A Right to a Basic Account for Anyone Lawfully Resident in the EEA, With No Cap on What It Costs
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Paraguay on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
127 exceptions recorded across 48 countries · none match Paraguay to Sweden · Opening a bank account
Chapter 4 a, section 1 of the Payment Services Act gives a consumer lawfully resident within the EEA the right not to be refused a payment account with the basic functions the bank offers other consumers. The right is not about nationality and not about Swedish residence: lawful residence anywhere in the EEA is the test. Two things take it away. The bank must refuse where opening the account would conflict with the Money Laundering Act, and it may refuse where there are special reasons. The Money Laundering Act is therefore the operative obstacle in practice: section 1 of its chapter 3 forbids a business from establishing a relationship at all unless it knows enough about the customer to manage the risk, and section 7 requires identification and verification from identity documents, register extracts or other information from an independent and reliable source. A decision is owed within ten banking days of a complete application, and a refusal must be given in writing with information about how to complain. Charges must be reasonable; unlike Belgium, Swedish law sets no maximum.
At a glance
- Who has the right
- A consumer lawfully resident within the EEA
Chapter 4 a, section 1 of the Payment Services Act. Not nationality, and not Swedish residence.
- Grounds for refusal
- A conflict with the Money Laundering Act, or special reasons
Chapter 4 a, section 1, second paragraph of the Payment Services Act.
- Deadline for a decision
- Ten banking days from a complete application
Chapter 4 a, section 3, first paragraph of the Payment Services Act.
- Form of a refusal
- In writing, free of charge, with where to complain
Chapter 4 a, section 3, second paragraph of the Payment Services Act. Reasons are given only where it is possible to give them.
- Price cap on a basic account
- None in chapter 4 a of the Payment Services Act
Section 4 requires charges to be reasonable and sets no figure. Belgium's equivalent is capped in money.
- What a basic account must do
- Open, hold and close the account, deposits, cash withdrawals across the EEA, and EEA payments by direct debit, debit card and transfer
Chapter 4 a, section 2 of the Payment Services Act, which also forbids limiting how often the services are used.
- Identification standard
- Identity documents, register extracts, or other information from an independent and reliable source
Chapter 3, section 7, first paragraph of the Money Laundering Act, which also accepts electronic identification under Regulation (EU) No 910/2014.
Requirements
- Lawful residence within the EEA, as a consumer
- Identification and verification satisfying the Money Laundering Act, from documents, register extracts or another independent and reliable source
- No conflict with the Money Laundering Act, and no special reasons against the account
Country-level policy
Almost everything a person moving to Sweden wants turns on a single administrative act that is not an immigration decision at all: being entered in the population register. Section 3 of the Population Registration Act makes that turn on one test - whether you can be expected regularly to spend the night in the country for at least a year - and section 4 says a foreigner who needs a permit or a right of residence can only be registered once that condition is met. From there the consequences run outwards. Health care is owed by the region to the person resident within it. Residence-based social insurance opens for a person expected to stay more than a year, and benefits reach back only three months before the agency was told. And since 1 May 2026 the register works in the other direction too: a driving licence issued outside the EEA stops being valid in Sweden once its holder has been registered for more than a year. Registration is what makes a person present here into a person living here, and it is the same one-year expectation in all three statutes.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Paraguay
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
«Ett kreditinstitut eller en filial till ett utländskt kreditinstitut får inte vägra en konsument som är lagligen bosatt inom EES att öppna ett betalkonto med sådana grundläggande funktioner enligt 2 § som institutet eller filialen tillhandahåller andra konsumenter.»Our translation - not official
A credit institution or a branch of a foreign credit institution may not refuse a consumer who is lawfully resident within the EEA the opening of a payment account with such basic functions under section 2 as the institution or branch provides to other consumers.
