Opening a Bank Account
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Bolivia on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
81 exceptions recorded across 33 countries · none match Bolivia to Peru · Opening a bank account
Until June 2025 a foreigner needed a carné de extranjería to open even a basic account, which tied banking to having completed a residence procedure. The banking regulator changed that: since 16 June 2025 an identity card, a passport or any document legally recognised for identifying foreigners is accepted for a basic account or a simplified electronic-money account. A basic account is a restricted product with daily and monthly caps on deposits and withdrawals - the gate has moved, not disappeared.
At a glance
- Documents accepted for a basic account
- Carné de extranjería, identity card, passport, or other legally recognised foreigner IDas of 2025-06-16
- Instrument
- Resolución SBS N.° 00908-2025
The SBS announced it in a press note: the resolution amends the reglamento de cuentas básicas and the reglamento de operaciones con dinero electrónico.
- In force from
- 16 June 2025
The SBS press note gives the commencement date as 16 June 2025.
- Previous position
- DNI or carné de extranjería only
- Product limits
- Daily and monthly caps on deposits and withdrawals
- Ordinary savings accounts
- Not covered by this change
Requirements
- For a basic account or a simplified electronic-money account: a carné de extranjería, an identity card, a passport, or a document legally recognised by the competent authorities for identifying foreigners
- Institutions may verify the document against Reniec, Migraciones, the foreign ministry or any other body that lets them record the check
- Basic accounts carry maximum daily and monthly deposits and withdrawals
- The rentista residence route separately requires a sworn declaration that income enters Peru through an institution supervised by the SBS
In detail
Peru moved the gate, Colombia has not
Colombian banking runs through the cédula de extranjería, and the receipt issued while the card is being printed is expressly not accepted, which leaves a gap between arriving and being bankable. Argentina's central bank told institutions in terms that a deposit account may be opened without a DNI, including for someone still regularising their status. Uruguay's state bank does not require residency but does require a non-resident to place a five-thousand-dollar fixed-term deposit. Peru has now joined Argentina in decoupling the entry-level product from the residence card - for that product only.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Bolivia
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«La norma establece que las personas extranjeras, además del carné de extranjería, pueden presentar, con fines de apertura de una cuenta básica en una entidad del sistema financiero o una cuenta de dinero electrónico simplificada en una empresa emisora de dinero electrónico (EEDE), el carné de identidad, pasaporte o un documento legalmente reconocido por las autoridades competentes para la identificación de extranjeros.»Our translation - not official
The rule provides that foreign persons may, in addition to the carné de extranjería, present - for the purpose of opening a basic account at a financial institution or a simplified electronic-money account at an electronic-money issuer - an identity card, a passport, or a document legally recognised by the competent authorities for identifying foreigners.
The change is confined to basic accounts and simplified electronic-money accounts. It says nothing about ordinary savings or current accounts, where each bank's own client-acceptance policy still governs.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The financial regulator. Sets the rules for basic accounts and electronic money.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: The page read is a press note, which reports its resolution rather than being it - it cannot support the operative text, the numeric caps on a basic account, or anything about ordinary accounts. It says nothing about what an individual bank will do, which is a question about that bank.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
«la cuenta básica es una cuenta de ahorro especial que, a diferencia de una cuenta de ahorro tradicional, está sujeta a retiros y depósitos máximos por día y mensual con el objetivo de evitar que estas sean utilizadas para actividades ilícitas.»Our translation - not official
the basic account is a special savings account which, unlike a traditional savings account, is subject to maximum daily and monthly withdrawals and deposits with the aim of preventing them being used for unlawful activities.
The caps themselves are not stated in this note and we have not read the reglamento de cuentas básicas that sets them.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The financial regulator. Sets the rules for basic accounts and electronic money.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: The page read is a press note, which reports its resolution rather than being it - it cannot support the operative text, the numeric caps on a basic account, or anything about ordinary accounts. It says nothing about what an individual bank will do, which is a question about that bank.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
«La Resolución entrará en vigencia al a partir del 16 de junio de 2025.»Our translation - not official
The Resolution will enter into force from 16 June 2025.
'al a partir' is the publisher's own wording and is kept as printed.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The financial regulator. Sets the rules for basic accounts and electronic money.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: The page read is a press note, which reports its resolution rather than being it - it cannot support the operative text, the numeric caps on a basic account, or anything about ordinary accounts. It says nothing about what an individual bank will do, which is a question about that bank.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
Practical notes
We have read the regulator's press note announcing Resolución SBS 00908-2025 and not the resolution itself, so the caps on a basic account and the exact list of accepted documents are stated as the SBS summarises them.
What any individual bank will open for a foreigner is a fact about that bank, not about Peruvian law. We have not read any Peruvian bank's published account-opening conditions.
The residence side of this is worth sequencing: the rentista route asks for a declaration that income arrives through an SBS-supervised institution, which is easier to promise than to arrange before the carné de extranjería exists.
- issuesSBS amplía gama de documentos para que extranjeros puedan abrir una cuenta básica en el sistema financiero
Superintendencia de Banca, Seguros y AFP (Perú)
About this source
The financial regulator. Sets the rules for basic accounts and electronic money.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: The page read is a press note, which reports its resolution rather than being it - it cannot support the operative text, the numeric caps on a basic account, or anything about ordinary accounts. It says nothing about what an individual bank will do, which is a question about that bank.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source