The basic payment account: the EU right banks don't advertise

Directive 2014/92 states the principle plainly: consumers who are legally resident in the Union should not be discriminated against by reason of their nationality or place of residence, or on any other ground referred to in Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, when applying for, or accessing, a payment account within the Union. That is the legal floor under every arrival-month banking fight: a new resident's passport or fresh address is not a lawful reason to shut the door on a basic account.

Source: Directive 2014/92/EU (Payment Accounts Directive) — EUR-Lex, read 8 September 2026.

The right has one big built-in exception: per Directive 2014/92, member states may permit credit institutions to refuse the opening of a payment account with basic features for consumers who already hold an active and at least equivalent payment account in the same Member State — with banks able to rely on a consumer's own declaration to check. The basic account is an access guarantee, not a right to collect accounts. National law adds its own onboarding rules (identification, anti-money-laundering checks), which is where the practical friction usually lives.

Source: Directive 2014/92/EU, refusal grounds — EUR-Lex, read 8 September 2026.

The directive is EU law, but the counter conversation happens nationally — and we've mapped the two countries movers ask about most: opening an account in Spain walks the basic-account door there, and the France guide covers rights, refusals and workarounds including the droit au compte. Pair this page with IBAN discrimination — the sibling right that stops payers rejecting your new foreign IBAN once you have the account.

Source: Directive 2014/92/EU — EUR-Lex, read 8 September 2026.