Question Best Austrian bank to open a personal account (?)

[OffshoreResearch]

Hi all,

I want to close my personal bank account in Italy where I've roughly €100k (tax paid clean funds in my own name) and I was thinking to move my money in Austria to a safe bank just to feel safer.

Is it easy getting somewhere in Austria a personal account considering I should just transfer these funds to the new bank and that I can instantly proof their origin + providing a full statement from the losing bank ?

What's the best Austrian bank which offers internet banking and double currency account (Eur/USD) where I should have good chances to get approved ?
I'll hire a local lawyer if things will be easier in this way.

During the compliance process I'll just state my intention to move existing funds to their bank, I'll explain how I earned such money etc but now I've another question.
If few months later I should get payments generated from other online activities, are there good chances the bank will accept them after having done the needed compliance or they may not authorize me to cash them not having talked about my online activity at the time of the account opening ?

I think to have higher chances to get approved by just transferring my funds there without mentioning any other activity in a first moment.
What do you think ?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

 

[JohnnyDoe]

You will not be safer in Austria or in any other country. Save time and money and remain where you are.
If you want to place your money in a safer place, buy crypto.

 

[Martin Everson]

I want to close my personal bank account in Italy where I've roughly €100k (tax paid clean funds in my own name) and I was thinking to move my money in Austria to a safe bank just to feel safer.

Your bank has EU deposit protection up to 100k? If so why would moving your money make you feel any safer?

Is it easy getting somewhere in Austria a personal account considering I should just transfer these funds to the new bank and that I can instantly proof their origin + providing a full statement from the losing bank ?

No more difficult than any other EU country outside challenger banks.

What's the best Austrian bank which offers internet banking and double currency account (Eur/USD) where I should have good chances to get approved ?
I'll hire a local lawyer if things will be easier in this way.

No idea to be honest. What is fascination with Austria that you are willing to hire a lawyer to bank there. Maybe you are thinking of old days when Austrian and Swiss and Lux banks where gold standard for privacy and stability. But we are talking 100k you want to deposit not 100m.

If few months later I should get payments generated from other online activities, are there good chances the bank will accept them after having done the needed compliance or they may not authorize me to cash them not having talked about my online activity at the time of the account opening ?

Compliance is constant and does not end after account opening and declaring initial activity. Hope your also not planning to use personal account for business as you should let bank know early if you do.

I think to have higher chances to get approved by just transferring my funds there without mentioning any other activity in a first moment.
What do you think ?

Need to know basis normally works to get over first hurdle with a bank. It's 50/50 whether this would and I would not advice you to go that route.

 

[TheCryptoAnt]

I think you are working with old information, that amount of cash is as safe in AT as its in IT because of the deposit protection.

If for any reason you think that specific bank / the Italian system will collapse just move your money to IBKR.
If IBKR goes down, money is the lesser of the problems we are gonna be having.

Crypto is also an option, same reasoning.

 

[OffshoreResearch]

Johnny, I forgot to specify few more details about my current situation. I've moved my official residency in Portugal since last September and I no longer want to have anything to do with Italy so in any case I'll not keep my small capital in Italy.
I thought to Austria as a possible option with no special expectations and obviously no privacy and no anonimity so I'll just look for a 'relatively safe bank' with a strong past reputation.

Thanks for your feedback Martin. I was planning to deposit part of the revenue generated through my Madeiran company in Austria (in a second time I'm also thinking to buy a chalet here to share my real intentions). I'll clearly discuss my intentions with the bank at the tiime of opening the account so I should have no issues..

 

[JohnnyDoe]

Johnny, I forgot to specify few more details about my current situation. I've moved my official residency in Portugal since last September and I no longer want to have anything to do with Italy so in any case I'll not keep my small capital in Italy.

I understand and approve.

I thought to Austria as a possible option with no special expectations and obviously no privacy and no anonimity so I'll just look for a 'relatively safe bank' with a strong past reputation.

100k doesn’t open any door. It’s unlikely to find an Austrian bank willing to accept you as a non resident client (LGT Austria requires $5m minimum and to invest some money through them).
Have a look at other banks in Europe, for example Bunq, Aion, Revolut.
The best strategy though is to convert the money into crypto and use a random EMI when you need to have access to some fiat.

Thanks for your feedback Martin. I was planning to deposit part of the revenue generated through my Madeiran company in Austria (in a second time I'm also thinking to buy a chalet here to share my real intentions). I'll clearly discuss my intentions with the bank at the tiime of opening the account so I should have no issues..

Buying a chalet might allow you to open an account in a bank located in the same place as the chalet. You might ask for an introduction to your real estate agent/lawyer

 

[OffshoreResearch]

I imagined I'll have had an hard life in finding a bank ready to accept me as a client with a so small capital
I'll make some research to see if worth the effort otherwise yes, I'll point on other EU banks.

