What This Document Is

A Certificate of Corporate Existence is an official federal certificate issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), an independent bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The OCC charters, regulates, and supervises national banks and federal savings associations, and licenses federal branches and agencies of foreign banks. It holds the official records of every institution under its supervision.

The certificate states that, on the date it was issued, the named institution was authorized to transact the business of banking. Foreign regulators, courts, and counterparties rely on it as the federal government's confirmation that the bank legally exists and is operating under a valid charter or license.

A standard OCC Certificate of Corporate Existence contains:

• A certification statement by the Comptroller of the Currency, citing the OCC's statutory custody of chartering and supervisory records (Revised Statutes 324 et seq. and 12 U.S.C. 1 et seq.)
• The institution's exact legal title, such as "Example Bank, National Association" or the full name of a foreign bank's federal branch
• Charter or license number and the date the charter or license was granted
• A statement of continuing authority, confirming the institution still holds a valid charter or license, and for federal branches, the licensed street address
• Date of issuance, written into the testimony clause
• Signature of the Comptroller of the Currency
• Seal of the Comptroller of the Currency (Currency Bureau, Treasury Department)
• An OCC control number, typically in the lower corner

Which Institutions It Covers

Only federally chartered or federally licensed institutions can obtain this certificate from the OCC. If your bank is chartered by a state, the certificate comes from a state authority and follows the state apostille route instead.

Not sure which applies? Check the institution's name and charter on FDIC BankFind or the Federal Reserve's National Information Center, or send us the entity name and we will confirm the correct route.

Related OCC Certified Documents

The OCC issues two categories of certified documents. We authenticate all of them through the same federal process.

What It Is Used For Internationally

Banks present an apostilled Certificate of Corporate Existence whenever a foreign party must verify that a U.S. federally chartered institution is real and authorized to operate. Common uses include:

• Opening correspondent and nostro accounts with foreign banks, where the counterparty's KYC team requires government-issued proof of existence.
• Foreign regulatory filings: licensing a representative office, branch, or subsidiary abroad, or registering with a foreign central bank or securities regulator.
• Cross-border lending and trade finance: syndicated loans, letters of credit, guarantees, and security registration in foreign collateral registries.
• Capital markets transactions: bond issuances, listings, and custody or depositary arrangements under foreign law.
• Litigation, arbitration, and enforcement abroad, where a court must confirm the bank's legal capacity to sue or be sued.
• Powers of attorney and officer authority, filed together with board resolutions or incumbency certificates.
• Government tenders and public contracts that require bidders to prove corporate existence.
• Foreign branches of U.S. banks and U.S. branches of foreign banks documenting their status to the home-country parent or regulator, for example, a Swiss, UK, or Japanese bank confirming its U.S. federal branch license.

How to Obtain the Certificate From the OCC

Only the OCC can issue this certificate. As of this writing, its process works as follows:

• Online requests only. The OCC does not accept requests by mail, courier, email, fax, or phone. Paper requests are returned unprocessed.
• Information required: the title of the certificate you need and identifying information for the institution. Merger, conversion, and title-change certificates also require a description of the transaction and its approximate date.
• Fee: $10 per certified document, paid by debit or credit card when you submit the request.
• Processing time: generally within 20 business days. The OCC does not offer expedited service and does not issue certificates bearing a specific requested date.
• Delivery: by email, as a PDF. Paper certificates are not provided. Redelivery requires a new request and another $10 fee.
• Questions: the OCC can be reached at (202) 649-6700.

Fees and procedures are set by the OCC and may change. Check the OCC's certified documents page for current details before you request.

The OCC Issues PDFs Only: What to Submit

Unlike most federal documents, there is no paper original of an OCC certificate. The OCC emails a PDF bearing the Comptroller's signature and seal, and that PDF is the official document. The copy submitted for federal authentication is a clean, unaltered print of it.

• Send us the PDF exactly as the OCC delivered it, by email or upload. Do not re-save, edit, compress, or convert it.
• We print it for submission at full size on letter paper, in color, single-sided, with nothing cropped or scaled. If you prefer to print it yourself, follow the same rules and mail us the print flat.
• One print per apostille. If you need apostilled certificates for several countries or counterparties, tell us how many sets you need.
• Our specialists review every print against current Office of Authentications acceptance practice before it is submitted.

Why Federal Authentication Is Required

Apostille authority in the United States is divided between state Secretaries of State and the U.S. Department of State, depending on who issued the document.

The certificate is signed by the Comptroller of the Currency, a federal official, and sealed with the Comptroller's seal. A state Secretary of State has no authority over it. This includes the state where the bank's main office or branch is located. An apostille from Connecticut, New York, Delaware, or any other state cannot be placed on an OCC certificate.

