Hi all,

I am from Singapore and will be going over to Milan for graduate studies. I have read several of the discussions available on banking services in Italy and it was really very insighful. However, I have several questions which I am unable to find the answers in old discussions. I hope you can help me out here.

1. How expensive can Bancaposta get, say monthly fees. How high is their interest? Assuming the services that I would like to use are visa/mastercard debit cards (most impt), issue checks, online banking to do transfers both locally and internationally (wire money), use of ATM. Will the interest rate cover all the services?

2. Is there any English online banks like Fineco? From the discussion, Fineco banks are very popular and well supported. Do they have physical or partner branches in Milano? Can Fineco Bank replace Bancaposte for the above services I require. What are the charges and interests rates?

3. Alternatively, I thought it might be possible to open an international bank like citibank in Milan. Again what are the charges and interest rate given? The site is in italian and I do not know the language (yet).

Hi, there is Fineco also in Italy.
Ot has not phyisical branche but you can go to its partner, Banco di Brescia (<< more branches in the Brescia area, so you'd better check if there is one where you will be living).

I had Fineco some years ago, and I was very disappointed with their service: since I was a student (so no monthly wage) I was not given credit card, ATM nor checks.
Basically I could only make bank transfers and to deposit money I had to drive to the nearest Banco di Brescia (there is only one in my whole area!).

About interests, you should not think about them since they are so low! They won't make you rich, anyway. Choose a bank which has physical branches in your area.

Citibank should have a couple of agencies in Milano. In Italy, their accounts have reasonable conditions, but they are more interested in selling mutual fund and investment plans, addressing to a relatively wealthy customer base. The most important thing is finding a good personal promoter, as he/she will be the person you will keep contact with. Services offered are relatively limited on the banking side, as they see mainly as an investment bank. A definite plus is that their internal ATM cards work on all internal ATM at Citibank agencies in the world - you can access your account in Singapore from Italy and vice versa and draw cash at verry reasonable rates.

In general, interest rates are not so high. What you should really be watching, no matter which bank are you choosing, are service costs, that can easily eat your interest out or cost even more than that. Look for packages including services for a flat fee - on the top of it, you must add taxes, about 35 euro per year per account (if you buy stocks or bonds, that is a supplementary account paying taxes again).

Also, to have ATM and credit cards you must consider making a sizable enough initial deposit and having a monthly wage wired to your account, so that the bank can get confident you are going to pay. Often the top expense limit on the credit card cannot be more than the amount of your present deposit.

Hi,

Thanks for all the response.

Indeed I gathered from other discussions that interests rate are not high. I was just hoping that a better interest rate can negate the service charges.

Citibank is good since it is international. Just wondering, does anyone here have experience with citibank in Milano? For example, what are their service costs, and what service they provide? Basically I only need an atm card and a debit (not credit) visa/mastercard for normal withdrawal of money and payments. As for all other transections, I believe citibank offer quite a good online banking service and its in English too!

Unfortunately Fineco is only in Italian and that might be a very big problem initially when I do not know the language yet.

Thanks all and I hope to hear experiences with citibank in Italy!

I have experience with Citibank in Florence. Basically, its Italian branch is a very small bank (they have only eight agencies or so). The back office is not very efficient (I suffered a long delay in getting the credit card), my personal adviser on the contrary is quite efficient and agreable. As I already wrote, they are investment oriented, so they do not offer some banking services like paying F24 tax forms that may come quite useful. Investment advices were quite sound. Interest is very low, but the account is not expected to grow very high as as soon as possible money is invested. There is a fee around eur 100 + tax that covers most of the operations, only wire transfers are paid on top of it. While the ATM circuit is the same of the worldwide Citibank, otherwise the Italian branch is very much separate from other international branches and does not deal with them.
The citibank online service is offered in English but it is very basic, only checking your account and wiring funds (this section, out of security concern, is subject to phone or personal pre-authorization, so it is not very efficient).

As a benchmark, I have also an online account with IWbank, a Milan based internet bank. Here fees are very low (I also got a special offer and they pay taxes for me), using checks is not easy as they have only one brick-and-mortar teller, and I use it for investments only and for the few services not provided by Citibank. Their online service are extremely complete (you can do almost anything possible from paying TV tax to speculating on the Chicago future market), but it can be difficult to use as you are on your own and nobody will explain you, for example, that speculating on the future market is better done by professionals.

A possible problem with online accounts is that your identity must be estabilished in a formal way, and this is done by wiring some funds from an existing account from some other bank that will have already identified you.

Hi,

Thanks so much for the advice. It seems better to have both an offline and an online bank account to complement each other.

Regarding IWBank, there is a uk site which allows users to open an account. Is there a difference between the Italian site and the Uk site? Can I open an account from the Uk site using my italy personal details? I am asking cos of again langauge reasons.

Thanks.

I do not recommend you to open two accounts, it is a way to double your expenses and taxes.

Online banks are good for people who know exactly what they have to do, and you are likely to have a lot of questions in a foreign country. What you need is a flat fee packet account with a "real" bank, better with a knowledgeable clerk speaking English, and you are more likely to find it by inquiring locally.

Do not open an UK account. Consider the tax liabilities and international transfer fees, you may as well keep your account in Singapore.

Thinking out loud: my Citibank account gives an ATM card, and using it on foreign Citibank automatic teller is the easiest and cheapest way of getting cash abroad, as the withdrawing limit is high and commissions very low. I could withdraw cash in Singapore from my Italian account with minimal trouble and expense. If you are going to receive funds from Singapore you could try doing this in reverse, setting up a Citibank account in Singapore and using the automatic teller in, say, via Tommaso Grossi (a few steps from Galleria). Ask for the condition, it could be a very practical way to trasfer reasonable funds from Singapore to Italy.