Bank accounts for non-residents

[tonyric]

Is it possible for a non-resident to open a bank account in Italy without a residence?

[zagnut]

Yes, but not at all banks. You must shop around in your area.

[Nicola]

Are you Italian? You'll have AIRE residence.

OTOH I'm not sure why you want an Italian bank account.

[tonyric]

not yet, but, I am close and I am going to be taking work overseas (middle east) and will be traveling extensively for vacations in europe so I wanted an account where I could access money relatively locally.

[Nicola]

I'm not sure which country you're currently in but I'd look at the off shore banks. The UK channel island banks will likely have something that fits and will work better for you then a local Italian bank.

Take a look for example at HSBC. They'll have outlets in the middle east. Much of Europe. North America. Asia. If you qualify for the premier program it's also free or pretty close to it.

[BBCWatcher]

I do not recommend Citibank's "Global Executive" banking. Open 9 to 5 Monday through Friday New York time, and the call is often routed to India anyway. (Not that there's anything wrong with India per se, but then what's the point of such limited hours for the "Global Executive"?) The Citi never sleeps indeed! Absolutely awful service. I ended up closing the account after several months. On the other hand, I like Citibank Japan as a local bank.

There are some U.S. Internet-only banks that may work well nowadays for the world hopper. Everbank.com is an example of an online bank that allows you to keep deposits in multiple currencies. This Web site seems like a good place to start comparison shopping for Internet banks:

http://bankdeals.blogspot.com

[zagnut]

not yet, but, I am close and I am going to be taking work overseas (middle east) and will be traveling extensively for vacations in europe so I wanted an account where I could access money relatively locally.

Unless you live in Italy, I wouldn't open an account there. The gov't charges a tax of around €33 per year per account even if you have no money in the acct and earn no interest. Bank fees would be on top of that. And tax is withheld at 30% on interest.

[tonyric]

Thanks everyone... I think I will check into the HSBC Premier account since I can use it to pay my US bills as well as it being free of transaction fees like the crazy foreign transaction fee charged to use your CC outside of your home country.