A corporate director provides stronger structural privacy than a nominee individual, but it will block you from opening a bank account at most institutions. Decide which layer needs the account before you choose which type of director goes there.
Nominee Director
A nominee director is typically an individual, often an employee of a registered agent firm in BVI, Seychelles, or Panama, who signs a resignation letter and a general power of attorney in your favor at the same time they are appointed. Annual fees run roughly $500 to $1,500 depending on the jurisdiction and provider. The main tradeoff is counterparty risk: you are trusting a human to stay inactive, follow instructions, and not create liabilities, and if they act outside their mandate, unwinding the mess is slow and expensive. This arrangement fits founders who need a named human director to satisfy a bank's KYC requirements but want their own name kept off the public register. For a detailed breakdown of how the nominee's role differs legally from a standard appointee, see Nominee Director vs Normal Director: What the Difference Actually Means for Your Offshore Company.
Corporate Director
A corporate director is a company, most commonly a BVI or Seychelles IBC, that is formally appointed to the board of your operating entity. Because no individual's name sits in the director slot, the privacy benefit is structurally stronger: even under a public register, only a company name appears, and beneficial ownership of that holding company is governed by a separate, often more private, regime. Setup costs for a properly configured corporate director structure, meaning the holding company itself plus its appointment, typically run $2,000 to $4,500 all-in. The practical limitation is that many banks and payment processors refuse to open accounts for companies with a corporate director because AML compliance teams demand a human they can identify and hold accountable. Corporate directors work best inside layered holding structures where the entity does not need a bank account of its own, such as an IP holding company or an intermediate holding layer in a BVI-over-Cayman stack.
Jurisdiction Rules That Decide the Choice for You
Several jurisdictions have banned or restricted corporate directors outright, making the choice partly academic. The UK banned corporate directors for most companies in 2015 and enforcement tightened further after 2023. Singapore requires at least one resident human director, so a corporate director alone does not satisfy compliance there. BVI permits corporate directors under the Business Companies Act with no residency requirement, making it the most flexible option for pure holding structures. If your structure involves any entity that must open a retail bank account or process card payments, plan for a human nominee director at that layer regardless of what sits above it, because correspondent banking policies have hardened against corporate-director entities since 2018.
When to Layer Both in the Same Structure
Some structures use a corporate director at the top holding layer for maximum ownership privacy, then appoint a nominee individual director at the operating subsidiary that actually holds the bank account. This is common in BVI-over-Hong Kong or BVI-over-Singapore configurations. The corporate director shields the ownership layer from any public register inquiry, while the individual nominee director at the operating level satisfies the bank and local regulators. The cost of running both layers simultaneously adds roughly $1,000 to $2,500 per year in combined nominee and registered-agent fees, but the structural separation between the account-holding entity and the ownership entity is materially stronger than either option alone.
Things people ask first.
Can a corporate director be used in BVI?
Yes. BVI's Business Companies Act explicitly permits companies to appoint another company as director, with no residency or individual-director requirement. This is one reason BVI remains the dominant jurisdiction for layered holding structures.
Will a bank accept a company with a corporate director?
Most retail and commercial banks will not. Correspondent banking compliance teams typically require at least one named human director they can run through AML screening. EMIs and some offshore private banks are more flexible, but even there, a corporate director structure triggers enhanced due diligence.
What is the legal difference between a nominee director and a corporate director?
A nominee director is a human acting in their personal capacity under a private mandate agreement, with the beneficial owner holding a power of attorney or undated resignation. A corporate director is a separate legal entity formally appointed to the board, meaning no individual sits in that role at that layer of the structure.
Is a nominee director agreement legally enforceable?
In most common-law offshore jurisdictions, including BVI and Cayman, nominee director agreements are enforceable as private contracts. The undated resignation letter and power of attorney are the practical enforcement tools, not the agreement itself.
Which option gives more privacy?
A corporate director gives structurally stronger privacy because no human name appears at that layer of the register. A nominee individual director still exposes a person's name publicly, even if that person is not the beneficial owner.
Can I use a corporate director in Singapore?
No. Singapore's Companies Act requires at least one director who is ordinarily resident in Singapore. A corporate director alone does not satisfy this requirement, so any Singapore-incorporated entity must have at least one human resident director.
Which director structure actually fits your setup?
The Offshore Playbook maps out exactly how nominee and corporate directors interact across BVI, Cayman, Singapore, and Hong Kong structures, including which layer gets the bank account and why. gramps.chat can walk you through your specific configuration.
Get the Playbook