Application to open a payment account

11/11/2025

Financial institutions are generally free to decide whether or not to open an account for you. Their decision depends on their internal policies, which can change over time with factors such as the economic conditions in Spain, the level of risk they are willing to take on and their commercial strategy.

So if you’re thinking of opening an account, remember that it is not an automatic process. Both you and the bank must agree on the terms. If either party doesn’t, you can’t formalise the contract for the account.

With that out of the way, there are a few things you should know.

• A financial institution can’t turn down your application for discriminatory reasons, such as your nationality, place of residence, country of birth, racial or ethnic origin, sex, religion, beliefs or opinions, age, disability or gender identity.
• If you’re finding it hard to open a “normal” account, you can ask a credit institution for a payment account with basic features. This type of account (i) may be free of charge if you’re in financial difficulties and (ii) lets you deposit and withdraw money, set up direct debits, make debit or prepaid card payments and send transfers. Nevertheless, credit institutions can still refuse to open a basic payment account for you in certain situations, such as if you refuse to provide the documents they ask for as part of their anti‑money laundering and counter terrorist financing obligations.