Company formation, licences, banking support and international settlements in the UAE

WTP is a Dubai-based team, established in 2019. We manage corporate structures for clients from the CIS: companies across all key UAE jurisdictions, bank accounts, residency, accounting and compliance.

Get in touch View case studies
Jurisdictions we work with directly
Mainland · IFZA · RAKEZ · DIFC · ADGM

About WTP

WTP (Wealth Transfer Platform) is a Dubai-based team supporting entrepreneurs and companies from the CIS that are moving part of their operations, or their own capital, to the Emirates. Several hundred completed engagements — from single-founder companies with an account at a local bank to multi-tier DIFC holdings with enhanced compliance and support through regulatory enquiries.

What sets WTP apart is in-house expertise across all five corporate service lines within a single team. We do not subcontract company formation, refer clients to a third-party banking broker or “assemble a team” for each project. Formation, banking, visas, accounting and compliance are handled inside WTP — which keeps the licence, the banking profile and the operational reality of the business aligned. For colleagues from the CIS this means, concretely: one point of contact per client file, one line of accountability and one team that maintains the structure for the long term.

We work directly with five UAE jurisdictions (Mainland Dubai and Abu Dhabi, IFZA, RAKEZ, DIFC, ADGM), six local banks (Emirates NBD, Mashreq, FAB, ADCB, RAK Bank, Wio) and international banks present in the UAE (HSBC, Standard Chartered).

Service lines

WTP corporate services in the UAE — five lines of work. The order reflects the actual sequence of tasks for most clients.

01

Company formation

Lead: Client Success Manager

Incorporation across all key UAE jurisdictions. Mainland Dubai and Abu Dhabi — for businesses working with the local market or government contracts, or requiring maximum operational flexibility. Free zones (IFZA, RAKEZ, SHAMS, Meydan, DMCC) — for trading, services and consultancy companies with no dependence on the local market. DIFC and ADGM — for financial, investment and holding structures where English common law and regulatory recognition are required.

  • Jurisdiction selection matched to the business model and the client’s banking profile
  • Mainland Dubai / Abu Dhabi
  • Free zones — IFZA, RAKEZ, SHAMS, Meydan, DMCC
  • DIFC and ADGM — for financial, investment and holding structures
  • Licences: trading, services, consultancy, holding, SPV
  • Ownership structure — UBO, directors, shareholders
Typical scenario A Russian entrepreneur moves a manufacturing business from the EU into a free zone — we match IFZA or RAKEZ to the currency structure and the prospective banking profile; an international group opens a DIFC Holding to own a European operating company and centralise its IP.
Outcome Jurisdiction, licence and activity set are aligned with the banking profile before the incorporation filing — the company is set up for a specific bank and a specific operational purpose.
02

Banking infrastructure

Lead: CEO — direct relationships with banks and regulators

Opening corporate and personal accounts with local and international banks in the UAE. Every bank has its own policy on countries of origin, sectors and acceptable ownership structures — we know in advance which bank works with which structure, and propose a route to the client before the application, not after.

  • Corporate accounts — Emirates NBD, Mashreq, FAB, ADCB, RAK Bank, Wio
  • International banks in the UAE — HSBC, Standard Chartered (case-by-case)
  • KYC pack — source of funds, source of wealth, business model memo, supporting docs
  • Bankable structure — incorporation, jurisdiction and activity set agreed with the bank before the start
  • Multi-bank approach — two or three accounts across different banks for resilience of the operating flow
  • International settlements — SWIFT, correspondent banking, support through enhanced KYC

Preparing an account is not a matter of passing a form to the bank — it is assembling a KYC pack: business profile, source of funds, supporting documents on the operating model, counterparty list and transaction logic. The pack is agreed with the bank’s relationship manager before submission. For clients with European, British or mixed-residency profiles, the sensitive questions — substance, tax residency, crypto income — are settled at document level, before the interview.

