A Bank Must Open a Basic Account for You, Including With No Fixed Address
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of El Salvador on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
91 exceptions recorded across 34 countries · none match El Salvador to Spain · Opening a bank account
Spain turns access to a payment account into an obligation on the bank rather than a favour. A credit institution that offers payment accounts must offer a basic payment account to anyone legally resident in the European Union - and the article says in terms that this includes people with no fixed address - as well as to asylum seekers and to people without a residence permit whose expulsion is legally or factually impossible. The refusals are a closed list of three, and the first of them is the one that bites in practice: not providing the information the bank needs under the money-laundering law.
At a glance
- Who the bank must serve
- Anyone legally resident in the European Union
- No fixed address
- Included in terms
Article 3(a) says "incluidos los clientes que no tengan domicilio fijo".
- Asylum seekers
- Covered by their own paragraph
- Without a residence permit
- Covered where expulsion is legally or factually impossible
- Grounds for refusal
- Three, and they are a closed list
Article 4(1): missing money-laundering information, national security or public order as agreed by the Council of Ministers, or already holding an equivalent account in Spain.
- Already having an account
- A ground to refuse, unless the other bank has given notice it is closing it
Requirements
- Legal residence in the European Union, or being an asylum seeker, or being someone whose expulsion is impossible
- The information the bank requires under the money-laundering law, in proportion to the customer's risk
- Not already holding an account in Spain that provides the same services
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of El Salvador
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
«Las entidades de crédito que ofrezcan cuentas de pago estarán obligadas a ofrecer cuentas de pago básicas a aquellos potenciales clientes que: a) Residan legalmente en la Unión Europea, incluidos los clientes que no tengan domicilio fijo; b) sean solicitantes de asilo; c) no tengan un permiso de residencia pero su expulsión sea imposible por razones jurídicas o de hecho.»The obligation and the three classes it runs to. It is drafted as a duty on the institution, which is why there is no application to be refused on discretion.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Spain's official state gazette, which also publishes consolidated texts carrying their own amendment history.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: A deadline set by Council of Ministers decision rather than written into a statute will not appear in the consolidated text at all, which is exactly the case with the Democratic Memory Law's option period. The statute gives the mechanism; the date that mattered to applicants lives in a separate decision we have not read.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
«Las entidades de crédito denegarán el acceso a las cuentas de pago básicas cuando se de alguna de las siguientes circunstancias: a) El potencial cliente no aporte la información requerida por la entidad en función del nivel de riesgo de blanqueo de capitales o de financiación del terrorismo de dicho cliente dentro del marco de lo previsto en el capítulo II de la Ley 10/2010, de 28 de abril, de prevención del blanqueo de capitales y la financiación del terrorismo, y sus normas de desarrollo, b) su apertura sea contraria a los intereses de la seguridad nacional o de orden público definidos por las leyes, las normas europeas o por la jurisprudencia del Tribunal de Justicia de la Unión Europa, en los supuestos en que así se haya acordado por el Consejo de Ministros, a propuesta del Ministro de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, o c) el potencial cliente ya sea titular en España de una cuenta en un proveedor de servicios de pago que le permita realizar los servicios contemplados en el artículo 8.1, salvo que éste le haya notificado su decisión unilateral de resolver el contrato marco de cuenta de pago.»The refusals. The first is the money-laundering check, which is where a foreign customer without Spanish documentation actually meets resistance.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Spain's official state gazette, which also publishes consolidated texts carrying their own amendment history.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: A deadline set by Council of Ministers decision rather than written into a statute will not appear in the consolidated text at all, which is exactly the case with the Democratic Memory Law's option period. The statute gives the mechanism; the date that mattered to applicants lives in a separate decision we have not read.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
Practical notes
This is the basic payment account, not every account. What a bank requires for an ordinary current account, a mortgage or a non-resident account is its own commercial policy and is not reached here.
The money-laundering requirements the first refusal ground points at are in Ley 10/2010, which this record does not quote.
- issuesReal Decreto-ley 19/2017, artículo 3
Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado
About this source
Spain's official state gazette, which also publishes consolidated texts carrying their own amendment history.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: A deadline set by Council of Ministers decision rather than written into a statute will not appear in the consolidated text at all, which is exactly the case with the Democratic Memory Law's option period. The statute gives the mechanism; the date that mattered to applicants lives in a separate decision we have not read.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source