Account holders and access
An account may have one or more account holders. The terms and conditions of a joint account must clearly state how the funds can be accessed.
Accounts may be sole (only one holder) or join (two or more holders). In turn, joint accounts may be.
- All-to-sign: (‘disposición conjunta’ or ‘disposición mancomunada’ in Spanish) where all (or a specified number) of the account holders need sign or give their authorisation to withdraw money and operate the account.
- Any-to-sign: (‘disposición indistinta’ or ‘disposición solidaria’ in Spanish) any of the holders can operate the account individually, without needing authorisation from the other holders.
If the account has several holders, it will be assumed that all the holders need to sign, unless the mandate states otherwise.
As an account holder you may grant a power of attorney to authorise a third party to operate the account on your behalf. All the account holders need to sign in order to authorise a third party to operate a joint account. An authorised party will cease to be able to operate the account if one of the holders dies or if their authorisation is revoked.
Any joint account holder may unilaterally ask the bank to be removed from the joint account. The bank must notify the other joint account holders. The bank shall accept the joint account holder’s request for removal, provided there are no grounds for not actioning it. These include the account being overdrawn or the existence of associated contracts to which the requesting account holder is party.
If an account holder dies, his or heirs will inherit the holder’s rights and obligations.
- In the case of an all-to-sign joint account, if one of the holders dies, the others will not be able to operate the account without the explicit consent of all the deceased account holder’s heirs.
- In the case of any-to-sign joint accounts, the remaining holder(s) may continue to access funds after the death of one of the account holders.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Can I withdraw cash at a branch other than where my account is held?
Read answeraboutCan I withdraw cash at a branch other than where my account is held?
How can I move my account from one bank to another?
Read answeraboutHow can I move my account from one bank to another?
