by Vlad Cuc
Both Romanian or foreign companies can establish bank accounts in the country, in the Romanian national currency (LEI) or any other foreign currency. All Romanian banks offer the establishment of bank accounts in at least 3 currencies: LEI, EUR and USD. You can receive in-depth information on how to open a bank account in Romania as a natural person or as a legal entity from our team of Romanian lawyers.
Romanian banks usually charge clients in the following manner: commission-fee for setting up the Romanian bank account, on-going administration fee – it is charged yearly or monthly, commission-fees for deposits or withdrawals or commission-fee for closing the account. The fees charged to a person wishing to open a bank account in Romania can vary based on the bank where the account is set up.
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The documents one has to provide when opening a bank account in Romania can differ from one commercial bank to another. As a general rule, one should expect to provide the following papers when requesting to have a Romanian bank account opened at a local bank for a legal entity: copies of passports/ID cards of administrators (directors) and shareholders, a copy of the Romanian company’s articles of association, the copy of the Certificate of Incorporation issued by the Romanian Trade Register, the Trade Register Extract (not older than 7 days) and specimen signatures.
In the case when the shareholder of the Romanian company is another legal entity, the banks normally require the shareholder’s resolution deciding on the establishment of the Romanian company. There are some Romanian banks which accept to open accounts for foreign companies, however these usually request additional documents for the procedure.
Therefore, besides notarized and apostilled copies of all company documents (Articles of Association, Trade Registry Extracts, Certificate of Registration) the foreign company will usually be asked to provide proof of registering with the Romanian tax authorities. Persons representing foreign companies can address to our team of lawyers in Romania for legal advice on the regulations they need to follow when opening a bank account.
One of the first steps the representative of a company must do after requiring to open a bank account in Romania is to deposit the required minimum share capital, which can vary depending on the legal entity that was selected for incorporation. This is one of the basic company incorporation steps that must be concluded when opening a local company.
The bank account can be opened at any commercial bank in Romania. There are 34 banking institutions in Romania, out of which 20 are foreign owned.
The bank account will then be used for current company transactions and for other reasons that are prescribed by the legislation. You can receive in-depth legal information on the manner a company can use its Romanian corporate bank account from our team of lawyers in Romania.
The process in this case is to request opening a bank account in Romania, and the bank the investor chosen will issue a temporary corporate bank account. When this happens, the investor will deposit the minimum paid-up capital and the bank will issue a certificate of deposit, attesting the fact that this incorporation process was successfully completed.
Then, this document will be used as evidence for the rest of the incorporation procedures and, when finalized, the temporary account will be transformed into a permanent bank account and the company’s representatives will receive the account details and other services that can be used once the account became active (such as internet banking).
It is also important to know that Romania applies the rules of the Foreign Exchange Control Regulation 04/2012, which states that both residents and non-residents are allowed to open bank accounts in various currencies. Also, Romania does not impose any restrictions with regards to the amount of foreign currency that a non-resident can hold in a bank account opened here. Our Romanian lawyers can present more details on the regulations of this law.
Those who open a bank account in Romania will also receive a card (which can be a credit card or a debit card). The card can be used for various types of transactions, including online banking, which represents a common service provided by commercial banks in Romania. According to the National Bank of Romania, the latest data show the following:
Those who want to invest in the banking sector in Romania in 2024 must know the industry has further expanded in the last years. According to the data of the National Bank of Romania, in 2023, there were more than 21 million active cards on the Romanian territory, more exactly, 21,078,127 cards (the measurement made at the level of June 2023).
It is also worth knowing that the number of active ATM machines operating on the Romanian territory was of 10,244, accounting for a small increase on a year-to-year basis (up by 104 ATM machines). If you hold a card that was issued abroad and you want to use an ATM machine of a local commercial bank, please know that you can be charged with fees, based on the amount you want to withdraw, the currency exchange rate and other bank fees.
Since 2020, all services and goods providers have changed their regular business model, in a world that was influenced by the drastic measures following the pandemic. Thus, the general tendency is to digitalize the business model, and this also applies to banks. In a recent study, 72% of the Romanians participants have declared that their bank has made significant changes in order to adapt to the new context. In 2021, 38% of the single adults have declared that they prefer a digitalized banking system, similar with the 35% of the persons who have a family and children.
Below, you can watch a short video on how to open a bank account for a company in Romania:
As presented earlier, both natural persons and legal entities have the right of opening a bank account here. This also applies to foreign entities and it must be noted that foreign individuals do not have to be residents in Romania in order to open a Romanian bank account.
As a foreigner, it is necessary to know that one needs to address in person to a representative of a bank and request opening the account. When doing so, the person must have his or her personal identity documents and other various documents that can be required by the banks.
One should know that each bank can have its own criteria with regards to the documents natural persons must provide, but as a general rule, a foreigner can expect to bring some of the following papers: documents showing the person’s tax residency, a proof of address, which can be brought in the form of various utility bills (from the place where the person resides in Romania), an employment contract signed with a Romanian employer and other papers.
We invite you to contact our Romanian law firm for more details on how to open a bank account in Romania. We can advise you on other procedures that are applied when opening a business here, if you are interested in investing here by registering a new company.
Our law firm can offer legal representation in the process of setting up a bank account in 2024. We can represent foreign nationals who want to set up their own bank account (which is a bank account for personal purposes).
Also, we can represent any foreigner in the formalities of opening a bank account in 2024 for a newly founded business in Romania. This procedure is more complicated and it involves the preparation of a file of documents.
You can easily contact us for full legal representation in connection to all banking requirements and formalities. Our course, our team remains at your service for any other legal service you may require in 2024 (visas, residence permits, business permits, etc.)