Outcome Accounts open within a 4–8 week horizon. The structure is agreed with the bank before submission, and repeat KYC is not part of the standard path.
03

Residency and documents

Lead: Client Success Manager

Residence visas and Emirates ID for the owner, key employees and family members. Investor visa — for a shareholder in the company, valid 2–3 years and renewable. Partner / employment visa — for staff holding equity in the structure or key personnel. Golden Visa — 10 years, via two main tracks: investment (from 2M AED in property or a qualifying portfolio) and the talent track.

  • Investor / partner / employment visa
  • Emirates ID
  • Golden Visa — investment track and talent track
  • Family residency — spouses, children, parents
  • Powers of attorney, document legalisation, apostille, MoFA

Residency is processed in parallel with company formation and bank account preparation — bringing the time to full launch down to 6–10 weeks in most cases. Where a visa is needed to support the substance case before a bank or a tax authority, we coordinate the filing sequence so that residency is granted at the moment the bank application goes in.

Outcome Residency is arranged as part of the substance case — with a documentary base built for banking and tax review.
04

Operational support

Leads: Client Success Manager + Compliance Lead

Ongoing support for the business after formation. The renewal calendar for the company, licence and visas is kept by the WTP team — with reminders 60–90 days ahead of each date. Accounting and tax — 9% corporate tax, VAT, FTA filings, ESR (Economic Substance Regulation) for applicable categories, UBO declarations, AML checks on counterparties.

  • Renewals — company, licence, visas (proactive calendar + execution)
  • Accounting — corporate tax 9%, VAT, FTA reporting
  • Compliance — ESR, UBO declarations, AML, sanctions screenings
  • Response to regulatory change (for example, qualifying free zone person requirements)
  • Operational channel — priority response on Telegram and WhatsApp during Dubai business hours
Typical scenario A company with a Mainland licence, a corporate account at Mashreq, two employees. WTP runs the annual accounting, prepares and files corporate tax, answers the bank’s annual KYC review, renews the employees’ visas and the licence. The client receives a quarterly summary report and never has to deal with regulators directly.
Outcome Renewals, reporting and compliance run on the team’s calendar. The client receives a quarterly summary, not reactive requests.
05

Private client matters

Leads: Real Estate Lead + Client Success Manager + Wealth Manager

Adjacent services for the owner and their family — a line of work that, for most corporate clients, begins in the second or third year of the relationship, once the infrastructure is stable and questions arise beyond the operating company.

  • Real estate — Dubai, Abu Dhabi, RAK (purchase, rental, mortgage, Golden Visa coordination)
  • Powers of attorney and legalisation — apostille, MoFA, notary services, translations for adjacent jurisdictions
  • DIFC and ADGM Wills — succession planning for assets in the UAE
  • Family structures — foundations and trusts in DIFC and ADGM
  • Asset management and investment portfolios
Typical scenario A client holds an operating company and a Golden Visa, sells a first investment property in Dubai Marina at a profit and reinvests in Dubai Islands; in parallel we execute a DIFC Will and revisit the ownership structure to account for a second child.
Outcome Assets and family enter the overall plan alongside the operating structure — at a stage when the lawyers are still working with current information, rather than reconstructing it six months later.

Method

Our starting premise is that a UAE corporate structure is judged not by the fact of incorporation, but by whether it passes bank compliance — and keeps passing it a year, three years, five years on. Every engagement therefore begins with a diagnostic: the client profile (country of origin, tax residency, sources of capital), the target bank (which profile local and international banks in the UAE are prepared to open — and keep — an account for), and the jurisdiction (one that fits the business model, the bank and the client’s substance capacity at the same time). Only after the diagnostic do we incorporate.

Within the team we call this a bankable structure — incorporation, jurisdiction and KYC pack agreed with a specific bank before the start. It is not a marketing label for a methodology but a description of what we actually do: we test bankability at the idea stage, not after the paperwork has been filed.

In terms of timing, the work follows a predictable logic. Within the first 5 business days we complete the diagnostic and fix the recommended structure: jurisdiction, licence type, banking route, substance rationale, preliminary document list. Within the first 2 weeks the company is incorporated and the KYC pack is assembled in parallel. Within the first 2 months the accounts open — corporate and personal — the Investor visa and Emirates ID are issued, and, where needed, Golden Visa and family residency applications are filed. At the end of this phase the client has a working structure: company, licence, two accounts, residency, tax registration. Ongoing support then takes over — renewals, accounting, compliance — running in the background, without the client having to track deadlines or regulatory change themselves.

