How many banks pay you to open an account? All 27 EU countries compared
Snapshot as of 2 November 2026 · next version: May 2027
Short answer: We checked 1,939 national banks and branches of foreign banks on the ECB list in the 27 EU countries. As of 2 November 2026, 59 of the 501 banks that offer a personal current account pay a cash bonus for opening one, in 15 countries. The share is highest in Poland 53% (10 of 19), Hungary 50% (7 of 14) and Slovakia 33% (4 of 12); Poland ranks 1st in the EU. In 12 countries no bank pays. The largest bonuses: Banco Santander in Spain €680.40, Abanca in Portugal €400, Erste Bank Hungary in Hungary 100,000 Ft (about €273).
Share of banks with a personal account that pay an account opening bonus
- Poland10 of 1953%
- Hungary7 of 1450%
- Slovakia4 of 1233%
- Spain10 of 3231%
- Czechia4 of 1527%
- Romania4 of 2020%
- France7 of 4416%
- Germany5 of 4810%
- Portugal2 of 248%
- Slovenia1 of 128%
- Netherlands1 of 128%
- Belgium1 of 157%
- Croatia1 of 205%
- Austria1 of 303%
- Italy1 of 681%
- 0% in 12 countriesGreece, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Latvia, Estonia, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Cyprus, Malta
How much do banks pay you to open an account?
Every bonus for opening a personal current account we found in the 27 countries as of 2 November 2026, converted to euro. Each one asks for something over several months: card payments, incoming transfers, or both. Deadlines are short and some offers end this year, which is why this overview carries a date.
- ES Banco Santander €680 €680.40
- ES Cajamar €608 €607.50
- ES Bankinter €486 €486
- ES Abanca €405 €405
- ES Deutsche Bank €405 €405
- ES BBVA €400 €400
- PT Abanca €400 €400
- ES Unicaja €365 €364.50
- ES Banco Sabadell €324 €324.06
- ES ING €324 €324
- HU Erste Bank Hungary €273 100,000 Ft
- HU Raiffeisen Bank €273 100,000 Ft
- PL BNP Paribas €250 1,100 zł
- ES CaixaBank €250 €250
- DE Commerzbank €250 €250
- DE Deutsche Bank €222 €222
- PL mBank €205 900 zł
- DE norisbank €200 €200
- PL Alior Bank €182 800 zł
- PL Bank Millennium €182 800 zł
- CZ UniCredit €164 4,000 Kč
- HU Gránit Bank €164 60,000 Ft
- PL Erste Bank Polska €159 700 zł
- PL ING Bank Śląski €159 700 zł
- PL Nest Bank €159 700 zł
- SK VÚB €150 €150
- SK ČSOB €150 €150
- DE Volkswagen Bank €150 €150
- FR Monabanq €140 €140
- HU MBH Bank €137 50,000 Ft
- HU OTP Bank €137 50,000 Ft
- HU UniCredit €137 50,000 Ft
- CZ Komerční banka €123 3,000 Kč
- CZ Raiffeisenbank €123 3,000 Kč
- RO Raiffeisen Bank €112 600 lei
- HU K&H Bank €109 40,000 Ft
- SK UniCredit €100 €100
- SK mBank €100 €100
- FR Boursorama €100 €100
- DE UmweltBank €100 €100
- NL Nationale-Nederlanden Bank €100 €100
- AT Hypo Oberösterreich €100 €100
- FR Fortuneo (Arkéa Direct Bank) €80 €80
- FR Bforbank €80 €80
- FR BNP Paribas €80 €80
- IT UniCredit €80 €80
- RO UniCredit €75 400 lei
- PL Bank Pekao €68 300 zł
- CZ ČSOB €62 1,500 Kč
- PT Santander Totta €50 €50
- HR RBA (Raiffeisen) €50 €50
- BE ING €50 €50
- PL Bank BPS €46 200 zł
- FR AXA Banque €30 €30
- SI UniCredit €30 €30
- RO Exim Banca Românească €28 150 lei
- PL PKO Bank Polski €23 100 zł
- FR Société Générale €20 €20
- RO Garanti BBVA €19 100 lei
Poland and its EU neighbours
In Poland 10 of 19 banks with a personal account pay an opening bonus (53%), 1st in the EU. Next door: Germany 10% (5 of 48), Czechia 27% (4 of 15), Slovakia 33% (4 of 12) and Lithuania 0% (0 of 9). The largest Polish bonus, 1,100 zł (about €250), comes from BNP Paribas.