The right, framed as a prohibition on refusing rather than as a duty to open, and measured by lawful residence in the EEA.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Swedish parliament's public database of the Svensk författningssamling, serving every Act and ordinance as a single consolidated page at a stable address of the form /sv/dokument-och-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/<slug>_sfs-YYYY-NNN/. Each record prints the SFS number, the department responsible, the date of issue and an Ändrad line naming the last amending SFS incorporated, and each amended section carries in its own body the Act that gave it its present wording. Provisions not yet in force are printed alongside the current text and marked /Träder i kraft I:<date>/, and repealed sections are kept in place reading Har upphävts genom lag (YYYY:NNN), so the page shows what has gone as well as what is there. Transitional provisions are printed at the foot under Övergångsbestämmelser, but only for those amending Acts that have them.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Ändrad line names the last amendment incorporated. It is not a sweep date and must not be recorded as a consolidation cut-off: it says nothing about when the page was last checked against the statute book. The consolidations are unofficial - the authentic text is the Svensk författningssamling as published by the Government Offices - and riksdagen prints a link to the Government Offices' own full text beside each record. An amending Act's own entry-into-force date is usually not on the page at all: where the Act has no transitional provisions, the date has to be read in the SFS as published. Where a section exists in several future versions the page prints them all, so an article number alone does not identify the text in force. The site is a Next.js application serving the whole statute inside the initial HTML; the extraction service returns nothing at all for some of the larger documents, which has to be met with a direct fetch rather than read as an absence.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«Första stycket gäller inte om det skulle strida mot lagen (2017:630) om åtgärder mot penningtvätt och finansiering av terrorism eller om det finns särskilda skäl mot att tillhandahålla konsumenten ett betalkonto.»Our translation - not official
The first paragraph does not apply if it would conflict with the Act (2017:630) on measures against money laundering and the financing of terrorism, or if there are special reasons against providing the consumer with a payment account.
The two exits. The first is mandatory and the second is open-textured, and together they are where a refusal in practice comes from.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Swedish parliament's public database of the Svensk författningssamling, serving every Act and ordinance as a single consolidated page at a stable address of the form /sv/dokument-och-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/<slug>_sfs-YYYY-NNN/. Each record prints the SFS number, the department responsible, the date of issue and an Ändrad line naming the last amending SFS incorporated, and each amended section carries in its own body the Act that gave it its present wording. Provisions not yet in force are printed alongside the current text and marked /Träder i kraft I:<date>/, and repealed sections are kept in place reading Har upphävts genom lag (YYYY:NNN), so the page shows what has gone as well as what is there. Transitional provisions are printed at the foot under Övergångsbestämmelser, but only for those amending Acts that have them.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Ändrad line names the last amendment incorporated. It is not a sweep date and must not be recorded as a consolidation cut-off: it says nothing about when the page was last checked against the statute book. The consolidations are unofficial - the authentic text is the Svensk författningssamling as published by the Government Offices - and riksdagen prints a link to the Government Offices' own full text beside each record. An amending Act's own entry-into-force date is usually not on the page at all: where the Act has no transitional provisions, the date has to be read in the SFS as published. Where a section exists in several future versions the page prints them all, so an article number alone does not identify the text in force. The site is a Next.js application serving the whole statute inside the initial HTML; the extraction service returns nothing at all for some of the larger documents, which has to be met with a direct fetch rather than read as an absence.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«tjänster som gör det möjligt att inom EES över disk eller i uttagsautomater ta ut kontanter från ett betalkonto»Our translation - not official
services making it possible, within the EEA, to withdraw cash from a payment account over the counter or at cash machines
One of the four basic functions, and the only one the Act ties to a geography.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Swedish parliament's public database of the Svensk författningssamling, serving every Act and ordinance as a single consolidated page at a stable address of the form /sv/dokument-och-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/<slug>_sfs-YYYY-NNN/. Each record prints the SFS number, the department responsible, the date of issue and an Ändrad line naming the last amending SFS incorporated, and each amended section carries in its own body the Act that gave it its present wording. Provisions not yet in force are printed alongside the current text and marked /Träder i kraft I:<date>/, and repealed sections are kept in place reading Har upphävts genom lag (YYYY:NNN), so the page shows what has gone as well as what is there. Transitional provisions are printed at the foot under Övergångsbestämmelser, but only for those amending Acts that have them.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Ändrad line names the last amendment incorporated. It is not a sweep date and must not be recorded as a consolidation cut-off: it says nothing about when the page was last checked against the statute book. The consolidations are unofficial - the authentic text is the Svensk författningssamling as published by the Government Offices - and riksdagen prints a link to the Government Offices' own full text beside each record. An amending Act's own entry-into-force date is usually not on the page at all: where the Act has no transitional provisions, the date has to be read in the SFS as published. Where a section exists in several future versions the page prints them all, so an article number alone does not identify the text in force. The site is a Next.js application serving the whole statute inside the initial HTML; the extraction service returns nothing at all for some of the larger documents, which has to be met with a direct fetch rather than read as an absence.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«Institutet eller filialen ska avgöra ärendet så snart som möjligt och senast inom tio bankdagar efter det att institutet eller filialen tagit emot en fullständig ansökan.»Our translation - not official
The institution or branch shall decide the matter as soon as possible and at the latest within ten banking days after the institution or branch has received a complete application.