If you have a client or a matter where WTP could be useful — write to our senior consultant directly, or review the case studies below.

Get in touch Case studies

Case studies

Anonymised cases from WTP practice. Get in touch if your brief has a similar profile — we will send the extended version with structure and timeline details.

Formation · Banking · Compliance

DIFC Holding for a mining equipment business

An EU entrepreneur with an operating history in the mining sector. Three consultancies in Dubai promised to combine trading and investment under a single DIFC licence — we obtained written confirmation from the DIFC authority that this is not possible, and built a two-tier structure: DIFC Holding + DIFC Operating. The KYC pack was agreed with Mashreq Bank before submission.

10 weeks Read more →
Formation · Banking · Residency · Operations

Full operational launch of an AI company on Mainland

An EU investor was launching an AI company on Dubai Mainland. When UAE visa policy tightened towards the country of one of the founders, the original route stopped working. We moved the owner role to a co-founder with a different passport, completed the incorporation by power of attorney, with entry via the partner’s Entry Permit. Corporate and personal accounts, Emirates ID — now in the second year of ongoing support.

7 weeks In preparation
Private matters · Residency · Ownership structure

Full cycle: sale, Golden Visa, reinvestment

An active Dubai investor was looking for a strategy, not a broker. We waited for handover, locked in a 390K AED profit on the cycle and, without pausing, rolled into a Dubai Islands project (2.3M AED budget). In parallel: Golden Visa, an ownership structure set up with the future sale in mind, and a DIFC Will. The client moved from one asset to the next without losing yield — and with residency status.

6 months In preparation
Real estate · Banking

Mortgage-to-mortgage deal on a 1.33M AED budget

The previous broker had filed a mortgage application with no structure behind it; pre-approval stalled and was about to expire. We rebuilt the submission as a structured case for the bank, obtained pre-approval within two business days, found a property in the right location at the bottom of the budget range and closed a complex mortgage-to-mortgage deal coordinating two banks.

1.5 months In preparation
Formation · Banking · Compliance

Rebuilding a non-bankable General Trading company

The client arrived with a Free Zone company holding a General Trading licence — four banks had declined or gone silent. We rewrote the licence activities to match the actual business, prepared a business model memo, evidenced source of wealth and agreed the KYC pack with the bank’s relationship manager before submission. The account is open.

6 weeks In preparation

Team

Corporate services in the UAE are a team effort: behind a company formation stands a lawyer, behind a bank account — a KYC specialist, behind a visa renewal — an operations manager. At WTP each service line has a named expert who stays with the client for the long term — and whom the whole team vouches for.

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Ivan Olenichev
CEO

Complex cases, multi-jurisdictional setups, direct relationships with UAE banks and regulators. Point of contact for partnership and strategic matters.

Olga Zueva
Olga Zueva
Senior Consultant

Corporate clients from the CIS, bank compliance, structuring, coordination of complex cases. Primary point of contact for colleagues.

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[Name]
Client Success Manager

Documents, visas, company formation, bank accounts, long-term operational support for clients.

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[Name]
Wealth Manager

Investments and portfolio matters. Coordinates with the banking track for the private banking segment.

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[Name]
Compliance Lead

Financial operations, crypto, VARA, compliance. Covers the sensitive parts of KYC and leads the digital assets line.

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[Name]
Real Estate Lead

Real estate in the UAE. Property sourcing, negotiations, mortgage deals, coordination with the Golden Visa track and the ownership structure.

Get in touch

If you have a client or a matter where WTP could be useful — write to our senior consultant directly or use the form below. We reply within one business day.

Direct contacts

Olga Zueva
Senior Consultant

Corporate clients from the CIS, point of contact for colleagues.

Telegram @isupport042 WhatsApp +971 50 240 9071 Email Zueva@wtp.ae
Ivan Olenichev
CEO

Partnership and strategic matters.

LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/iolenichev Email hello@wtp.ae

Enquiry form

We reply within one business day.

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