Curaçao company bank account: how a licensed operator really moves money
If your Curaçao B.V. runs online gaming, don't plan on a Curaçao bank: the Gaming Authority itself said in August 2026 that local banks won't serve online gaming companies. Operators use payment firms and specialist acquirers abroad, and since June 2026, screened crypto.
A non-gaming B.V. owned from abroad can bank locally. Expect a branch appointment, a certified passport and XCG 10 to 26.50 a month at the banks that publish a non-resident fee.
Most people forming a Curaçao B.V. want one thing from it: a gaming licence from the Curaçao Gaming Authority. The licence is the visible part. The money is the hard part, because the island's own banks have stepped back from online gaming. That isn't a dead end. It means the bank account is the last thing you plan, and the payment stack is the first.
Key takeaways
- The CGA said in August 2026 that local banks are unwilling to serve online gaming companies.
- The gaming law doesn't require a Curaçao bank account; it regulates player money instead.
- Operators run on card acquirers, payment institutions abroad and, since June 2026, screened crypto.
- A non-gaming B.V. can bank locally: XCG 10 to 26.50 a month for non-residents at banks that publish it.
- A 1% Central Bank fee applies to money sent from resident to non-resident accounts.
- Deposits are guaranteed to Cg 50,000, companies included, since July 2025.
Two Curaçao B.V.s, two banking stories
The same legal form, a Curaçao B.V., leads to two very different conversations with a bank. Pick yours.
You live in: pick it
- Local banks decline, by the regulator's own account
- Card acquiring through specialist high risk acquirers
- Operating and payout accounts with payment institutions abroad
- Crypto deposits and withdrawals, wallets screened
- Orco, MCB, RBC and Vidanova price non-resident accounts
- An appointment at the bank, or through a local trust office
- Accounts in XCG, US dollars and euros
- 1% Central Bank fee on payments to non-residents
Not running a gaming business at all? A Curaçao company taxes profit at 15%, so another jurisdiction usually suits better; our BVI company is the common alternative.
Gaming decides everything: payment firms abroad for operators, a local bank for the rest.
Why Curaçao banks turn down online gaming
A Curaçao bank pays in dollars and euros through correspondent banks in the United States and Europe. Those banks decide whom their clients may serve, and online gaming sits near the top of their risk lists. Losing a correspondent would cut a small island bank off from the world, so the island's banks don't take the chance.
Banks close accounts of lottery offices; a court upholds one bank's closure, and the banking association points to its foreign bank relationships.
Visa's integrity risk programme, in its April 2023 edition, puts card-absent gambling, code 7995, in Tier 1: acquirers need Visa's separate approval to serve it.
The national AML strategy names online gaming as high risk and records years of bank de-risking.
The finance minister picks one local bank to give lottery businesses accounts. Online gaming is not part of it.
The Gaming Authority says local banks are unwilling to serve online gaming companies, citing high risk and US correspondent banks, and collects its own licence fees through a licensed payment institution in the Czech Republic.
When even the regulator banks its fees abroad, an operator's plan should too. The good news: nothing in the gaming law ties you to an island bank.
It's the correspondent banks' risk rules, not your file. Build the money side abroad.
The payment stack of a Curaçao-licensed operator
Every operator's set-up differs, but the layers are the same. Click a layer to see what it does and what it asks of you.
Which payment firms accept Curaçao licensees changes often and depends on your markets and volumes. We don't publish a list; we match providers to your licence and player countries when we set the company up.
Acquirer, operating account, treasury, and a crypto lane beside them: plan all four.
Player money: what the gaming law asks instead of a bank
The 2024 gaming law, the LOK, never says "bank account". It cares about whether players get their money back. Four articles carry that weight.
Keep player money in accounts or wallets that hold nothing else, reconcile them daily, and be able to show the Authority both at any time. The crypto policy already asks for separate player, operational and treasury wallets; mirror that structure in your fiat accounts.
The law watches player money, wherever it sits. Keep it separate and provable.
