Which Dutch banks accept internationals, and which exports Finq can read

You just registered with KVK, or you are still waiting for your BSN, and you need a business account. Not every bank takes a non-Dutch passport with the same ease, and not every account gives you an IBAN that starts with NL. What the banks ask for, what an LT or BE IBAN means in practice, and which bank exports Finq can read.

First: do you even need one?

For a sole proprietorship (eenmanszaak) a business account is not legally required. For a BV it is. That does not mean you can freely receive business payments on a personal account: most banks forbid business use of a personal account in their terms. That trade-off is covered in business account for freelancers: required or not.

For internationals there is one more reason. A separate account in your business name makes your tax return, your record-keeping duty and any audit much simpler, precisely because your banking history in the Netherlands is short.

What every bank asks for

Business.gov.nl, the Dutch government's official information site for entrepreneurs, lists the standard set: a valid identity document, proof of your home address, proof of your KVK registration, and details of the ultimate beneficial owners. On top of that:

• Entrepreneurs from outside the EU may be asked for more, such as a visa or a (provisional) residence permit.
• Some banks require a permanent address in the Netherlands, and sometimes a Dutch business address too.
• Banks may ask for extra information: a business plan, your expected turnover, the source of your capital.
• Expect the approval process to take between two and eight weeks.

The Dutch Banking Association (NVB) offers a Quick Scan you can use to find out in advance whether you are eligible, aimed at entrepreneurs who are still in the process of registering with KVK and applying for a residence permit. Useful if you are not in the country yet.

The order is nearly always: BSN, then KVK registration, then bank. Without a KVK number almost no provider will let you in. The steps before that are in starting as a freelancer in the Netherlands.

What the banks say themselves

Below is what each provider publishes on its own site, checked on 6 September 2026. Conditions change, so always verify them yourself before you apply.

ING

ING requires a valid registration in the Business Register and runs a customer review (KYC) before you become a customer. You can open a business account online or by appointment at a branch; bring your identity document. ING does not publish a separate acceptance list for non-Dutch nationalities, so assume the general set above applies.

Rabobank

Rabobank asks for a KVK number and a valid identity document. On that document Rabobank is explicit: if you have Dutch nationality or come from a country within the EU, the EEA or Switzerland, you can use an ID card or passport. If you come from outside that, only a Dutch residence document (vreemdelingendocument) is accepted, which you request at your municipality. Identification runs through the Rabo App, so no branch visit is needed.

ABN AMRO

ABN AMRO asks for a KVK number. You identify yourself with a Dutch identity document, an international passport or a residence permit. If you open an account with a non-Dutch passport or ID, ABN AMRO checks that you live in the Netherlands and asks for proof of residence. For foreign directors, the details of their foreign passport are requested; a foreign driving licence is not accepted.

Knab

Knab publishes its acceptance criteria as a list, which makes it the most useful page of all the banks here if you are an international. You must be at least 18 and have a BSN. For your identity document, one of these three applies:

• a valid ID card or passport issued by a country within the European Economic Area;
• a Dutch permanent residence permit plus a valid passport;
• a Dutch residence permit for at least five years plus a valid passport, where the permit must still be valid for at least a year at the time you apply.

On top of that: your business is registered with KVK, active and established in the Netherlands, and you yourself are established in the Netherlands at the moment you become a customer. Knab accepts only a sole proprietorship or a BV with one director who is a 100% shareholder, with a maximum of two BVs (a holding plus an operating company). A VOF, a partnership or a BV with several directors is not accepted. Turnover or assets may not exceed € 10 million.

bunq

bunq wants a verified personal bunq account first; from that app you then open a Business account. The conditions: you are not a minor, your business is legitimate and registered in the Netherlands, and you live permanently in the European Economic Area. If any ultimate beneficial owners or non-executives live outside the EEA, the account cannot be opened. For a sole proprietorship no extra documents are needed. Signing up is fully digital.

Revolut Business

Revolut Business is an account with Revolut Bank UAB, a bank licensed in Lithuania. That is why customers here long received an IBAN starting with LT. Revolut is now migrating customers to local branches: if you are eligible you get an email, and after at least two months your account moves to the Dutch branch with a new NL IBAN as its primary identifier. Your old LT IBAN keeps working alongside it for direct debits and recurring payments already set up.

