I’m planning to move my tax residency to Czechia/Czech Republic. They are outside of the Euro zone, so banks like N26 and Monese are suboptimal. I considering some more traditional banks like Raiffeisen or Komerční banka.
I’ve seen good things about Fio Banka in this expat.com thread from 2015. Perhaps there are better options in 2019?
Can anyone with local knowledge give me some advice here?
Fio banka is czech owned bank, which makes transfers of EUR easy and has practically no fees. Recommended for business.
As an expat living in Czechia, I encountered too many problems with the local Fio branch – multiple miscommunications (even with a native Czech translator), relatively small (compared with some other Czech banks) but nonsensical (to someone used to US banks) fees … and eventually settled on ČSOB (Československá obchodní banka), which offers online banking in English, fewer hurdles and fees, and in my experience more professionalism, at least on the local level. I’ve been very happy with them so far (6 months). Personal account, not business. Good luck!
Do they require a Czech address to open the account?
thanks for your reply. I ended up opening a bank account with Fio a day before you replied. All the conversation was in English. The only disappointment so far is that their mobile app is terrible.
I’ll keep CSOB in mind as an option. thanks.
I was able to open an account without a Czech address. They (Fio Banka) did require some document proving my connection to Czechia, though. I showed my employment contract, and that got approved by the next morning.
I suppose the process could have only taken a few minutes if I had a Czech address, but it still took less than 24 hours. I hope that helps.