For a non-gaming B.V.: what Curaçao banks charge
Since 31 March 2025 Curaçao's banks price in the Caribbean guilder (XCG, written Cg), which replaced the Antillean guilder at par and is pegged at about 1.79 to the US dollar. Four banks publish what a non-resident business account costs each month:
| Bank | Non-resident business account | Also note |
|---|---|---|
| Orco Bank | XCG or USD 10.00 a month, EUR 10.00 | Outgoing same day transfer 0.15%, minimum XCG 75 (fee schedule) |
| Maduro & Curiel's Bank | XCG 15.00, USD 10.00, EUR 30.00 a month | Charged whatever the balance (MCB fees) |
| Vidanova Bank | 15.90 a month in USD, EUR or XCG | XCG 795 to request a business account, not refunded (accounts page) |
| RBC Royal Bank | XCG or USD 26.50 a month for offshore clients | Incoming international wires free |
The cost that surprises people is not on these lists. Since 1 May 2024 banks apply a 1% Central Bank foreign exchange licence fee to transfers from resident to non-resident accounts and to foreign currency purchases, as MCB explains. Type what you'd send out a year:
No bank page we read sets a minimum balance for a business account.
Monthly fees are small; the 1% fee on money leaving is the number to plan around.
What a Curaçao bank asks a B.V. owned from abroad for
Orco Bank prints the clearest list, on its business account page, and starts only when every document is in.
The company
- Articles of association signed and stamped by the notary
- Chamber of Commerce extract under two months old
- Shareholders' register signed by the director
- Ownership chart if more than two layers
Each owner, director, signatory
- Valid ID
- Proof of address under two months old
Extra, for non-residents
- Original passport, or a copy certified by a notary, lawyer or regulated professional
- Tax ID on the CRS and FATCA self-certification
- A bank statement under one month old for every person and company
Vidanova Bank takes a different route: a non-resident company's account "should be opened by a local Trust Office", which brings its own Chamber extract, register and licence, plus a utility bill for each non-resident person. We handle that route with you through our office in Curaçao.
A certified passport, a fresh bank statement and a CRS form: the three things non-residents add.
Opening from abroad: appointments and the 2026 remote ID rules
No Curaçao bank page describes a fully remote opening. Orco asks you to e-mail for an appointment with a business representative; MCB asks you to schedule one with its corporate department. That is where a local director and office earn their keep: they hold the appointment, and you send certified documents.
The rules for identifying people without meeting them changed in 2026. The Gaming Authority, the Central Bank and the Financial Intelligence Unit issued joint provisions for identification and verification without physical contact, in force from 21 August 2026 and not limited to gaming, by trade press accounts. They expect liveness checks and image or video capture, and give existing remote systems until 1 May 2027 to comply. Whether a bank uses them for new company clients is its own choice.
Expect an appointment; a local director makes it without you flying in.
The deposit guarantee, and who is told about the account
Curaçao has had a deposit guarantee since 1 July 2025, run by the Central Bank. It covers individuals and firms, residents and non-residents, in any currency, up to Cg 50,000 per bank, about US$27,930. Repayment comes within 20 working days of an application.
- APC Bank
- Banco di Caribe
- Maduro & Curiel's Bank
- Orco Bank
- Vidanova Bank
- RBC Royal Bank
The guarantee stops at the island's banks. Money with a payment institution abroad sits under that country's safeguarding rules instead, which protect client money in a different way from deposit insurance. Ask each provider how it safeguards your funds.
Reporting
Curaçao's FATCA agreement with the United States has been in force since August 2016, and it exchanges CRS data since 2018, with fines up to XCG 250,000 for banks that fail to report. A Curaçao account of a B.V. you control is reported to your home tax office if your country exchanges data with Curaçao.
Cg 50,000 covers the company at a local bank; payment firms abroad protect money differently.
Your Curaçao company, with the money side planned
We form the B.V. with a Curaçao notary on your power of attorney, provide the resident director the gaming licence needs, and keep the registered office. For gaming operators, we open accounts with payment firms outside Curaçao with you; for other companies, we prepare the file for a local bank and our director holds the appointment. Either way, it almost always goes through.
- Notary deed, Chamber entry, owner register filing
- Resident director and registered office
- Bank or payment accounts set up with you
- Licence application work and licence fees
- Books, tax return and local hires
- Each payment firm's own fees
The licence, the company and the payment set-up are planned together, so the first player deposit has somewhere to land.
Director, office and payment accounts in one plan, from one team.
Curaçao company bank account questions
Can a Curaçao gaming company open a local bank account?
Does the gaming law require a Curaçao bank account?
Can a Curaçao operator accept crypto?
How much does a Curaçao business account cost a non-resident?
Are deposits in Curaçao banks guaranteed?
Do I need to travel to Curaçao to open an account?
What currency are Curaçao accounts in?
Does Heirson set up the accounts?
Changelog
- 13 November 2026: first published.
A Curaçao company, with somewhere for the money to land.
We plan the licence, the director and the payment accounts together.