Opening a Bank Account in Republic of Georgia

In this article, I'm sharing notes on how I opened a bank account at ProCredit Georgia Bank back in 2014.

Since I originally wrote this article, I have opened several additional bank accounts in Georgia - at Bank Republic for check redemptions (Sold to TBC bank) and Bank of Georgia.

If you need consultancy or help with opening a bank account in Georgia, visit the Terramatris website: Opening Bank Account in Georgia

There was a law- asking foreigners to register for temporary residence in Georgia, and there was a requirement from the Georgian government when submitting documents for temporary residence in Public Service Hall to show a bank statement that you have about 3000 GEL on it -

Here in Georgia are many banks to choose from - like Bank of Georgia, TBC Bank, Liberty Bank, ProCredit bank, and many others. Bank of Georgia (Sakartvelos banki) probably is the most popular here in Georgia and the next popular choice might be TBC Bank.

Both Bank of Georgia and TBC bank. are proud of being listed on London Stock Exchange.

In 2014, for opening my personal bank account in the Republic of Georgia - I opted for ProCredit bank - as far as my understanding reaches it has some HQ in Germany and operates in so-called developing countries - Eastern Europe, Africa, and South America, they do offer some grants for agriculture. This bank offers pretty good service and pretty good terms. They do have Visa and Maestro cards and it doesn't cost much.

Here I have copied/pasted some of the Fees from their official webpage

Opening and Maintaining Account
Opening an account with a standard commission fee	GEL 10
Deposit transit account	Free
Account statement	Free - 10 GEL
Checkbook	GEL 10
Account maintenance fee	GEL 1
Dormant Accounts Service Monthly Fee	GEL 1
1. An account opening commission fee is paid by a client upon opening a first multicurrency account; in case of opening of several multicurrency accounts in the same currency, the commission fee will be accrued for every multicurrency account separately. Employees participating in a salary project are exempt from the commission fee payment. 2. Deposit transit account is opened for term deposits. Standard rates apply to this type of account, except for the current account maintenance fee. 3. Free if the client has: a. Any type of term deposits without current accounts b. Only saving deposits and balance on any of such accounts during a calendar month is more/equal to Gel 200; USD/EUR 100 4. An account is dormant (current, savings and/or card) if it shows no active transactions for the last 12 continual months. Service fee is deducted from every account with balance after the client"s all accounts go dormant.

ProCredit Bank Plastic Card
Type of service	VISA Electron	MasterCard Maestro	MasterCard Standard	VISA Classic
Term of validity	3 years
Price for card per year	GEL 10		GEL 20
GEL Withdrawal from a ProCredit Bank Georgia	ATM		0.2% min GEL 0.2
	POS		0.3% min GEL 0.5
USD withdrawal from a ProCredit Bank Georgia	ATM		0.3% min USD 0.3
	POS		0.6% min USD 0.5
EUR withdrawal from a ProCredit Bank Georgia	ATM		0.3% min EUR 0.3
Cash withdrawal from a non-ProCredit Bank ATM in Georgia	1% min. USD 2.5
Cash withdrawal from an ATM abroad	2% min. USD 3
Cash withdrawal from a non-ProCredit Bank POS in Georgia	2% min. 6 GEL, 3.5 USD	2% min. 6 GEL, 3.5 USD	2% min. USD 6	2% min. 6 GEL, 3.5 USD
Fee for cash withdrawal from a POS abroad	2% min. USD 3.5	2% min. USD 3.5	2% min. USD 6	2% min. USD 3.5
Card-based payment transaction fee	Free
Minimum balance requirement	NO		NO
A daily quanitative limit for transactions executed through ATM/POS terminal/Internet	10 transactions per day
Cash withdrawal daily limit at an ATM	GEL 1,500 equivalent		GEL 2,500 equivalent
Card-based transaction daily limit	GEL 10,000 equivalent		GEL 15,000 equivalent
Increase of withdrawal/payment with a card limit	Maximum term 1 month: up to GEL 10 000 - GEL 20 up to GEL 30 000 - GEL 40 up to GEL 50 000 - GEL 60
Daily penalty for unauthorized overdraft	0,15%
Card blockage (in local network)	Free
Putting the card on an international stop-list (MasterCard Standard and VISA Classic only)	-	-	USD 50	USD 50
9. One Visa Electron card or one MasterCard Maestro card only is free of charge for persons participating in a salary project. This rule is applicable also in case of updating of expired cards (for salary project participants)if Visa Electron/MasterCard Maestro card is to be issued to replaced the previous card. 10. Client pays 2 years fee at the moment of ordering the card, the commission for third year will be taken at the beginning of third year. 11. Cash withdrawal within the balance placed in cash by the account holder in every currency is free of charge. The commission fee is applicable to transfered money, to cash withdrawals of amounts of money placed in cash by third persons and groups of clients engaged in currency Trading operations. 12. Transactions include: cash withdrawal, checking of the balance, printing out of account statement, purchase, purchase in internet. 13. Increase of a daily limit includes summary increase of encashment and payment limits. 14. Putting a card on international stop-list will case full blockage of the card. A plastic card is put on the list according to a specific region (e.g. Europe, USA/Canada, Africa) for a two-week period.

ProCredit bank of course offers internet banking.

In total it cost me 30 GEL for opening this account, depositing money in it, and ordering a plastic card from it. I should now wait - for my plastic card to be made (seems in Germany) before it is delivered to me - 10 days.

It was enough with my passport to open this account. In total it took some 40 minutes - well the girl who served me was a kind of chatty person, and chatting with me - she made a misspelling in my surname, so I pointed her to fix this - if you don't have a fancy surname - it should save you some 20 minutes for opening a bank account in ProCredit bank.

If you are a foreigner here in Georgia - I'm highly recommending ProCredit bank.

If you need consultancy or help with opening a bank account in Georgia, visit the Terramatris website: Opening Bank Account in Georgia

Opening a Bank Account in Republic of Georgia

For $10/month, receive weekly trade ideas and portfolio adjustments directly to your inbox.