Чертовые банки

[yurodivy84.livejournal.com]

Another useless question for debating:

Can foreign university students open a bank account in Russia? If so, what would you / do you recommend/use as the "best choice" for a bank account in Russia/Moscow for a (working) university student?

I have no idea if Russian banks typically charge you for holding an account, but this is a bad thing (free banking = good). I truly doubt that cooperative banks/credit unions/etc exist in Russia, but if so... also, Internet banking a huge plus.

Спасибо снова

Comments

[my-valentine.livejournal.com]

I love coops in finance institutions.


Seriously

[lovimoment.livejournal.com]

Don't trust a Russian bank. Find an American bank that doesn't charge ATM fees and that has online banking.

[vakhitov.livejournal.com]

But don't you anyway pay a fee to a Russian bank whose ATM you use to withdraw money?

[lovimoment.livejournal.com]

When I was living in St. Peterburg a couple years ago, none of the ATMs had withdrawal fees. Some of them are starting to now, though.

[oryx_and_crake]

off-topic: it's чертовы банки, not чертовые.

[jadore-vin.livejournal.com]

Citibank has branches in Russia. This may be helpful if you will be in Moscow or Petersburg. http://www.citibank.com/locations/eu/ru/ru/moscow/moscow.htm

[just1user.livejournal.com]

Foreign banks have no branhes in Russia, it's against the law. Local banks with similar names are, actually, JSC where 100% belong to 'real' foreign bank. The main difference is that owner of such JSC ( i.e. Citigoup ) is not liable for debts of children bank (e.g. if al banks here collapse and someone has a deposit in it). So if somebody don't trust Russian banks, and has account in real foreign bank, and jist withdraw money from an ATM in local bank, it's ok.

[vakhitov.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that sucks. The government is scared that foreign banks will provide better safety for people's money and make sure that doesn't happen. And we all know by a number of examples that in Russia, your money is not safe in the banks.

[jadore-vin.livejournal.com]

Do you think if an American had a US Citibank checking account he or she could take out cash from a Russian Citibank ATM without being charged the fees that usually apply to foreign banks?

Although, if, as you are saying, the banks are actually not affiliated with one another, it would make sense that the ATM fees would still apply. I suppose one could call and find out.

[solaq.livejournal.com]

citibank is one of the worst in Russia. Don't even get involved with it!

[apakin.livejournal.com]

Reiffeisen

[17abel.livejournal.com]

I use Sberbank. All students use Sberbank.

[vakhitov.livejournal.com]

At least in St. Petersburg, Sberbank ATM are not very conveniently situated (near the bank offices). It's better to choose a bank that has ATMs in metro - smth. like Baltiyskiy Bank.

[devinshire.livejournal.com]

+1

I never had any problems with Sberbank. My earnings were directly deposited and there were never any issues when I had to withdraw funds.

[edricson.livejournal.com]

Sberbank isn't too good, it has lots of bloody queues because everyone pays their utility fees and draws pensions there. Also the service is abysmal, and you might have a very hard time finding someone who speaks English.

Generally, I recommend a subsudiary of a foreign bank (though not Citibank, as pointed above): they usually have far better service. The fees are more or less the same throughout the market.

Raiffeisen, as recommended above, might be a good choice: it has a decent number of branches, mostly in downtown Moscow, decent service, and Internet banking (but most Russian banks have that now). Also, unlike some other Western subsudiaries, it has a good number of ATMs: some time ago it acquired Impexbank, a Russian bank with a lot of ATMs everywhere, and you can draw your money from there for no fee with a Raiffeisen card.

Other subsidiaries include Societe Generale (called Bank Societe Generale Vostok).

[oncogene.livejournal.com]

Is HSBC accessible in Russia?

[maisondetranger.livejournal.com]

Alfabank is 100% Russian bank, but I've been with them for a few years now, and never had any problem.
You could give them a try. A good point is that they are present in the regions as well, which is useful if you intend to travel a bit.
Otherwise, apart from Raifesen already mentioned, BSGV (Banque Societe Generale Vostok) is the Russian branch of the French Societe Generale bank.

[serialcondition.livejournal.com]

icon love

just had to say it

t.