Polish Bank Account

Greeting,
I travel to Warsaw every couple of months on business and was wondering how easy it is for a foregin national (I'm British) to open a Polish Bank account. Do I need to have an addresss or work in the country?

The Zloty keeps increasing in strength against the pound (down from 5.5 to 4.8 in the past year), so it would make sence to have funds over there for my trips.

Has anyone been in a similar situation.

Thanks,
G

i'm from Canada, living in PL and have a bank acct. no problem. they don't know who/don't care my employer is. I could have made up any address. they did take my passport info.

Yes but if you make up an address then you wont know where your statements, bank account details etc are going, could be str8 into the wrong hands...
And also how do they send out your bank card etc with a made up address ?

^ Yes. Bank would mail you your set of passwords first. Then plastic card and token for internet use. Then you'd need to call bank and "activate" bank card and internet token. You may sign all papers at home as bank will deliver all paperwork to you. You send xerox copy of your passport back in enclosed envelope - and you're set. ... So you'd need address to pick up your mail. As for statements bank would offer you internet or sms statements instead of paper ones.

Thanks for the replies.

I'll give it a try and let you know how I get on.

You could try Citibank, their website is all in English, call centre speaks English and they send e-statements. There is a branch on the corner of Toworowa and Aleja Solidarnosci (ul. Ogrodowa 58 ) that I find particularly useful as the staff are pleasant and it's open until 7pm. They can also accept foreign currency at this branch.

Hey...i am british i live in Warsaw...i opened an Account with Millennium Bank....you need your passport and preferably an address in Poland....a PO Box is ok as well.....my statements are electronic so i recieve nothing from the bank....But i do have addresses in Warsaw...try to find someone who speaks english thats the hardest part

I can recommend Millennium Bank - very few formalities, and you can open an Internet-accessible account with just a passport. AFAIK mbank.pl is also pretty friendly in that sense.

Thanks. For ome reason my Polish friends have warnedme against citi bank - they say they don't get a good service. I am contacting Multibank today. All they need me to do is give a Polish address (no proof required from what I've been told) and their form even has a place for a foriegn contact address - so even better. I'll let you know how I get on.

I tried Citi a couple of years ago, but have since closed my account - I tried to cash an American check once, and it cost me about 20 percent of its face value to do that, and even so it took about a month. For regular Polish banking they should be OK, though I always felt I was getting better service at Millennium.

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Opening a Bank Account

Hi Everybody.
Some advice please.
I am looking to buy a property in Poland. It would be a great help if before I do this I could open a Bank Account to use on my visits to Poland and to transfer money to for the purchase and costs.
Does anyone know the rules and how I can open an account before I have an address in Poland?
I am an EU passport holder from the UK.
Many thanks, John.

you're very brave...

Flat prices