Did anyone of you open an account with one the biggest german banks?

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I'm getting frustrated with this now. Has anyone managed to open a foreign account without visiting the country in person, having to provide proof of recent/frequent travel to the country, or commit 100k long term? Apart from keytrade of course. I'm interested in France and Germany in particular.
 
+1 ChewChew
I really want to open an account in Germany (even if means trying to buy my way out of a fixed term deposit here!) but even if I have to travel there (I've no German whatsoever), can anyone provide a definitive answer as to what you need - what application form, passport, bills, tax certs, notarisation of documents etc - if a trip is absoloutely mandatory, I certainly cannot afford to take on the trip in vain due to not having the correct paperwork..........
If anyone has successfully opened a deposit account recently in Germany whether by going there or not, can you please advise us....?
Thanks in anticipation and nervousness......
S
 

Def +1
 
roker said:
You can open a sterling account at your local Irish branch, at least I did, I am considering putting most of my savings in it
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I think this is a super idea as Europe as a whole is in deep deep trouble and there are alot of unknowns in the likely event of a euro breakup. My advice would be to open a sterling account in non-eu bank like Investec and transfer your savings to GBP. The current rate is circa 0.85 and IMHO it will trade towards 0.7 in the coming year.

Thoughts appreciated ?
 
Do investec allow you to open a sterling account? I contacted Rabo & Nationwide UK Ireland, who do not offer sterling accounts to irish customers, only euro accounts. If anyone finds a non-Irish bank offering sterling / dollar deposits please post as I have had no such luck
 
I have thought about opening a sterling account too, but the commission fee for converting a large sum of money from euro to sterling and at a later date back to euro (or perhaps punt nua!) would be quite large?
 
To get back onto the topic last night I spoke to a French friend who lives in Metz (very close to Germany & Luxembourg). I learned o couple of things:
- Last year his wife who is German had to open a German Bank A/C due to some work payments. However she had to go to a Branch in Germany to do this. So looks like we’d have to travel to Germany to open an a/c,
- He also told me that a lot of French people hold their savings in Luxembourg Banks as they are even stronger than the French.

Does anybody know about Luxembourg Banks?
 
chewchew said:
I have thought about opening a sterling account too, but the commission fee for converting a large sum of money from euro to sterling and at a later date back to euro (or perhaps punt nua!) would be quite large?
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check out Transfermate.com or some other service and consider getting them to transfer to Stg at a better rate and then lodge the Stg funds by EFT to your Stg bank a/c.

i looked into transfermate a bit( not a lot) and they seem to be very reasonable on rate margins, for large sums of money.
 
Fwiw I'm interested in knowing the answers to the questions posed by the OP and others in the thread regarding the full & correct procedure & requirements for opening German bank accounts.

So I'm going to play Mod for a moment...is it possible to keep posts on topic please? There are other threads in this forum covering the off-topic posts re sterling, Keytrade, Luxembourg etc. Some of them in detail. For anything that's not covered in other threads a new thread can be created (easily).
 
Georged3rd
+1 - put better than me too - was afraid I'd come across narky but just getting concerned that there's still no answer to the OP question - preferably the ABC idiot guide version of How to..... ;0)
 
You can open a Euro account with Investec who are covered by the FSA in the UK, transfer your funds to GBP and open a Gbp sub account. GBP rates are 1.5 ish at present but you are out of the euro and have a FX position positive gbp and negative euro. If you are looking to get out of euro denomination notes then you are obviously bearish on the Euro.
 
Don't want to stray off the mark too far but since my earlier post I've been e-mailing a couple of Luxembourg Banks. 1 has come back and said they don't open a/c's by correspondence and also there is a 125e Annual Fee for a Bank A/C. Rates are pretty low also at about 1%.
 
John H
Thanks a million for getting back and clarifying. How do you access your funds/make deposits with EFT?
S
 
If you are resident in Germany you register your address at the local town hall and they give you document called an anmelde bestatigung and, generally speaking, you need this, along with a passport, to open a bank account.

Non-resident accounts I don't know what the procedure is, like.
 
My partner opened an account in Deutscebank in Dusseldorf 8 weeks ago. She had to go in person as the banker whom arranged it likes to meet all his customers personally. He had loads of Greeks and Irish opening accounts. Money can be transferrd via internet banking but max 5000 euro per day. Interest rate poor but much better than a euro devaluation if it happens in the event of a 2 tier euro. I think its possible to sign and show the documentation in Deutscebank in the IFSC but the trip to germany was fun according to herself - all done and dusted in one day via ryanair.


 
Guys, if Germany goes out of the Euro it's the complete end of the Euro...

Btw the german govt protects depositors up to 50K Euro only, but do they really need such guarantee for their biggest (safest banks in Europe) Banks?
 
Godfather, are you saying it is no use opening a euro accouint in Germany?? If Germany leaves the Euro? Would the euros on depost in German banks not be converted to german marks


Godfather said:
Guys, if Germany goes out of the Euro it's the complete end of the Euro...
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No, the opposite in my opinion. In my opinion the German Mark would gain value quickly versus the Euro which would be left out of the german energy so weaker...
 
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