"All consumers legally residing in the European Union, without discrimination and irrespective of where they reside" have "the right to open a basic bank account." This includes "consumers with no fixed abode and asylum seekers." On the basis of these regulations laid down in the Consolidated Law on Banking (Art. 126-noviesdecies), the Italian Banking Association (ABI) sent a circular to all banks on 16 April 2019 regarding the opening of bank accounts by asylum seekers.
ABI highlighted that banks are obliged to identify their customers through "identity documents," or other "identification documents considered equivalent," or through "documents, data or information obtained from a reliable and independent source." Therefore, the documents considered acceptable with regard to asylum seekers are as follows:
- asylum seekers' residence permit;
- receipt of international protection application (issued when the application is recorded), as long as it is "valid, "provided with the holder's photograph, issued by a State administration and indicating the applicant's name and date of birth."
Whereas, the international protection seekers' personal certificate issued by the Questura in the event of detention, before the recording of any application, is not considered an acceptable document.
Asylum seekers' residence permit is no longer considered a valid document to register with the registry office. However, ABI highlighted that in order to access services provided by private subjects (such as banks and financial intermediaries), "no regulation requires the submission of a residence certificate (or identity card), but only of an identification document, which for international protection seekers corresponds to the asylum seekers' residence permit."
Lastly, ABI clarified an important issue relating to asylum seekers' tax code: up to year 2017, asylum seekers were assigned a temporary code made of 11 digits. Following said year, they have been assigned a 16-digit alphanumeric code. "In both cases – ABI said – the tax codes were and have been generated through computerised procedures defined on the basis of specific needs. Therefore, they are to be considered validly assigned by the Financial Administration."
Source: ABI
May, 20 2019
