14 Aug 2024
Italy is a beautiful country with breathtaking landscapes. Every part of the country offers you something different whether you have gone there as a tourist or a Gambian migrant to earn a living and send money to Gambia online from Italy to provide financial support.
Whether you are interested in Italian wine, the Mediterranean coastline, its aromatic pasta, the bustling Italian fashion industry or anything in between, finding the right place for you is not hard. But all of this comes with a few things to consider. Of all of these things, one of the most important is whether you need a bank account in Italy as a Gambian migrant or not. This blog guides you about everything you need to know about opening a bank account in Italy.
Before sharing every detail with you about opening a bank account in Italy, let’s first see if opening a bank account is essential in the first place or not. Well, opening a bank account in Italy or any other developed country, for that matter, is critical.
The simple reason is that in most developed countries, people are shifting, and have already largely shifted, to the use of plastic currency. Have you ever thoroughly examined your Debit and Credit cards? Well, do it this time if you haven’t yet.
These cards are called plastic currency. But you cannot get these cards without having a bank account, which accentuates the need to open one. Therefore, the simple answer to the question is a Yes! You indeed need to open a bank account in Italy as a Gambian migrant. Over 22,000 Gambians working in Italy already have bank accounts; you should have one, too. Whether you send money online to Gambia from Italy using your bank account or not is a different matter. But having one is essential.
The first step after deciding that you essentially need a bank account in Italy is to gather the required documents. The documents required vary from bank to bank in Italy. But some of the documents you will have to produce at any bank are:
Proof of Identity (ID) like a passport or National Identity Card
Proof of legal residence status or Italian address
Tax Number (Codice Fiscale)
Proof of employment or student status (depending on the account type)
After gathering these documents, you can appear in any bank and place a request to open an account. You can also open a bank account online at several Italian banks, but their services are limited, and you have to appear at the concerned branch for one or the other reason.
The straight answer to this question is positive. Several banks in Italy offer you a non-resident account if you are not in Italy full-time. When you are looking for such a bank, however, the account type to watch out for is Conto Corrente Non-Residenti. It is commonly available in specialist banks, offering you support in cross-border financial transactions and commuting.
The financial landscape of Italy is healthy owing to a robust economy. It simply implies that you will not find only one best bank in Italy. Rather, you will find several banks offering you amazing banking services. It leads you to search for some of the best banks with a long range of branches at different locations and ATMs. To help you in this regard, listed below are some of the top banks in Italy for you as a Gambian migrant earning a living to offer financial aid back home in every money transfer from Italy to Gambia.
The first bank is the BancoPosta offering you many services in its over 12,000 branches across the country allowing you easy access. This bank offers you current accounts, prepaid cards, and accounts for younger people, pensioners, and sole proprietors. The fee applies monthly and varies depending on your usage of the account, frequency of transactions, quantum of deposits, and so on.
The second on the list is Deutsche Bank Italia. It has a limited branch network with just over 200 branches in the entire country. The services and products this bank offers you are accounts, cards, investments, savings, pensions, insurance, loans, mortgages, business banking, and private wealth management services. This bank applies fees on different accounts with different service features differently.
The next bank in Italy for you as a Gambian migrant is BNP Paribas BNL D’Italia. It has a vast branch network with about 1,000 branches across the entire country. You will get accounts, loans, cards, mortgages, insurance, and business and corporate services from this bank. You can open an account here without any monthly fee. On other accounts, however, fees can be waived depending on your financial circumstances.
CheBanca has a network of 200-plus branches along with financial advice offices to meet complicated financial product and service requirements. The products the bank offers include accounts, cards, loans, retirement products, investments, and mortgages. Certain fees typically apply to the accounts you open, but these charges cover free services every month, too.
Whatever bank you choose to open an account with, always remember that almost all banks still grapple with several operational challenges. Learn about the most significant challenges and risks banks face in their operations HERE.
This bank in Italy has one of the biggest branch networks with over 3,700 branches all over the country. Its services include accounts, loans, mortgages, investments, retirement plans, savings accounts, and financial advice. You will find several accounts without any monthly fee in addition to fee-free accounts for children. The monthly fee, however, applies to most account types but varies to a large extent.
As mentioned earlier, the financial landscape of Italy is rich and healthy. This means that you will find several banks in Italy offering you a wide range of financial services and products. It can confuse you when it comes to opening a bank account. However, some of the most common bank accounts largely used in Italy are:
Current or Checking Account
Savings Account
Term Deposit
No matter how reputable an Italian bank is, these financial institutions are not ideal for you to send money to Gambia from Italy. The reasons are many. But for one, banks do not offer cost-effective online money transfers. They also offer static exchange rates and deliver funds in several days.
Furthermore, banks offer you a long range of financial services and products in addition to online transactions. On the other hand, certain financial institutions offer you tailored services for your online remittance transfers. Therefore, find a service provider that offers you speed and live and market-competitive currency exchange rates and charges you a low fee. These live currency exchange rates can quickly compensate you for the fee you pay for your online money transfers to Gambia from Italy.
Yes. It is essential to open a bank account in Italy. The reason is that in most developed countries including Italy, having a bank account is one of the basic requirements to manage your finances and process salaries and payments. Furthermore, these countries are heavily relying on plastic currencies and online financial services for which a bank account is important.
Although, different banks in Italy will ask you to provide different documents which will depend on the type of account you are opening. However, some of the most common documents almost every bank will require from you are proof of identity, such as a valid passport or ID, proof of legal residence or Italian residence, proof of employment or student status, and your tax number.
The robust Italian economy makes it difficult to select the best bank in the country. However, some of the best banks in Italy include BancoPosta, Deutsche Bank Italia, BNP Paribas BNL D’Italia, CheBanca, and Intesa San Paolo. These banks are considered some of the best Italian banks for foreigners and migrants.
Some of the most common bank account types in Italy that most people use are checking or current accounts which help you with routine financial matters and paying bills; savings accounts that help you with keeping your money safe and earning through interest; and the terms deposits through which you can earn a bigger interest over a long time.
Banks struggle to offer you cost-effective online remittance transfers because banks still take several days to transfer funds across borders, charge a high fee for international money transfers, and offer fixed and static currency exchange rates. All of these factors render banks unfit to send money online from Italy to Gambia.
