Key Post How to open a German bank account from Dublin for €300

Brendan Burgess

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There is a recently launched service which allows you to open a bank account from Dublin without travelling to Germany.

http://www.germanbankaccount.com/ [update 26 October - this site is now under construction]

They charge a €200 fee and you must pay a notary public a further €100 fee for notarising your passport.

If you have a friendly notary who will do it for free, then you save €100.

They do all the paperwork for you. They don't handle cash so I don't see any downside apart from the fee.

Apparently you get an ATM card which you can use as normal in an Irish ATM without any additional charges.

It's not an activity which is regulated by the Central Bank.

Has anyone used it and is there any risk or disadvantage in using it?
 
I am sure Godfather and others will give their feedback but I was put off by them when I saw they are a Mortgage advisor as well. Most financial advisors seem to be offering this service now but I suppose it is only in repsonse to their Clients.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
They do all the paperwork for you. They don't handle cash so I don't see any downside apart from the fee.
Click to expand...

The majority of reputable European banks operate to a code called "Know Your Customer", in some countries this is by law and in others it is self policed. One of the main principles in that code is that the bank actually meets the customer before opening an account, which is why DB and others are unwilling to open accounts for people, unless they present themselves in person. The fact that a bank would be willing to breach such principles in this way would give me cause for concern if I was thinking about putting my cash on deposit with them.

The website also fails to point out that the bank in question is actually the subsidiary of an Italian bank and not in fact a German owned bank as suggested by the website.

And while the German subsidiary may well have a T1 ratio of 17% as the website states, the group T1 is much lower at about 9% and there are worries about it's exposure to the Greek situation. At 9% that would put it at about the same level as BOI and well below the other two Irish banks.

Now I know that things like T1s are not on most people's mind, but we saw again last week, just how important that ratio is, when UBS was hit for 2b by a rogue trader in London. With a T1 of about 16% UBS was in a position to take such a hit where as banks with a much lower ratio would be in serious trouble.

If it was me, I would go with DB, even if it means a trip to Germany at least that way I've have peace of mind that I was with a true German bank.

Jim.
 
I don't know... Ladies and Gents, from my experience with German Banks if you can speak a good german they are really happy to help you and try to get the account open with them but as you can see from the other post I opened the language-issue has become a barrier for other applicants apparently?

So probably 200 Eur could be a good investment at this stage?

PS: I managed to open savings accounts with DKB, 1822direkt, SBroker, Volswagen Bank and Cortal Consors... But I thank the german language I learned at school... And my flight to Germany for all the banks (apart from DKB which I managed to fully open remotely) who needed postident+B&B for one night+food+travel costs costed probably only slightly less than 200 Eur... Something like 150/160
 
I rang the Dublin office of DB in the IFSC in August, said I wanted to open a deposit account and the receptionist gave me the phone number of the bank assistant at the Frankfurt branch who deals with non-resident applicants for personal accounts. They emailed me the application form and related forms the next day. I got my signature witnessed and passport copied at DB Dublin, and 10 days later the account was opened and I transferred a five figure sum electronically. They furnish me with written statements.

It was as straightforward as dealing with a local bank. No need to travel or to speak German!!

The account I opened is a term deposit for 1 year a 2%. Max deposit is €100,000, don't know if there is a minimum deposit, but if so it may be low.
 
Cheers for the info PVT.
Are there any fees with this account?
Do you have internet access with this account?
 
PVT did you need to make an appointment at DB to get your passport authorised or did you just drop in?
 
I have just tried to repeat the actions of PVT. DB in Dublin were helpful but when I got through to Frankfurt they were dismissive and refused to open an account. They said they had not opened such accounts for a long time. Also they said that uniquely the Irish were messing in sending on copies of their forms to others. Finally they were too busy !
So no help there. Does anyone know other branch to try. Any other solutions ?
 
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