Publications

Many entrepreneurs appreciate fintech for its speed, flexibility, and simplicity. However, these platforms have a fair number of pitfalls that are unnoticeable from the very first moment of use. As lawyers at the international consulting firm Antwort Law, who work daily in the banking sector, we see where the risks of using such solutions grow disproportionately to the benefits they offer as alternatives to traditional banks.

Many entrepreneurs, when faced with payment problems, complain about overly strict compliance or bank inefficiencies. However, in our experience, many such issues can be avoided with a well-designed payment logistics and structure. One of the main areas of work at the international law firm Antwort Law is opening corporate accounts worldwide in both traditional banks and payment institutions, as well as resolving banking issues. No business can be successful without a well-functioning corporate account and a stable payment flow. Let's examine the main mistakes businesses make in this area and provide the best recommendations for avoiding losing money due to your own mistakes.

Obtaining a second or even third passport is the goal of many entrepreneurs developing businesses internationally and facing daily geopolitical restrictions imposed by their original passport, which often lacks credibility with financial institutions or legislators in other countries. In this article, we, the specialists at Antwort Law, will discuss a new program in the citizenship-by-investment market: the São Tomé and Príncipe passport. As of December 2025, there have been no decisions on applications, so no one can say how this passport will perform in practice. However, we can analyze this option, highlight its advantages and disadvantages, and determine who might benefit from this citizenship.

An Egyptian passport is rarely advertised and rarely offered as a fully-fledged service due to its extremely low appeal to clients willing to invest in another country for a second passport. It's true that only a few people approach us, the experts at the international legal consulting firm Antwort Law, with such a request. However, we still feel it's important to inform you about this option, which many entrepreneurs don't even know about and which, who knows, you might one day need due to your business and current geopolitical circumstances, as recently happened to a long-standing client of ours.

Following the introduction of a 9% corporate tax in the UAE, many companies fell under its purview and began paying it. However, not all entrepreneurs are aware that, in practice, some of the taxes paid under this system may have been calculated incorrectly, meaning it's possible to review and reduce the amounts. In this article, the experts at Antwort Law, an international law firm headquartered in Dubai, will discuss the most common mistakes companies and their employees make when accounting for foreign-sourced income, which can lead to additional financial costs. We'll help ensure your business doesn't overpay a single dirham.

Thanks to the systemic regulation of the crypto industry, the UAE is one of the few countries in the world well-suited for most crypto projects, even the most ambitious ones, including launching their own cryptocurrency. However, according to statistics, 80% of such entrepreneurial endeavors get stuck at the stages of legal planning/structuring, licensing, or banking compliance.

About a third of all companies in the UAE violate their trade license requirements by engaging in activities other than those specified, considering trade codes merely a formality. While such disregard might go unnoticed in some countries, in the UAE it is illegal.

Many entrepreneurs in the UAE whose companies provide digital services conduct meetings with clients and partners online and lack employees or physical offices. They believe that conducting their business remotely is acceptable to most local banks. However, since 2021, following the introduction of the Central Bank of the UAE Rulebook and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to assess the actual economic activity of each client, banks are treating online companies with greater caution and blocking their accounts more frequently.

If you've outgrown direct investment in your own country as an individual and are considering the next level, a safer, more profitable, and longer-term option, consider the UAE. Unlike other popular jurisdictions for this purpose, such as Luxembourg or Singapore, the UAE offers numerous tax incentives that will save you millions in the long run.

As a rule, the registration of a company in the UAE is given a lot of attention by the owners due to the understanding that a legally competently constructed process affects the future success of the business. However, these same entrepreneurs, some having faced losses, some having switched to other projects, or for some other reason having decided to close the company, treat the liquidation process much less carefully, and often even indifferently.