An International Business Company (IBC) can either be resident in Cyprus (provided its management and control is in Cyprus) or it can be non-resident (if its management and control is outside Cyprus).

Further an IBC can either operate from a fully-fledged office with permission to employ expatriate staff or it can have its registered office at the office of a local accountant or lawyer (our office address can be used for this purpose).

Whatever the type of IBC, the application procedure is basically the same.

The basic steps and information required for the formation of an IBC are outlined below:

• Our application form / questionnaire must be completed and either sent back to us by e-mail or fax.
• We must receive by fax or e-mail a copy of the proposed shareholders' passports as well as a bank reference for each shareholder (from their native banks - specimen bank reference letters disclosed in the application questionnaire). The original copy of the passport (which must be notarized) along with the original bank reference letter should be mailed or couriered to us.
• We submit the proposed company names to the Registrar of Companies for approval. This usually takes 4-6 days (In order to save time one of the approved company names from our list can be selected).
• Once approval for the company name is obtained, the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the company are prepared and submitted for registration to the Registrar of Companies.

Some important points to note are:

• A brief description of the main activities of the company is required to enable the drafting of the Memorandum and Articles of Association.
• There must be a minimum of one shareholder. If anonymity is required, the shares may be held by a nominee or trustee.
• There must be at least one director who may be foreign or local .
• A company secretary must be appointed and a registered office address in Cyprus must be specified (required by law).

Our firm can provide nominee directors and shareholders from our employees. The company secretary is always from our office for purposes of administrative convenience and the registered office is our office address. These services are provided at a small annual fee.