance of licenses reserves the right to change the list of required documents or supplement it with new ones.

   The obligatory part of the application is the remittance of the securities deposit to the VFSC’s bank account. This amount can be paid in any currency but should be equivalent to VT5,000,000. This deposit serves as a guarantor in case of the company cannot pay its obligations to its customers. Also, a very important difference of this deposit from similar deposits in other jurisdictions is the possibility of its full refund to the client, in the case of license termination, but subject to the absence of company debt to clients.

3. 3. Completion of the procedure, opening a bank account

   When the license is granted, the company is obliged to register as a Reporting Entity, and also appoint a person responsible for compliance with the company's anti-money laundering policy, who will interact with regulatory authorities. Our company provides AML policy service for an additional fee.

   Currently, our company is the partner of several banks, in which we help our clients to open accounts.

For additional questions, please contact our specialists.