Opening a bank account in Greece: with your AFM, and with a European right in your pocket

Opening a bank account in Greece is possible, but not in your first week: the bank wants your AFM, the Greek tax number, and you arrange that in the registration phase — preferably already from the Netherlands. Alongside it the bank asks for your passport and proof of address, and usually your AMKA. What most newcomers don't know: a bank that makes difficulties faces a European right. Whoever lives legally in the EU has the right to a basic payment account, and the bank may not refuse it merely because you don't live in the country where it is established. Greek banks do charge fees for an account; the fee information document they must give you beforehand is exactly the paper to compare them with.

What do I need to open an account?

Greek banks work with the same building blocks as the Greek state. The AFM is the key to it; without that number a bank doesn't start. For the address, Greek counters accept the rental contract, title deeds, bills from utility or telephone companies and tax documents — the same list the police use for the registration certificate. A rental contract only counts once the landlord has declared it electronically.

What	Where it comes from	Without it
AFM	AADE, via myAADElive also from the Netherlands	no account
Passport or identity card	—	no account
Proof of address	declared rental contract, utility bill, title deed	usually no account
AMKA	KEP or e-EFKA	often asked for, not always required

What if the bank refuses?

Then the answer is European. Whoever lives legally in an EU country has the right to a basic payment account: deposits, withdrawals, receiving and making payments, direct debits and a payment card, and where available online banking. A bank may not refuse you such an account merely because you don't live in the country where the bank is established. Refusal is allowed if you don't comply with the rules against money laundering, and in some countries if you already have a similar account with another bank in that country. An overdraft or credit is not automatically included.

The right applies only to the payment account, not to savings accounts or investments. And the bank may charge an annual fee, provided it stays reasonable.

What does a Greek account cost?

That differs per bank, and that is why one European rule is useful: before you sign, the bank must give you a fee information document with the most important services and their costs, in a fixed European format. With that document you put three banks side by side. Afterwards you receive a statement of fees at least once a year.

Two European rules push the costs down further. Withdrawing cash at a machine in another EU country may not cost more than at home; only a currency conversion falls outside that, and that doesn't apply in the euro area. And a transfer in euros to or from the Netherlands must cost the same as a domestic transfer — that is the core of SEPA, laid down in Regulation 924/2009.

Can I keep using my Dutch account?

Yes, and that is more than a convenience. Your Dutch IBAN is an ordinary SEPA account, and IBAN discrimination is prohibited: a Greek employer, landlord, energy company or public body that accepts payments from or to a Greek account may not refuse your Dutch account for direct debits, salary, tax refunds or benefits. If it happens anyway, you can file a complaint with the competent Greek authority. That is the reason you don't get stuck in the first weeks without a Greek account.

Keep the Dutch account afterwards too: that is where your pension, your tax return and every refund arrive, as the article on bank account and DigiD explains.

Direct debit wrong or too high? Eight weeks. Within the EU you have the right to have a direct debit refunded within eight weeks, also when it is a cross-border direct debit. That is the button you use when a Greek subscription keeps collecting after cancellation.

Is my money safe at a Greek bank?

As safe as at a Dutch one, up to the same limit: the European deposit guarantee scheme protects your balance up to € 100,000 per person and per bank. A joint account of two partners is therefore covered up to € 200,000. Whoever temporarily parks the proceeds of a sold house is protected above that for at least three and at most twelve months — each country sets the exact period itself. Spread larger amounts over banks, not over accounts at one bank: the limit counts per bank.

What your fixed costs do afterwards — rent, electricity, water, your Greek insurances — belongs on the Greek account, and in your own name. That is not a banking rule but a matter of evidence: every bill in your name is later proof of residence, and Greek counters ask for that.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 4 of 5 of the journey, step 4.6: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Greece or go straight to step 4.6 in the open plan.