Federal authentication:

• Confirms that the signature is that of the sitting Comptroller of the Currency
• Confirms that the seal is the official seal of the Comptroller
• Allows the certificate to be recognized by foreign governments under the Hague Apostille Convention or through consular legalization

Document Preparation Requirements

Acceptable Format

• A certificate or certification issued by the OCC and delivered through its online request system.
• Bears the signature of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Comptroller's seal.
• Printed in full, unaltered, from the original OCC PDF.

Strict Preparation Rules

• Do not notarize the certificate. The Department of State authenticates the Comptroller's signature, not a notary's, and a notarial certificate breaks the federal chain.
• Do not edit the PDF. No added text, logos, highlighting, redactions, or annotations.
• Do not crop, scale, or print multiple pages per sheet. The seal, signature, and control number must appear in full.
• Do not staple the certificate to board resolutions, powers of attorney, or other documents. Each document is authenticated separately.
• Do not send it to a state Secretary of State. It will be returned unprocessed.
• Check the entity name against the name used in your foreign filing. The certificate shows the institution's exact legal title as recorded by the OCC.

Step-by-Step Apostille Process

How to Visually Confirm the Document Is Ready

Common Reasons OCC Certificates Are Rejected

1. Sent to a State Secretary of State

Banks often route the certificate to the state where they are headquartered. State offices cannot authenticate a federal official's signature. Fix: submit to the U.S. Department of State, Office of Authentications.

2. Notarized Before Submission

Adding a notary's certificate replaces the Comptroller's signature as the thing being authenticated, which breaks the federal chain. Fix: submit the certificate on its own, with no notarization.

3. Altered, Cropped, or Scaled Print

A print that cuts off the seal, signature, or control number, or a PDF that has been edited or annotated, will not be accepted. Fix: send us the untouched PDF and let us print it.

4. Wrong Issuer for the Charter Type

State-chartered banks cannot obtain OCC certificates, and holding companies are incorporated under state law. Fix: confirm the charter type first. Use a state certificate and state apostille where applicable.

5. Certificate Too Old for the Receiving Authority

The certificate speaks only to the bank's status on its issue date, and many foreign registries and counterparties want one issued recently. Fix: confirm the recipient's age limit and request a fresh certificate if needed.

6. Name Mismatch Abroad

Foreign registries often reject filings where the bank's name differs from the certificate, for example "Bank, N.A." versus "Bank, National Association." Fix: use the exact name shown on the certificate in all foreign filings.

Hague Convention vs. Non-Hague Countries

Hague Convention membership changes periodically. We verify the destination country's current status on every order. See our Country Guide and Embassy Legalization Guides for country-specific requirements.

Processing Times & Validity

• OCC issuance: generally within 20 business days of your online request. No expedited service is available.
• Federal apostille through our office: 7 business days (excluding Fridays and federal holidays) once we receive your OCC PDF.
• Embassy legalization: typically 3 business days to 4 weeks, depending on the country.
• Validity: the certificate confirms the bank's status only as of its issue date. It has no printed expiration, but foreign registries, banks, and courts commonly require a certificate issued within a recent window, often 30 to 90 days. Confirm the recipient's requirement before you request it from the OCC.

Use our Processing Time Estimator for a country-specific projection.

Why Choose Federal Apostille and Notary Processing

We are a Washington, D.C.-based service specializing in federal authentications, including corporate and financial-regulatory documents for banks, their counsel, and compliance teams.

• Hand-delivery to the U.S. Department of State, Office of Authentications.
• $120 flat-rate pricing with government authentication fees included.
• PDF-to-print handling to specification, so the Comptroller's seal and signature are submitted exactly as issued.
• Pre-submission review of entity name, charter type, and certificate age against your destination country's requirements.
• Companion documents: we also route board resolutions, powers of attorney, and incumbency certificates through the correct state or federal channel so a complete package arrives abroad together.
• Embassy legalization for non-Hague countries handled in-house in Washington, D.C.
• Certified translations in major languages, including German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic.
• Worldwide tracked shipping via FedEx, UPS, and DHL, plus real-time order tracking.
• Over 10 years of experience processing federal authentications.

Frequently Asked Questions

Summary

The OCC Certificate of Corporate Existence is the federal government's confirmation that a national bank, federal savings association, or federal branch of a foreign bank is authorized to do business. It is signed by the Comptroller of the Currency, so only the U.S. Department of State can authenticate it for international use. The OCC issues it only as an emailed PDF, and a clean, unaltered print of that PDF is what gets apostilled.

Federal Apostille and Notary Processing handles every step after the OCC issues your certificate, from print review through final embassy legalization, so your certificate arrives abroad in legally recognized form.