I am still plodding on looking for a banking service for my Estonian e-Residency. There are a lot of people looking for an answer. I am a UK citizen and I can’t understand why there is a program if there is no honest banking solution.
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My understanding is that the Estonian e-Residency doesn’t open up Estonian banks to recipients… for that access you need a residence permit or citizenship. But the e-residence card does allow you to create a bank account for the company that you are expected to form to take full advantage of the e-residence:
I would love to suggest Estonian e-residence to friends or clients that are simply looking for a banking footprint in Europe. But unless anyone else on this forum can explain how I’ve misunderstood the “flow” of “How it works” — as per the ordered headings on the top menu on this official web site — you can’t do much with the e-Residency unless you form a company.
p.s. one possibility of using this scheme — which I would again be very interested in hearing the practical & legal views whether this should be pursued or avoided — is using the Estonian e-residence card without creating a business as a gateway into other related services, like mail forwarding. This could then allow non-EU citizens to open a wide variety of EMI accounts & receive the access card at an Estonian address which could then forward elsewhere in the world. 
Hi Steve, you are correct this has been the main ‘beef’ amongst prospective and existing e-Residents. There were stories of e-Residents literally having to beg major banks such as LHV to have an account open (and it had to be done in person in Talinn). The Estonian government did say they relaxed the rule in 2019 so that ANY European banks would do (to conduct your business as an e-Resident, register your share capital, pay your taxes etc.) but there are plenty of examples where having an Estonian bank account may be more beneficial.
From the eResident marketplace email I get on a regular basis, there seem to be a few options, yes they are mainly EMIs (but no, you don’t have to be stuck using Wise or Revolut if you don’t want to), although they all seem to have a pretty steep monthly fee. Not sure if you looked at any of them, but it all depends on whether this is worth it for you or no. I don’t believe any of these would give you the EE IBAN though, if that’s important to you, although IIRC AirWallex may still offer you an EE IBAN (and you can qualify as an e-resident with a Estonian-registered company). Places like 1Office told me they can facilitate this (albeit with a fee!)
@ashkoba so that’s the thing with the eResident card, is that it’s not really an ID card. There’s no picture, it’s basically the Estonian ID card sans picture, sans address (and a big word ‘eResident’) and they explicitly stated it’s not an “ID”. So I doubt it’s accepted to open a EU-based EMI (where only EU citizens/residents would qualify). They would then ask to see your passport. 
I did hear EMIs such as Intergiro (Sweden), Waymo (Lithuania?) can qualify you as an e-Resident as well.
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In Estonia, there is no option, but in the EU, you can arrange your banking needs for you personally and for your company.
What is your fee?
Depands on the following:
- Nationality and country of residency of company owners.
- Company business activity.
Sincerely,
British
eCommerce