Who do you trust your money with? Where should you open your account?

13/11/2025

When you deposit money in a current account or you open a fixed-term deposit, you’re entrusting your money to a bank that you expect to manage it and return it to you when you need it. Technically, the bank is “receiving repayable funds from the public”.

How we decide who to entrust our money to depends on several factors, including our priorities and desired level of risk. Generally, before deciding where to deposit our money, we compare various options. Not just anyone may legally raise funds from the public, so entrusting our money to the wrong institution can be very costly. Moreover, all that glitters is not gold: if an offer seems too good to be true, it probably isn’t true.

Here we explain which institutions in Spain can receive money from the public, why this activity is reserved to certain institutions and what risks you run if you place a deposit with an unauthorised one.

Who can receive repayable funds from the public?

In Spain, by law only credit institutions, that is banks, savings banks and credit cooperatives, may accept repayable funds from the public.

Credit institutions must meet rigorous requirements (capital adequacy, appropriate organisation and resources, etc.) and are subject to strict regulatory controls. In addition, their activity is supervised by the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Banco de España, which ensure their solvency, liquidity and smooth functioning, thus keeping your money safe.

You can check our Institution RegisterAbre en ventana nueva to make sure that the bank you want to place a deposit with is authorised to receive it. You can also verify whether an institution is authorised in another European Union country by consulting other Member States’ national registers or the European Banking Authority’s registers.Abre en ventana nueva

Why is it that only credit institutions may receive repayable funds from the public?

This is not an arbitrary restriction, but a guarantee of security. These are the main reasons:

• Lending risk: Credit institutions, such as banks, are firms that take in money and lend it to the public. The banking business is based on receiving money (short-term deposits) to fund medium and long-term lending. This maturity transformation entails a certain risk when there is a need to make early or unexpected repayments. Only institutions with professional management and that operate according to a regulated framework may take on this risk.
• Authorisation and supervision requirements: To raise funds from the public, credit institutions must obtain authorisation from the ECB, showing that they are financially sound and have minimum capital and adequate internal controls. In addition, ongoing supervision by the ECB and the Banco de España ensures that they continue to meet these requirements, along with those relative to solvency and regulatory compliance.
• Deposit Guarantee Scheme for Credit Institutions (FGD)Abre en ventana nueva: All credit institutions in the European Union are required to belong to a deposit guarantee scheme. In the case of Spain, if a Spanish credit institution were to have problems, the FGD would guarantee up to €100,000 per account holder and institution, thus protecting its customers’ savings.

The entire system is designed to ensure that bank customers’ money is protected and that the institutions that manage it provide all required guarantees.

 The danger of entrusting your money to unauthorised institutions

If you were to make a deposit or open a current account at an unauthorised institution, you would be exposing yourself to considerable risks:

• Your money would be beyond regulatory control. As the institution wouldn’t be subject to authorisation requirements or to supervision by the ECB or the Banco de España, it might not have adequate solvency, expertise or internal controls. In other words, you would be handing your money over to an unqualified or irresponsible party.
• You would not be protected by the FGD or the transparency rules that regulate bank products and services. In the event of a problem, you would face a series of hurdles to get your money back, or you might even never recover it.
• If you do business with an unauthorised or unregistered individual or firm and you later have a dispute, you won’t be able to file a complaint with the Banco de España’s Complaints Service.

Consequently, before entrusting your money to an institution, always ensure that it is authorised. You can report an institution you suspect is not authorised to offer services through our external whistleblowing channelAbre en ventana nueva (link in Spanish).