Opening a Corporate Bank Account in Romania

🇮🇷 Iran-Specific: Why Opening a Corporate Account May Take Longer

In August 2021, First Bank SA (a Romanian bank with US ownership) paid a fine of over $850,000 to the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) over 70 transactions linked to persons based in Iran and Syria. This is the only documented case of a Romanian bank being fined specifically over Iran-linked transactions, and it reasonably explains why Romanian banks today may be more cautious than average with Iran-connected customers and transactions. The EU sanctions reimposed on Iran in September 2025 (the "snapback") mainly target Iranian banks and related financial entities, not necessarily the personal or corporate accounts of Iranian nationals resident in Romania — however, documented experience in other EU countries (for instance Italy and Germany, where several banks have explicitly closed or refused accounts for Iranian customers over nationality) shows this kind of bank caution ("de-risking") is common across the EU, though no specific report of a refusal in Romania itself was found. The positive counterpoint: according to one specialist legal source, Iranian legal entities (companies) can open accounts in Romania, provided full documentation is submitted — so this isn't an absolute barrier, just a slower process with closer KYC/AML scrutiny. For the best outcome: prepare complete, transparent proof-of-source-of-funds documentation from the start, and begin the process immediately after company registration — the new law only allows 60 working days (see the "Company Registration" page).

We could not find any public, citable source naming a specific bank in Romania as more accommodating toward Iranian nationals — banks generally don't publicize their risk-tolerance policies for legal reasons, so we're deliberately not naming one here. Instead, a few safe, practical pointers: (1) per one Romanian legal source, larger banks with a dedicated corporate/international department tend to process complex foreign-KYC documentation more efficiently — this isn't necessarily about being "less strict," but about being more familiar with foreign case files; (2) working with a Romanian lawyer or accountant who can advance the file under power of attorney and communicate with the bank in Romanian has, per documented experience, made the process more predictable; (3) important correction on fintech accounts: Law 239/2025's actual text (per ANAF's own notice) requires holding "a payment account (cont de plăți) in Romania or with the State Treasury" — not explicitly "a credit institution." A "payment account," under the EU payment-services framework Romania has adopted, is a broader category that can include banks, payment institutions, and electronic-money institutions (EMIs) alike. Specifically, Revolut Business runs under Revolut Bank UAB, which holds a genuine European banking license (issued in Lithuania, supervised by the ECB) and operates in Romania under EU passporting rules — meaning it very likely counts as a real "credit institution" regardless of the EMI debate. The genuinely open, unresolved ambiguity is narrower: accounts at electronic-money institutions without a banking license (e.g., Wise Business, which operates under an EMI license rather than a bank license) — no ANAF notice or case law has settled that specific case yet; always confirm before deciding.