How to get a Bank Account?

Sweden is a very digital country, where most of the transactions occur digitally. With a date set in 2023 to go completely cashless, Sweden is arguably the closest country to achieve this. It is currently not uncommon to see signs that say “No Cash Accepted” in various shops in Sweden. A recent study from the European Payments Council showed that cash transactions accounted for only 1% of Sweden’s GDP in 2019 with cash withdrawals steadily declining by about 10% a year. While consumers are generally happy, those struggling financially or technologically still continue to rely on cash. Recent reports show that mobile payments are accelerating very sharply in Sweden. One of the main reasons for this is that Swedes are tech-savvy.

For example, Swish, which is a mobile app, had over 7.8 million users in July of 2020 and also performs close to 50 million transactions a month.
Reference: Click here

I wasn’t aware of Sweden being so digital, before I came here. So, I carried a good amount of cash, which I got at the foreign exchange in India. I also got a FOREX card, for my digital transactions and money exchange. Other than second hand purchase, I hardly remember, I used any cash yet. So, carrying cash was helpful initially, because getting a bank account is a long procedure. I would definitely recommend to carry some cash but not too much. Getting a bank is really helpful, if you’re planning to stay here more than a year. Life really becomes a lot simpler.

How to get a bank account:
1. Get a personal Number:
I applied for the personal number the very next day that I arrived at Linköping. There is no application fee to get a personal number. And it usually takes around 2 months to get a personal number (considering all submitted documents are fine).

2. Get a Swedish ID card:
Once you have a personal number, you can book the appointment for the nearest available date (Probably in a week or two). The application fee for the Swedish ID was 400 SEK in 2021. You can expect to have your Swedish ID in less than 2 weeks.

3. Take appointment at the bank:
The nearest available bank appointment in my case was 3 weeks, and I did it after receiving my Swedish ID. If you’re so confident of receiving the Swedish ID, take the appointment in advance. It can save a lot of time. The account gets activated in couple of days. However, the debit card and the password is expected to arrive after a week.

4. Setup BankID and Swish:
Download the Bank ID and Swish app first. You can setup the bankID, once you have your personal number and wait for the account to open to get started with the swish. Both can be activated on your own. In my case, my phone didn’t have the NFC, which was mandatory to setup the swish, I had to visit the bank. They disabled this mandatory requirement from their side. And Bingo. All set.

In summary, this entire procedure took more than 4 months in my case. The available bank options are Nordea, Danske, Swedbank, and others. We also have ICA bank, which is a bit student friendly as they don’t charge any monthly fee for students. I preferred Nordea, where for first 6 months, I don’t pay any fee after which there is a fixed cost of 39 SEK per month (this fee is exempted for Swedish students). This fee is also dependent on banks and on age as well.

Hope you had a good time reading.
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// Abhijeet

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