Country by country
National banks and branches with a personal account whose website we could read, and how many of them pay an opening bonus. Every bank with its amount, deadline, account fee and source URL is in the list in the dataset.
| Country | Banks with account | Pay a bonus | Share | Largest bonus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poland | 19 | 10 | 53% | BNP Paribas: 1,100 zł (about €250) |
| Hungary | 14 | 7 | 50% | Erste Bank Hungary: 100,000 Ft (about €273) |
| Slovakia | 12 | 4 | 33% | VÚB: €150 |
| Spain | 32 | 10 | 31% | Banco Santander: €680.40 |
| Czechia | 15 | 4 | 27% | UniCredit: 4,000 Kč (about €164) |
| Romania | 20 | 4 | 20% | Raiffeisen Bank: 600 lei (about €112) |
| France | 44 | 7 | 16% | Monabanq: €140 |
| Germany | 48 | 5 | 10% | Commerzbank: €250 |
| Portugal | 24 | 2 | 8% | Abanca: €400 |
| Slovenia | 12 | 1 | 8% | UniCredit: €30 |
| Netherlands | 12 | 1 | 8% | Nationale-Nederlanden Bank: €100 |
| Belgium | 15 | 1 | 7% | ING: €50 |
| Croatia | 20 | 1 | 5% | RBA (Raiffeisen): €50 |
| Austria | 30 | 1 | 3% | Hypo Oberösterreich: €100 |
| Italy | 68 | 1 | 1% | UniCredit: €80 |
| Greece | 9 | 0 | 0% | |
| Luxembourg | 9 | 0 | 0% | |
| Lithuania | 9 | 0 | 0% | |
| Bulgaria | 17 | 0 | 0% | |
| Latvia | 8 | 0 | 0% | |
| Estonia | 6 | 0 | 0% | |
| Ireland | 8 | 0 | 0% | |
| Sweden | 17 | 0 | 0% | |
| Denmark | 15 | 0 | 0% | |
| Finland | 6 | 0 | 0% | |
| Cyprus | 7 | 0 | 0% | |
| Malta | 5 | 0 | 0% |
How we checked
The list of banks comes from the ECB list of credit institutions of 28 October 2026. For each bank we checked on its website whether it offers a personal current account to individual customers and, for each such account, whether a new customer gets cash for opening it. A verbatim sentence from the bank’s page or terms, which we keep a copy of, backs every amount. Banks whose website we could not read are left out of the share. Polish bonuses come from our catalogue of promotions, checked against the banks’ terms. Euro amounts use the ECB reference rate of 29 October 2026. The full method, the data dictionary and the CSV file are on the European banks dataset page.
Frequently asked questions
In which EU country do most banks pay you to open an account?
Counting banks that offer a personal current account to individual customers and whose website we could read, as of 2 November 2026 the share is highest in Poland 53% (10 of 19), Hungary 50% (7 of 14), Slovakia 33% (4 of 12), Spain 31% (10 of 32) and Czechia 27% (4 of 15). Poland ranks 1st in the EU. We found no bonus at all in 12 countries: Greece, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Latvia, Estonia, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Cyprus and Malta.
Where are account opening bonuses largest?
In euro, the largest bonuses today are in Spain: Banco Santander €680.40; in Portugal: Abanca €400; in Hungary: Erste Bank Hungary 100,000 Ft (about €273); in Poland: BNP Paribas 1,100 zł (about €250); in Germany: Commerzbank €250. ECB reference rate of 29 October 2026. The largest Spanish bonuses are usually paid in monthly instalments in exchange for paying your salary into the account for one to three years.
Why don’t you count cashback or referral bonuses?
Because they cannot be compared with a bonus for the account itself. Cashback depends on how much you spend, a referral bonus needs a friend who is already a customer, and some offers pay only together with another product, such as a business account. We keep those amounts in separate columns of the data, but the comparison uses only cash for a new customer for a personal account.
Where does the list of banks come from?
From the European Central Bank’s list of credit institutions of 28 October 2026, compared with the EBA register. We leave out local cooperative banks, savings banks and credit unions because they serve their own region. In Germany that also covers the Sparkassen and Volksbanken, which hold a large share of personal accounts, so the German figures describe commercial banks and branches.
Related
- What a personal account costs in the EU if you meet no conditions
- European banks: the open dataset (CSV)
- This page in Polish
By Rafał Błażewski, obrotomierz.pl. Sources: the ECB list of credit institutions (28 October 2026), compared with the EBA register; websites, terms and price lists of 1,939 banks (checked up to 2 November 2026). We show what banks offer and do not recommend any account.