Setting up a Company and Doing your Banking in Georgia

Setting up a company in Georgia

Starting a business and setting up a company has never been easier in Georgia. The time frame is limited to 1-2 days and requires very few documents.

Companies established in Georgia are subject to operation under Georgian law; however, there are no limitations for foreign citizens to become a partner or be appointed as director of a Georgian company and no special permits are required.

There are 6 main types of legal entities that can be registered in Georgia:

1. Limited liability company
2. Joint stock company
3. Cooperative
4. Joint liability
5. Limited partnership
6. Individual Enterprise

Limited Liability Company (LLC) is the most common type of business registered in Georgia.  The liability of the shareholder(s) towards the creditors is limited to the entire property of the company, while an LLC may be established by any individual or legal entity.

To register an LLC, the applicant(s) has to refer to the registering authority, National Agency of the Public Registry and submit the following documents:

1. Proof of Identity document
2. Filled in Application Form
3. Company Charter (Articles of Association)
4. Duly Certified agreement signed by all partners
5. Power of Attorney and proof of Identity, in case of representing another individual
6. The proof of address where business would be registered – property ownership registration in applicant’s name or written permission from the property owner, if the property owner is not the applicant.

Once all documents are submitted, an applicant should expect a text message with notification regarding application`s successful review by the registration authority, while the Public Registry issues a corporate extract, indicating the identification data of the company.

Banking in Georgia

The National Bank of Georgia (“NBG”) is the central bank in Georgia, which   exercises supervision over the financial sector for the purposes of facilitating financial stability and transparency of the financial system, as well as for protecting the rights of the sector’s consumers and investors.

The banking sector in Georgia is represented by 19 commercial banks, including 17 foreign-controlled banks and one branch of non-resident bank. There are many banks in Georgia which offer banking services for both companies and individuals, such as Bank of Georgia, TBC Bank, Liberty Bank, VTB bank, ProCredit bank, Bank Republic and others. The most popular are TBC Bank and Bank of Georgia.

The documents needed to open a bank account for most types of companies in Georgia are:

1. The bank’s application form for opening the bank account;
2. Proof of registration with the Public Registry;
3. Sample signatures for all the company’s authorized persons and copies of their ID cards;A note drafted by the company’s shareholders who hold more than 25% and copies of their ID documents;

Additional documents for foreign companies:

1. Beneficial owners identification document copies
2. Certificate of Incorporation with beneficiaries or similar
3. PoA for a representative if none of the beneficiaries is present during the procedure of opening of the bank account

All these documents must be apostilled, translated into Georgian and then notarized. The account opening usually takes 1 day for local companies’ and approximately 2 weeks for foreign companies.

Irina Lopatina

T. +995 322 180310

E. irina.lopatina@eurofast.eu