Banking

Steps

1. Get your OIB (see HR-NIF-TOUS-001).
2. Compare fees: the bank must give you a fee information document before opening.
3. Open your account with your identity document and your OIB; the bank verifies your identity and the origin of your funds.
4. Request the free services package as soon as your salary, pension, scholarship or a benefit (unemployment, sickness…) is paid into the account, with the supporting documents requested. The bank grants or refuses it within 10 working days; if it refuses, it must tell you in writing, free of charge, with the reason and the means of redress.
5. If a standard account is refused, request a basic account (osnovni račun): the large banks are required to offer one.

Documents

• Passport or identity card.
• OIB.
• For the free package: proof of your regular income paid into the account (payslip, pension certificate…).

Costs and timelines

• Free services package (since 01/01/2026): opening, maintenance and closing of the account, online or mobile banking (at the bank's choice), cash deposits at the counter or at the machine, cash withdrawals at the counter or at your bank's machine (at the bank's choice; both for a pensioner), euro transfers received (domestic and foreign), issue and use of a debit card (if the bank offers one) and payments by this card in shops; number of transactions not capped. Direct debits, online card payments and outgoing transfers remain chargeable at the bank's usual rates. Euro account compulsory.
• Free withdrawals at other Croatian banks: 2 per month from 01/01/2027.
• End of regular income: if you no longer receive income for 3 months in a row, the bank must warn you at least 15 days before charging for these services again.
• Basic account: compulsory in banks with more than €1.99 billion of assets; "reasonable" fees in relation to the average net salary; decision within 10 working days. The bank may refuse if you already have a payment account in Croatia that offers these basic services (your written declaration may be enough as proof), or if opening would breach the anti-money-laundering rules; the refusal must be written and reasoned, with the means of redress (the bank, the Croatian National Bank, mediation).
• Euro transfers within the EU: same price as a domestic transfer.
• Mortgage: standardised European information sheet (ESIS) and at least 7 days to think it over; the conditions for a non-resident (deposit, term) vary from one bank to another: ask each of them.

Common pitfalls

• Not requesting the free package. It is not automatic: make the written request once your salary or pension has been paid in.
• Having your foreign pension paid elsewhere. The free package assumes that the regular income arrives in this account in Croatia. Whether a salary or pension coming from abroad counts as "regular income" depends on the law's definition and the bank's internal rules: ask it.
• Opening a second basic account. The bank may refuse the basic account if you already have an account in Croatia offering the same basic services, and it may terminate yours, with at least two months' notice, if you open another one afterwards.
• Closing your home account too quickly. Your IBAN from another EU country must be accepted for transfers and direct debits if the creditor accepts them from a domestic account.

What changes by country of origin

• EU and EEA citizens: right to a basic account as soon as you reside legally in the EU.
• Swiss and British citizens (Scots included): the right to a basic account and the ban on discrimination apply to any consumer legally resident in the EU, whatever their nationality: a Swiss or British citizen legally settled in an EU country is therefore concerned; without legal residence in the EU, this right does not apply and the decision rests with the bank. The free package targets any consumer whose regular income is paid into an account in Croatia.