Open a Bank Account in Romania as an Expat 2026

By ExpatMoneyEU Research Team · Published 8 November 2026 · Updated 8 November 2026

Opening a Romanian bank account is the first admin task after you arrive: your employer must pay your wages into a bank account, your landlord will want a Romanian IBAN for rent, and the tax office (ANAF) expects your income to land in one. The good news is that the process is straightforward once you know the documents — and the 2026 rules are more foreigner-friendly than they used to be. This guide walks through every step, the exact document checklist, the fees, and which bank to pick.

Romania is an EU member state with its own currency, the leu (RON). Its banks are licensed and supervised by the National Bank of Romania (BNR), deposits are protected up to €100,000 per depositor under the EU deposit guarantee scheme, and the big banks all run English-language apps. What surprises newcomers is not the banking — it is that online opening is still built for Romanian citizens, so as a foreigner you should plan a branch visit rather than counting on a fully remote signup.

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Romania banking at a glance

→ Best Bank Accounts in Romania for Expats — November 2026 Guide

Step 1: Pick your bank before you land

Choose before you arrive and you save a week of faffing. For most English-speaking expats the choice is ING Bank Romania — fully English app, Romanian IBAN, fees of roughly 0–15 RON a month, often waived with salary — or Banca Transilvania, Romania’s largest bank, with the biggest branch and ATM network and fees of roughly 0–10 RON. BCR (Erste Group) is the solid traditional alternative with its George app in English. Open Revolut from your phone before you travel as a second account for transfers — it takes about ten minutes — but do not rely on it alone, because its IBAN is Lithuanian and some Romanian employers still ask for a RO IBAN for salary.

If you will live outside Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara or Iași, check the branch map first: ING has fewer branches than BT or BCR, and a 40-minute trip to the nearest branch gets old fast. If you will deal in cash — market shopping, small landlords, rural life — favour the bank with the most ATMs near you, which is usually Banca Transilvania.

→ Best Bank Account for Pakistanis in Romania — the same banks, judged for Pakistani expats

Step 2: Gather your documents

Romanian banks are not fully standardised on documents, but the recurring checklist is the same everywhere. Get these ready before your appointment and you will finish in one visit; miss one and you will be rebooked.

EU citizens can usually open an account with a passport or national ID plus proof of address while the CNP is still being issued. Non-EU citizens should bring the residence permit or long-stay visa as well — and a tip that saves a second trip: bring documents translated into Romanian or English if the originals are in another language.

→ Free Romania Net Salary Calculator — know your take-home pay before you open the account

Step 3: Book a branch appointment

Walk-ins work, but appointments are faster — in 2026 you can book through the bank’s app or website and skip the queue. Pick a branch in a big city if you can: English-speaking staff are concentrated in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara and Iași, and a smaller-town branch may have nobody comfortable in English. Allow 30–60 minutes for the appointment itself.

At the appointment the bank verifies your identity, copies your documents, and opens the account — usually a RON current account by default, with EUR, USD and GBP sub-accounts you can add from the app. You will sign the account terms, choose a package (take the standard one — premium packages cost more and you almost certainly do not need one yet), and order a debit card. Ask three questions before you leave: is the monthly fee waived when my salary lands here, which ATMs are free, and how do I add a euro sub-account.

→ Best Bank Account for Indians in Romania — the same banks, judged for Indian expats

Step 4: Get your CNP and register with ANAF

Your personal numeric code (CNP) is issued when you register your residence in Romania, and your tax identification number (NIF) comes from ANAF, the Romanian tax authority. Some banks will open the account while the CNP is being processed; others will ask you to come back with it. Either way, treat the CNP as a second first-week task alongside the bank account: it is the number that ties together your residence, your tax record and your employment contract.

If you are employed, your employer handles most of the payroll registration — the monthly D112 declaration, the withholding of your 25% pension contribution (CAS), 10% health contribution (CASS) and 10% flat income tax — but the account itself is your job. Check your first payslip against our salary calculator: gross minus 35% of contributions, then 10% tax on the rest.

→ Free Romania Expat Budget Calculator — plan your monthly budget in Bucharest, Cluj or Timișoara

Step 5: Set up salary, rent and transfers

Give your employer the RO IBAN on day one — under Emergency Ordinance 32/2026 your wages must be paid into a bank account, and the first payday comes faster than you think. Set up a standing order for rent the same week, and add your euro sub-account before you need it. Then set up the two-account habit that most long-term expats use: the Romanian account for salary, rent and daily RON spending, and Revolut plus Wise for cheap transfers home and multi-currency spending.

For transfers home, do not use your Romanian bank’s international transfer: the fees and the exchange-rate margin are among the worst in the EU. Send from your Romanian account with Wise, which shows the fee and the real rate before you send — and check the live fee every time, because rates move daily and every figure on this page is illustrative.

Step 6: Know your rights if a bank says no

If a bank refuses you, ask for the reason in writing — and know that the law is on your side more than most newcomers realise. Anyone legally resident in the EU, including people without a fixed address, has a right to a basic payment account at a Romanian bank if they hold no other account in Romania, and the bank can refuse only on anti-money-laundering grounds and must answer within 10 working days. Opening and running a basic payment account is free by law when your salary or pension is paid into it.

If one bank turns you down, try another: banks differ in how they read the same rules, and ING, Banca Transilvania and BCR do not all apply the same checks. A refusal at one branch is not a refusal everywhere, and it is not a reason to pay an agent who promises a guaranteed account — no serious bank opens an account without verifying your identity and the origin of your funds.

→ Best Bank Account for Filipinos in Romania — the same banks, judged for Filipino expats

EU citizens vs non-EU citizens: what is different

EU citizens have the easiest path: a passport or national ID and proof of address will usually open an account within days of arrival, and the EU right to a basic payment account covers you if a bank hesitates. Non-EU citizens go through the same process with two extras — the residence permit or long-stay visa, and the CNP/NIF — and the branch visit is effectively mandatory, because the online routes are built for Romanian citizens with a Romanian ID card. Since April 2026, though, the gap has narrowed: Emergency Ordinance 32/2026 lets banks open an account on a long-stay work visa, so non-EU workers no longer have to wait for the plastic permit card before they can be paid.

Students should note that Romania has no German-style blocked account (Sperrkonto) system: student visa applicants show proof of funds in a bank account instead, so open the account early and keep your balance statements — they are the documents the immigration office will want to see.

Fees: what a Romanian account actually costs

Fees change regularly, so treat this table as a starting point and check the bank’s current price list before you apply — the exact figure depends on the bank and the package, and premium packages cost more for features most expats never use.

→ Best Bank Account for Nigerians in Romania — the same banks, judged for Nigerian expats

What changes in 2027

Re-check every figure on this page each January: Romanian banks revise their price lists at least once a year, and the government reviews the minimum wage annually — the RON 4,325 floor from July 2026 will move again. Romania still uses the leu (RON) in 2026 and there is no confirmed date for euro adoption, so your RO IBAN and RON salary are not changing overnight; if euro adoption is ever announced, expect a long transition with plenty of notice. Watch too for digital-ID improvements: online opening for foreigners is slowly widening, and a fully remote account may be possible for more nationalities by 2027 — but for now, the branch visit remains the plan.

How we researched this guide