Before you can open a business bank account, you need to register your company.
Before you walk into a bank to open a business account and look for finance, you should register your company, or your company name, with the Companies Registration Office (CRO).
You must also decide what type of company you want to be.
You can register a company, a business name (trading name), a foreign company (external company) or limited partnership with the CRO.
If you register a company, it has a separate legal personality – it is a separate and distinct legal person.
If you register a business name to act as a sole trader, the owner of the business name is the person to be contacted and is responsible for the business.
The CRO has a very detailed website. You can find information on any company registered in Ireland on the site. The site also contains information on everything from filing annual returns to business name registration. There’s also a useful leaflet detailing the six things every company director should know about company registration.
Also, here is a more detailed ThinkBusiness.ie guide to choosing what kind of company/business you should set up.