I already have some funds invested in crypto so I need to diversify a bit.
I don't have yet enough funds to buy a chalet which might cost few hundred thousands ...The plan was to collect some additional funds in the months to come and I'm obviously working to expand a lot my new business.
I'll keep this idea on hold for the moment, it's probably the best thing to do.

 

[GeneralGogol]

Euram Bank AG, Hypo Vorarlberg Bank AG, LLB, Kathrein Privatbank open non-resident accounts in Austria but they won't do it for 100k. Maybe 500k+ + investment in the bank's funds.

 

[Forester]

I've moved my official residency in Portugal since last September

AFAIK, banks in Portugal underlie the same EU deposit protection scheme as in Italy or Austria, so – in theory – you can be comparably safe with a bank in Portugal. (If I understand correctly, you are resident there now, so an account opening should be easier.)

100k doesn’t open any door. It’s unlikely to find an Austrian bank willing to accept you as a non resident client (LGT Austria requires $5m minimum and to invest some money through them).

Raiffeisen might be an option.

Have a look at other banks in Europe, for example Bunq, Aion, Revolut.

Revolut??? Are you serious? The institution pretty comparable to Wise wrt perspective of random account blocking etc... Run away like hell. (You surprised me, @JohnnyDoe, I must say )
BTW, KT bank Germany I consider to be quite safe/solid, definitely safer than Bunq or Aion (if we speak about banks relatively easily onboarding foreigners).

The best strategy though is to convert the money into crypto and use a random EMI when you need to have access to some fiat.

Perhaps not random EMI (Generally, it is IMO a good idea, on condition that @OffshoreResearch is oriented re: crypto pitfalls.)

Buying a chalet might allow you to open an account in a bank located in the same place as the chalet. You might ask for an introduction to your real estate agent/lawyer

Agree at 100%.

I already have some funds invested in crypto so I need to diversify a bit.
I don't have yet enough funds to buy a chalet which might cost few hundred thousands ...The plan was to collect some additional funds in the months to come and I'm obviously working to expand a lot my new business.
I'll keep this idea on hold for the moment, it's probably the best thing to do.

Fully understandable.

 

[JohnnyDoe]

Revolut??? Are you serious? The institution pretty comparable to Wise wrt perspective of random account blocking etc... Run away like hell. (You surprised me, @JohnnyDoe, I must say )

I have an account with Revolut for an Estonian company for a few years now and never had any problem. Admittedly though, the volumes are too low to create problems (€100k per year) and the transactions are repetitive and dull.

 

[Forester]

I have an account with Revolut for an Estonian company for a few years now and never had any problem. Admittedly though, the volumes are too low to create problems (€100k per year) and the transactions are repetitive and dull.

OK, this can happen . Thanks for clarifying the background.
[Having said that: ceterum censeo, Revolut & Wise suck ]

 

[OffshoreResearch]

I got you all so just to make a quick recap:
1. I'm already going to open a personal and a company account in Portugal;
2. I prefer moving my Italian funds into a second diff. country just to have funds in diff. places (who knows ...)
3. Considering German banks might be a good alternative too of course.

So it's not really worth trying to get an Austrian account even supposing to have few millions.
THere's no advantage especially if they'll force to invest part of our capital in their own funds/assets ... This's something I hate fully understanding their position of course.

Revolut might work but I prefer opting for a physical bank.

 

[Forester]

I got you all so just to make a quick recap:
1. I'm already going to open a personal and a company account in Portugal;
2. I prefer moving my Italian funds into a second diff. country just to have funds in diff. places (who knows ...)
3. Considering German banks might be a good alternative too of course.

Really reasonable conclusions, IMO.

So it's not really worth trying to get an Austrian account even supposing to have few millions.

Except you finally buy a chalet there. In such a case it is really useful (and possible) to have a local bank account, just for the payment operations related to managing the property.

 

[OffshoreResearch]

Ok all clear now. Thank you

 

[JimBeam]

Just open another account in Italy and split the amount between the two accounts. That will bring diversification if you doubt that your current bank might got bankrupt. Alternatively, you could open an account with a stock broker like InteractiveBrokers and move half of the money there. That way the money will be in Germany (or US depending on the legal entity they use for Italy) and you will be able to use it to invest it something then just stocking it up in a bank account. From there you can invest in just about anything or absolutely nothing at all. You could also do FX transactions super cheap so you could buy/sell USD/EUR pair to gain small profits over time for example.

 

[OffshoreResearch]

Already thought in the past to Interactivebrokers as another possibility to diversify a bit ... Yes, I'll consider them seriously in the coming weeks. Never tried their service before but I heard a lot of good things about this platform.