Bank account

Different banks cater to different customers. The Czech banking sector is well developed and stable. There are large, international banks that offer a wide scale of products and boast experience and stability, but you may pay a bit extra on charges (Raiffeisenbank, CSOB, Česká Spořitelna, Komerční banka etc). If you are looking for low fees and you don’t need any special services, consider one of the low-cost banks (Equa, Fio, mBank, etc). Identify your needs, browse their websites, and find out which one of them suits you best.

Most of them are, but to a different degree. Some have a website in English, some don’t.  Make sure their internet banking services are in English, too.

Banks with English web/app: Raiffeisenbank, CSOB, Česká Spořitelna, Komerční banka, Equa, Fio

When you settle on a bank, call their shop in Brno in advance and make sure you will be able to meet an English-speaking banker.

Once you’ve picked a bank that suits you, walk into any of their offices in the city to open the account. Or better yet, call the closest office in advance to set up a meeting with an English-speaking clerk.

Some banks allow opening a bank account on-line.

To open an account, you will need two personal identifications – passport and another form of identification (driving license or similar). Official residence permit, work contract, or student card, might be required too, so take it with you.  Many banks ask for a deposit when opening the current account (usually from 100 to 1000 Kc). As most of the banks send an authorization code to your mobile to confirm internet banking transactions, it is important to have a functional Czech phone number.

You can find more information about obtain one in our guide Phone card.

Check the list of fees the bank will be charging you for their services. Some of them might not be standard in your country, so avoid surprises in the future (for example, most banks charge you a monthly fee for simply having the account).

Some contracts will include ‘preferential conditions’ which frees you from some fees if you reach a ‘minimum monthly transfer limit’. Make sure it is indeed your plan to be transfering (into and from your account) this amount of money every month to enjoy the free services.

Czech banks now have to fulfil the obligations the Czech Republic has agreed to meet together with other countries for the automatic exchange of tax information. The aim of the agreement is to fight global tax evasion.

In addition to the basic identification data of the client (e.g. name, surname, permanent address, date of birth etc.) the banks now also have to register data on tax residence (country of tax residence); if there is a difference between the country of permanent address and country of tax residence; and the Tax Identification Number (TIN): this is the number through which the client communicates with the tax authorities (in the Czech and Slovak Republics the birth number of private individuals and the ID Nos. of legal entities are also used for this).

To know your TIN as a physical person you need to look (or first get) at your residence card where you should find the birth number “rodné číslo” – a ten-digit number that is used as identification of Czech citizens and residents at all offices. If you have a resident card and the number is missing, you can get it at the Immigration office later – usually two-three months later than your card was issued.

In case you are a business person, physical or legal entity, you might have a Daňové identifikační číslo (DIČ) assigned by the Czech Tax office and you should use that in the first place.

More details about the TIN and where to find it on the residence card read here.at a website of OECD.

Use specialized providers for international money transfers, it is cheaper and with no hidden fees. A well-known international provider is transferwise.com. A Czech localised service is devizy.cz (run by Fortissimo co. Ltd). They offer very good exchange rates and depending on amounts transferred, low or no fees.