The deadline, and it runs from a complete application rather than from the first contact.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Swedish parliament's public database of the Svensk författningssamling, serving every Act and ordinance as a single consolidated page at a stable address of the form /sv/dokument-och-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/<slug>_sfs-YYYY-NNN/. Each record prints the SFS number, the department responsible, the date of issue and an Ändrad line naming the last amending SFS incorporated, and each amended section carries in its own body the Act that gave it its present wording. Provisions not yet in force are printed alongside the current text and marked /Träder i kraft I:<date>/, and repealed sections are kept in place reading Har upphävts genom lag (YYYY:NNN), so the page shows what has gone as well as what is there. Transitional provisions are printed at the foot under Övergångsbestämmelser, but only for those amending Acts that have them.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Ändrad line names the last amendment incorporated. It is not a sweep date and must not be recorded as a consolidation cut-off: it says nothing about when the page was last checked against the statute book. The consolidations are unofficial - the authentic text is the Svensk författningssamling as published by the Government Offices - and riksdagen prints a link to the Government Offices' own full text beside each record. An amending Act's own entry-into-force date is usually not on the page at all: where the Act has no transitional provisions, the date has to be read in the SFS as published. Where a section exists in several future versions the page prints them all, so an article number alone does not identify the text in force. The site is a Next.js application serving the whole statute inside the initial HTML; the extraction service returns nothing at all for some of the larger documents, which has to be met with a direct fetch rather than read as an absence.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«Ett kreditinstitut eller en filial till ett utländskt kreditinstitut får ta ut rimliga avgifter från en konsument för att tillhandahålla ett betalkonto med grundläggande funktioner.»Our translation - not official
A credit institution or a branch of a foreign credit institution may charge a consumer reasonable fees for providing a payment account with basic functions.
Reasonable charges, with no maximum. A reader comparing countries should notice that this is a standard and not a price.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Swedish parliament's public database of the Svensk författningssamling, serving every Act and ordinance as a single consolidated page at a stable address of the form /sv/dokument-och-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/<slug>_sfs-YYYY-NNN/. Each record prints the SFS number, the department responsible, the date of issue and an Ändrad line naming the last amending SFS incorporated, and each amended section carries in its own body the Act that gave it its present wording. Provisions not yet in force are printed alongside the current text and marked /Träder i kraft I:<date>/, and repealed sections are kept in place reading Har upphävts genom lag (YYYY:NNN), so the page shows what has gone as well as what is there. Transitional provisions are printed at the foot under Övergångsbestämmelser, but only for those amending Acts that have them.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Ändrad line names the last amendment incorporated. It is not a sweep date and must not be recorded as a consolidation cut-off: it says nothing about when the page was last checked against the statute book. The consolidations are unofficial - the authentic text is the Svensk författningssamling as published by the Government Offices - and riksdagen prints a link to the Government Offices' own full text beside each record. An amending Act's own entry-into-force date is usually not on the page at all: where the Act has no transitional provisions, the date has to be read in the SFS as published. Where a section exists in several future versions the page prints them all, so an article number alone does not identify the text in force. The site is a Next.js application serving the whole statute inside the initial HTML; the extraction service returns nothing at all for some of the larger documents, which has to be met with a direct fetch rather than read as an absence.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«En verksamhetsutövare får inte etablera eller upprätthålla en affärsförbindelse eller utföra en enstaka transaktion, om verksamhetsutövaren inte har tillräcklig kännedom om kunden»Our translation - not official
An obliged entity may not establish or maintain a business relationship or carry out an occasional transaction if the obliged entity does not have sufficient knowledge of the customer
