So...will registering in Estonia's e-Resident program with its 100-Euro fee be required to obtain access to Change Bank services? Yes or No?
If the answer is no, then what is the point or advantage of having e-Residency here?
Hey,
Being an e-Resident means you have performed the most thorough KYC possible (last tier), which means you most probably do not have to perform additional KYC. So anyone who is an e-Resident gets easy access to investment services on the platform. People who aren't e-Residents have to carry out extensive KYC on the Change platform, so
setting up an account just takes more time and customers need to send document copies. There are currently more than 22 000 e-Residents for whom the account setup is seamless and fast.
So I think you have answered "no" to my original question. Apparently Change Bank users
can get access to your services
without paying the 100-euro fee to become an Estonia e-Resident. The 22,000 e-Residents have Change Bank setup that is seemless, fast
and costly.
Sounds to me like "easy access to Change Bank" is being used to help justify 100 Euro payments made by
prior e-Resident signups, and Estonian e-Residence offers no real advantages worth a 100-euro fee to
new Change Bank signups.
People apply for e-Residency for various reasons. Some live in Estonia and want to conveniently access public sector services, others want to set up a company to do business within the European Union, others want to very securely sign documents in the European Union. Or as the e-Residency team puts it:
"For example, e-Residency would allow an Indian entrepreneur to establish an Estonian company that he runs from Singapore to serve clients based in Germany. He'd also be able to use his digital signature to sign contracts with customers throughout the European Union. All of it would be done online, remotely, and completely hassle-free."
So in short, for e-Residents, Change will be an additional opportunity/functionality/comfort e-Residency brings them.
