The banking system in Romania

There are over 40 commercial banks operating in Romania, with about 6.500 banking units in total. Some of biggest banks are: Romanian Commercial Bank (657 units, 21.4% market share), Raiffeisen Bank (558 units), CEC Bank (1.380 units) and Alpha Bank (200 units).

Romania is well known for its complicated bureaucracy, but opening a bank account seems to be a rather easy thing to do. Before you can open the account, you should gather some basic documents, which the bank you are interested to collaborate with may require. Bellow, you have a list of documents that are generally required, but please keep in mind that each bank has its own internal regulation, so they might ask you for some extra documents. We present you also some information that the bank has the right to check, but also the information you can ask for the bank.

Preliminary checkings

According to Romanian Laws, any bank has the right to check:

· if the applicant is legally eligible;

· the applicant's identity;

· the applicant's address;

· the registrations regarding undeclared insolvency.

Documents needed:

a) For resident individuals: ID (BI/CI).

b) For nonresident individuals:

a. nonresident individual working for nonresident juridical persons that are authorized to operate in Romania: Passport; Work Permit, issued by Romanian authorities.

b. any other nonresident individual: Passport, or any other ID, according to residential country's laws; Certificate of Fiscal Residential.

c) For resident juridical persons: Status and Bylaw; Certificate of Registration in the Commercial Register; ascertaining Certificate issued by the Trade Register (not older than 14 days); Decision of the statutory body on account opening and persons authorized to carry on their operations and empowerment for persons entitled to open an account and / or perform operations on the account, as the case; Documents of identification of the persons authorized to conduct operations on account; Any other documents requested by the intermediary. / Constitutive act; Conclusion of the judge on company registration in the Commercial Register; All addenda to the articles of incorporation and proof of their registration in a trade or as up to date of the act, signed by the legal representatives of the Company

d) For nonresident juridical persons:Constitutive Act; Certificate of registration in the country of origin; Extract issued by the competent authority in the country of origin, which will include data on legal existence of the company, objects, identification of shareholders and shares ownership, legal representatives with signature powers and representation of society in relation with third parties, address of head office and any other particulars of the Company and / or the status of its; Certificate issued by the fiscal body in the country of origin. If the company is founded in a country where the document cannot be obtained, seek a declaration certified by a notary, on the legal representative of society in this regard; The decision of the competent statutory body or empowerment for the persons authorized to open the account and carry on their operations, as the case; Letter of introduction of a bank subjected to strict conditions of approval and regulation (single passport rule); Documents of identification of persons authorized to conduct operations on account; Any other documents required or provided by the intermediary.

The banking system developed aggressively in Romania in the last few years. This meant that many banking units were opened, and many banking products were developed. Unfortunately this aggressive development often meant that the banks were forced to use underqualified personnel. As a result, it can be a challenge to find a bank in Romania that doesn't give you reasons to become angry. Due to the impact of the human resources, significant differences in terms of quality of service can be seen between different units of the same bank.

Business Support Services for Foreigners - www.bssf.ro