The prohibition that overrides the right to an account. Insufficient knowledge of the customer is not a reason to delay; it is a bar.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Swedish parliament's public database of the Svensk författningssamling, serving every Act and ordinance as a single consolidated page at a stable address of the form /sv/dokument-och-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/<slug>_sfs-YYYY-NNN/. Each record prints the SFS number, the department responsible, the date of issue and an Ändrad line naming the last amending SFS incorporated, and each amended section carries in its own body the Act that gave it its present wording. Provisions not yet in force are printed alongside the current text and marked /Träder i kraft I:<date>/, and repealed sections are kept in place reading Har upphävts genom lag (YYYY:NNN), so the page shows what has gone as well as what is there. Transitional provisions are printed at the foot under Övergångsbestämmelser, but only for those amending Acts that have them.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Ändrad line names the last amendment incorporated. It is not a sweep date and must not be recorded as a consolidation cut-off: it says nothing about when the page was last checked against the statute book. The consolidations are unofficial - the authentic text is the Svensk författningssamling as published by the Government Offices - and riksdagen prints a link to the Government Offices' own full text beside each record. An amending Act's own entry-into-force date is usually not on the page at all: where the Act has no transitional provisions, the date has to be read in the SFS as published. Where a section exists in several future versions the page prints them all, so an article number alone does not identify the text in force. The site is a Next.js application serving the whole statute inside the initial HTML; the extraction service returns nothing at all for some of the larger documents, which has to be met with a direct fetch rather than read as an absence.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«En verksamhetsutövare ska vidta åtgärder för kundkännedom vid etableringen av en affärsförbindelse.»Our translation - not official
An obliged entity shall take customer due diligence measures when establishing a business relationship.
When the duty bites: at the opening of the relationship, which is the moment the account is asked for.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Swedish parliament's public database of the Svensk författningssamling, serving every Act and ordinance as a single consolidated page at a stable address of the form /sv/dokument-och-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/<slug>_sfs-YYYY-NNN/. Each record prints the SFS number, the department responsible, the date of issue and an Ändrad line naming the last amending SFS incorporated, and each amended section carries in its own body the Act that gave it its present wording. Provisions not yet in force are printed alongside the current text and marked /Träder i kraft I:<date>/, and repealed sections are kept in place reading Har upphävts genom lag (YYYY:NNN), so the page shows what has gone as well as what is there. Transitional provisions are printed at the foot under Övergångsbestämmelser, but only for those amending Acts that have them.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Ändrad line names the last amendment incorporated. It is not a sweep date and must not be recorded as a consolidation cut-off: it says nothing about when the page was last checked against the statute book. The consolidations are unofficial - the authentic text is the Svensk författningssamling as published by the Government Offices - and riksdagen prints a link to the Government Offices' own full text beside each record. An amending Act's own entry-into-force date is usually not on the page at all: where the Act has no transitional provisions, the date has to be read in the SFS as published. Where a section exists in several future versions the page prints them all, so an article number alone does not identify the text in force. The site is a Next.js application serving the whole statute inside the initial HTML; the extraction service returns nothing at all for some of the larger documents, which has to be met with a direct fetch rather than read as an absence.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«En verksamhetsutövare ska identifiera kunden och kontrollera kundens identitet genom identitetshandlingar eller registerutdrag eller genom andra uppgifter och handlingar från en oberoende och tillförlitlig källa.»Our translation - not official
An obliged entity shall identify the customer and verify the customer's identity by means of identity documents or register extracts, or by other information and documents from an independent and reliable source.
