Welcome to your Qonto business account

Various documents and proofs are required to take over an account with Qonto in order to meet the legal and security standards. The documents required depend heavily on the legal framework and the identification and legitimation requirements of the new account holder. The following documents and proofs in particular are required for the account takeover:

• Proof of identity

A valid EU/EFTA identity document (identity card or passport) or a German residence permit (for non-EU/EFTA citizens) is required to verify the identity of the new account holder.

Managing directors from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States are also accepted and must verify their identity using a valid passport.

To initiate the video identification process, we require the managing director’s email address and full name.

• Company documents

These include the purchase agreement confirming the transfer of the company shares, the commercial register application as proof of proper registration of the company and a list of shareholders to show the current ownership structure. Additionally, a UBO document is required that identifies the Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBOs) of the new company.

These documents ensure that the takeover complies with legal requirements and that the new account holder is legitimate.

All the necessary evidence and documents are sent to us directly by your provider. It is therefore not necessary for you to forward them yourself.

Some important data and documents are required for the identity check at Qonto in order to verify the identity of the new account holder or managing director and to comply with the legal requirements. Here is an overview of the required documents and information:

For identity verification, the managing director or account holder must present a valid identification document. Accepted are:

• Identity card or passport from an EU or EFTA member state (e.g. Germany, France, Switzerland).
• German residence permit (for citizens outside the EU/EFTA, which must also be valid.

Managing directors from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States are also accepted and must verify their identity using a valid passport.

The identity document is used for personal identification and must be completely legible and undamaged in order to meet the requirements of the identity check.

Please also find the criteria for identity documents here.

If verification via IDNow is not possible, there is an alternative: you can authorize another person to carry out the verification on your behalf. This person must meet all the aforementioned requirements for identity verification. To do this, you need a general power of attorney that allows this person to carry out the verification for you.

You can obtain the power of attorney from your provider. 

A new managing director must fulfill the following requirements:

• The managing director must have a valid identity card or passport from an EU or EFTA country. Alternatively, a German residence permit is also sufficient if the managing director comes from another country.
  Managing directors from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States must verify their identity using a valid passport.

The following applies to the new shareholders of the company:

• The shareholders may not come from countries that are on a restricted list of countries. This list is updated regularly.

If there are any uncertainties or an individual check is necessary, our support team will be happy to help you at vorratsgesellschaften@qonto.com.

The authorized representative must speak one of the following languages in order to be able to carry out the video identification: German, English, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch, Portuguese or Flemish.

For the account takeover, it is advantageous to speak English or German. 

The account transfer usually only takes one day. The prerequisite for this is that all the necessary documents and identification steps have been completed within this period. As soon as everything has been checked, the credit is immediately available.

Yes, incoming payments can be made to the account at any time, even before the transfer has been completed. However, outgoing payments are only possible once the account transfer has been fully completed.

Activities in certain areas are not permitted on a Qonto account, including business with drugs, financial and transfer services without official registration, gambling, arms trading, mining, blockchain services without a license and certain trading activities (e.g. tobacco, sex products, chemical substances). All illegal activities and some specialized trading sectors are also excluded.

For a complete overview, please visit our Help Center.