Banking in Greece – Transferring money in/out?

[Dermot]

Hi,

I have a bank account at a local branch in Athens (National Bank – Gizzi, Athens), that collects rent for me and I periodically need to transfer to the UK. I may also need to transfer money into this account to cover property tax liabilities and other obligations.

Currently, this is very difficult. A family member who lives in Athens controls this for me however I would like to become more self sufficient and getting the necessary information from this person is challenging. I can’t talk to the banks directly because I don’t speak Greek. So far all I know is that I CANNOT transfer money to the UK directly from this branch. The family member has to go to the head office branch in the centre of Athens to perform an overseas transfer to the UK for me. I’m presuming this is correct but does anyone know if it’s typical for such transactions to only be possible out of the main branches in Athens?

Secondly, if I want to transfer money to my account at the local branch in Athens from the UK I expect that this should be far simpler because I’m not asking them to perform a complex overseas transaction, but I would really appreciate any clarification on this?

If anyone has a better idea where I can ask these questions with a view to getting an accurate response I would be very grateful. The general elections in Greece are 17-June so I have a little time to get my affairs in order.

Thank you for any help offered

D

[Gikma]

I know about this because a friend was in an eerily similar situation as you.

Simplest solution is to get a NBG debit card for your account. You can then withdraw funds in the UK from an ATM. NBG has ridiculously low charges for overseas-ATM use. I think it is a flat 1.08 Eur per withdrawal.

NBG (National Bank of Greece or Ethniki) only allows transfer to Eurozone countries via Netbanking. For any other transfers, you have to do it with a paper application, usually at the city's main branch.

If the amounts are large and you would rather transfer funds electronically, read on and do the same as my friend.

My friend opened an account with Piraeus Bank. Their netbanking allows transfer to most countries in the world. Friend now transfers funds from NBG to Piraeus via Netbanking and then from Piraeus to a non-Eurozone country. Both banks' netbanking is available in English. Ideally you could get your renter to deposit to your Piraeus account rather than to NBG and you would have to deal only with one bank. You could even eventually close the NBG account. That's what my friend did.

Piraeus has a London branch: Tower 42, 25 Old Broad Street, EC2N 1HQ, EC2N 1PB
Telephone Number 0044 20 7920 6000
FAX Number 0044 20 7920 6001
Working Hours Mon-Fri: 09:00-17:00

Maybe they can open an account for you in Greece without you having to go there. If you *have* to go there, one of the most customer friendly branches is the one at Korai (just outside Panepistimio metro).

Note that there are two Piraeus branches side by side (3 Korai and 5 Korai). I refer to the one on the right as you face them (#5). Tel: +30210 3335923. They speak English. Since you already have a Greek tax number (AFM), it will be a breeze to open an account. Even otherwise, you only need a passport to open a non-resident account.

As far as transferring funds *to* Greece are concerned, you can transfer money easily to any Greek bank given the banks BIC and your account IBAN. Most Greek banks allow you to pay taxes online as well as utility payments.

HTH.

[Dermot]

Gikma, thank you so much for taking the time to post this, it will be incredibly useful to me.

So nettbanking is available at NGB but will that allow me to transfer to England (within euro zone) or do I definately need a Piraeus account for this? Apologies I didn't quite follow that bit.

Thanks again, I'm really grateful

Edit: I'm being a complete dunce. England is not in the Eurozone clearly

[Gikma]

Piraeus's Netbanking uses the code-sent-via-SMS security system. However, if you are afraid that SMS's may not reach you (at all or in time) because you are in the UK, you can ask them to give you an electronic code generator thingy instead.

NBG also gives (gave?) the electronic code generator.

Our experience is that Piraeus is a far better bank than NBG in every single way.

[Dermot]

Thanx again Gikma