The identification standard, which names no particular document. A Swedish identity card or a personal identity number is a bank's practice rather than the Act's requirement.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Swedish parliament's public database of the Svensk författningssamling, serving every Act and ordinance as a single consolidated page at a stable address of the form /sv/dokument-och-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/<slug>_sfs-YYYY-NNN/. Each record prints the SFS number, the department responsible, the date of issue and an Ändrad line naming the last amending SFS incorporated, and each amended section carries in its own body the Act that gave it its present wording. Provisions not yet in force are printed alongside the current text and marked /Träder i kraft I:<date>/, and repealed sections are kept in place reading Har upphävts genom lag (YYYY:NNN), so the page shows what has gone as well as what is there. Transitional provisions are printed at the foot under Övergångsbestämmelser, but only for those amending Acts that have them.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Ändrad line names the last amendment incorporated. It is not a sweep date and must not be recorded as a consolidation cut-off: it says nothing about when the page was last checked against the statute book. The consolidations are unofficial - the authentic text is the Svensk författningssamling as published by the Government Offices - and riksdagen prints a link to the Government Offices' own full text beside each record. An amending Act's own entry-into-force date is usually not on the page at all: where the Act has no transitional provisions, the date has to be read in the SFS as published. Where a section exists in several future versions the page prints them all, so an article number alone does not identify the text in force. The site is a Next.js application serving the whole statute inside the initial HTML; the extraction service returns nothing at all for some of the larger documents, which has to be met with a direct fetch rather than read as an absence.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
Practical notes
Nothing in either Act read here requires a Swedish personal identity number or a Swedish identity card to open an account. Where a bank asks for one it is choosing how to satisfy chapter 3, section 7 of the Money Laundering Act, and that choice is the bank's.
The right runs to a basic payment account. Credit, a mortgage, an investment account and the mobile payment services built on top of a bank identity are outside chapter 4 a and outside this record.
Terms published by any individual Swedish bank were not read. This record is the law, not the counter.
- consolidatesLag (2010:751) om betaltjänster, consolidated text as amended to SFS 2026:1068
Sveriges riksdag, Dokument och lagar
About this source
The Swedish parliament's public database of the Svensk författningssamling, serving every Act and ordinance as a single consolidated page at a stable address of the form /sv/dokument-och-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/<slug>_sfs-YYYY-NNN/. Each record prints the SFS number, the department responsible, the date of issue and an Ändrad line naming the last amending SFS incorporated, and each amended section carries in its own body the Act that gave it its present wording. Provisions not yet in force are printed alongside the current text and marked /Träder i kraft I:<date>/, and repealed sections are kept in place reading Har upphävts genom lag (YYYY:NNN), so the page shows what has gone as well as what is there. Transitional provisions are printed at the foot under Övergångsbestämmelser, but only for those amending Acts that have them.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Ändrad line names the last amendment incorporated. It is not a sweep date and must not be recorded as a consolidation cut-off: it says nothing about when the page was last checked against the statute book. The consolidations are unofficial - the authentic text is the Svensk författningssamling as published by the Government Offices - and riksdagen prints a link to the Government Offices' own full text beside each record. An amending Act's own entry-into-force date is usually not on the page at all: where the Act has no transitional provisions, the date has to be read in the SFS as published. Where a section exists in several future versions the page prints them all, so an article number alone does not identify the text in force. The site is a Next.js application serving the whole statute inside the initial HTML; the extraction service returns nothing at all for some of the larger documents, which has to be met with a direct fetch rather than read as an absence.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
- consolidatesLag (2017:630) om åtgärder mot penningtvätt och finansiering av terrorism, consolidated text as amended to SFS 2026:1075
Sveriges riksdag, Dokument och lagar
About this source
The Swedish parliament's public database of the Svensk författningssamling, serving every Act and ordinance as a single consolidated page at a stable address of the form /sv/dokument-och-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/<slug>_sfs-YYYY-NNN/. Each record prints the SFS number, the department responsible, the date of issue and an Ändrad line naming the last amending SFS incorporated, and each amended section carries in its own body the Act that gave it its present wording. Provisions not yet in force are printed alongside the current text and marked /Träder i kraft I:<date>/, and repealed sections are kept in place reading Har upphävts genom lag (YYYY:NNN), so the page shows what has gone as well as what is there. Transitional provisions are printed at the foot under Övergångsbestämmelser, but only for those amending Acts that have them.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Ändrad line names the last amendment incorporated. It is not a sweep date and must not be recorded as a consolidation cut-off: it says nothing about when the page was last checked against the statute book. The consolidations are unofficial - the authentic text is the Svensk författningssamling as published by the Government Offices - and riksdagen prints a link to the Government Offices' own full text beside each record. An amending Act's own entry-into-force date is usually not on the page at all: where the Act has no transitional provisions, the date has to be read in the SFS as published. Where a section exists in several future versions the page prints them all, so an article number alone does not identify the text in force. The site is a Next.js application serving the whole statute inside the initial HTML; the extraction service returns nothing at all for some of the larger documents, which has to be met with a direct fetch rather than read as an absence.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source