Wise Business

Wise is not a bank but a payment institution, and you notice that in two ways: there is no deposit guarantee the way a bank has one, and your euro account details come from Wise Europe SA in Brussels. So you get an IBAN starting with BE, with a BIC starting TRWIBEB. Wise charges a one-off fee for setting up a business account with account details, and verifies your business before it issues them. Strong if you work in several currencies, less suitable if you want everything on one Dutch account.

Which language will you actually see?

One requirement that appears in no terms and conditions but hits you every week: the language. bunq, Revolut and Wise are English-first; their app, their help centre and their terms are written in English. At the big Dutch banks it varies. Rabobank has a dedicated expat page, ING and ABN AMRO serve English-speaking customers, but none of that tells you about the app you open every week.

So ask three things when you apply: is the business app available in English, is support reachable in English, and in which language does the post arrive. An English marketing page is not an English app. More on working and running a business here without Dutch is in freelancing without Dutch.

That IBAN country code: what it does and does not mean

An LT or BE IBAN is an ordinary euro IBAN inside the SEPA area. Payments arrive, direct debits work, and your clients notice nothing except the letters.

And yet you will run into it. An insurer that will not take your IBAN, a form that only accepts eighteen characters, a client whose accounts department gives up at BE79. This is called IBAN discrimination and it is prohibited. De Nederlandsche Bank is clear about it: under the SEPA Regulation (EU 260/2012) a payer or payee must accept not only Dutch IBANs but also euro IBANs held in other EU and EEA countries. Since 20 January 2020 DNB can enforce this in the Netherlands with a penalty order or a fine.

Two things to know before you dig in:

• The ban does not apply to transfers to and from savings or investment accounts, and payment requests are not covered either.
• Being right and getting your way are different things. In practice a refusing counterparty costs you a few phone calls, and that time comes out of your week.

The practical trade-off: if you mostly work for Dutch clients and deal with direct debits, insurers and allowances, an NL IBAN is simply quieter. If you work internationally and in several currencies, that often does not outweigh what Wise or Revolut give you on rates and speed. Plenty of freelancers do both: a Dutch account for Dutch traffic, with Wise or Revolut alongside it for foreign receipts.

Which exports Finq can read

What your bank gives you as statements matters more than its logo. Finq reads three formats:

Finq cannot read a PDF, and that is deliberate: from a PDF the counterparty account, the reference and the balance column cannot be recovered reliably, and those are exactly what Finq needs to deduplicate and to check the import adds up. So always download the machine-readable file.

Tested on real exports: ING, Rabobank, Knab and SNS, ASN and RegioBank (the same bank under the hood, in two variants: with and without a header row). The parsers are tuned to those, including each bank's quirks, such as the way SNS writes down a card payment and where Knab puts its interim balances.

ABN AMRO is supported: both the standard formats and the tab-separated TXT file without a header row that ABN AMRO produces. That has not yet been checked against a real export from a real account, so after your first import, take a moment to confirm the balance is right.

bunq, Revolut Business and Wise Business have not been tested. They all produce CSV, which is exactly what the generic CSV reader is for, but whether their column names and balance column land correctly is something we only learn when someone tries. If it does not work, let us know and send a sample file; that is how the other banks got in.

PayPal is not a bank statement but its own case, with transaction fees and currency conversions inside it. It has its own tab in Finq; see PayPal in your bookkeeping.

Pick CAMT.053 if your bank offers it

Of the three formats, CAMT.053 is the best. It holds the most data per transaction and, more importantly, the opening and closing balance per statement. That lets Finq verify your import is complete: if the run of balances does not add up, a line is missing and you get told, instead of it going quietly wrong.

A CSV often has that check too, through a balance column. An MT940 has opening and closing balances per statement and works as well. But CAMT.053 gives the richest descriptions, and automatic matching of your invoices hangs on those.

Import once a month or once a quarter, before your VAT return. Finq recognises transactions you already imported, so overlapping periods do no harm. See how the accounting software works.

This is general information, not personal or financial advice. Sources, checked on 6 September 2026: business.gov.nl on opening a Dutch business bank account; ing.nl, rabobank.nl, abnamro.nl, knab.nl (Knab Zakelijk acceptance criteria), help.bunq.com, help.revolut.com and wise.com for each provider's conditions; dnb.nl on SEPA and IBAN discrimination. Bank conditions change regularly; check them on the bank's own site before you apply.