A Greek bank account is one of those requirements that looks administrative and turns out to be the critical path. Notary appointments have been postponed, deadlines under preliminary contracts missed and residency applications delayed, all because an account that was expected to open in a fortnight took three months.
The delays are rarely arbitrary. They are almost always documentary, and they are almost always avoidable.
The tax number comes first
Nothing financial happens in Greece without a tax number, the AFM. It is needed to buy property, incorporate a company, connect utilities and, relevantly here, to open a bank account.
For someone resident outside Greece, the AFM is issued through the Tax Office for Residents Abroad and requires the appointment of a tax representative who is tax-resident in Greece. This is the first place people lose time, because they discover the requirement at the bank rather than before it.
Obtaining an AFM does not create a Greek tax liability by itself. It is an identifier, not a declaration that you intend to be taxed here — a distinction worth making, because the assumption otherwise puts people off starting the process.
What a tax representative is, and is not
The role is procedural: a point of contact with the tax authority on behalf of a non-resident. It does not transfer your tax obligations to that person, and it does not give them authority over your affairs.
It can be a lawyer, an accountant or a trusted individual resident in Greece. Where a firm is already handling the underlying transaction, having the same firm act as representative usually keeps the correspondence in one place rather than scattered across three advisers in two countries.
Why the source-of-funds file decides the outcome
This is the part that determines whether an application moves or stalls. Greek credit institutions apply customer due diligence obligations under anti-money-laundering legislation, and they apply them more strictly to non-residents than to residents. They will ask where the money came from, and they will expect documents rather than an explanation.
For a salaried applicant this is straightforward: employment contract, payslips, tax returns. It becomes demanding where the funds have a more complex history — the sale of a business, an inheritance, a divorce settlement, income arising across several jurisdictions, or an accumulation over many years across multiple accounts.
The failure mode is almost never that the funds are problematic. It is that the file does not explain them in a sequence a compliance officer can follow. Each stage needs its supporting document, and the documents need to reconcile with one another. A file assembled to answer questions before they are asked moves considerably faster than one assembled in response to three successive requests for more information.
Documents, translation and legalisation
Foreign documents generally require certified translation into Greek, and depending on the issuing country, an apostille under the Hague Convention or consular legalisation. Applicants often prepare an excellent set of documents and then lose weeks because they were never legalised.
The usual core set is a passport, the AFM, proof of residential address, evidence of income or of the source of funds, and a tax residence certificate from the applicant’s home jurisdiction. Individual banks add their own requirements, and those requirements differ — which is why it is worth establishing what a specific institution wants before assembling anything.
Digital access, and why it matters early
Alongside the account, most people need TAXISnet credentials and registration on the gov.gr digital portal. These are what allow tax filings, the property declaration after a purchase, and the electronic notifications mailbox through which the authorities increasingly communicate.
Setting them up at the same time as the AFM costs almost nothing extra. Doing it a year later, from abroad, when a filing deadline has already passed, is a different exercise.
Companies rather than individuals
A foreign company opening a Greek account faces the same due diligence with an additional layer: evidence of the corporate structure, of who is authorised to represent the company, and of the ultimate beneficial owners. Where ownership runs through more than one jurisdiction, expect the bank to want the chain documented to the individuals at the end of it.
Doing it from abroad
The tax number can be obtained remotely under a special power of attorney. Account opening is less uniform: some institutions accept representation under a power of attorney, others require attendance in person, and others verify identity by video call.
Because the practice varies, the sensible order is to confirm the position with the chosen bank and then book travel — rather than arriving in Athens for a three-day trip and finding the appointment cannot be arranged in time.
Set your expectations honestly
One thing no adviser can promise is the outcome. Accepting a customer remains at each bank’s discretion, and institutions periodically adjust their appetite for non-resident business without announcement. Anyone guaranteeing you an account is guaranteeing something outside their control.
What can be controlled is whether the file is the reason for a refusal. A complete, coherent, properly legalised application removes the most common cause of delay, and where an institution declines for reasons of its own policy, a file already in order can simply be presented elsewhere without starting again.
Our firm handles Greek tax numbers and bank account opening for non-residents and foreign companies, including the source-of-funds documentation the process depends on.