Banking & Finance
What identity information does the law require?
The CBA-hosted law identifies banks, including branches of foreign banks, as reporting entities. It says the customer’s identity is established and verified through reliable and valid official documents and information. For individuals the information includes name, citizenship, birth details, identity-document details, registration address if available and place of residence. These are information requirements, not proof that every bank uses one physical-document checklist or accepts every non-resident.
Does opening an account remove the checks?
No. The law requires due diligence when a business relationship is established. Its identity-verification timing provision has a limited exception where risk is effectively managed and it is necessary to avoid interrupting the customer’s normal business relationship. That exception does not remove identification or establish a general right to an account without documents. This guide does not determine whether it applies to an applicant.
Can an application be declined?
The law says the reporting entity should reject a transaction or relationship when the specified due-diligence duties cannot be performed, and consider recognising it as suspicious. This is a regulatory obligation, not a finding about any reader. The sources used here do not establish which Armenian bank would accept a particular non-resident application.
How do the deposit guarantee ceilings differ by currency?
For deposits held only in Armenian drams at an insolvent bank, the law sets a ceiling of sixteen million AMD. For deposits held only in foreign currency, it sets a ceiling of seven million AMD. Those provisions took effect on 1 December 2020 under the amending law, which also applies to deposit contracts already in force at commencement. Other statutory conditions and exclusions still apply.
Can I add the ceilings or split money across accounts?
The law has separate rules for a depositor holding both dram and foreign-currency deposits at the same bank. It also combines the person’s dram deposits there as one deposit and the foreign-currency deposits there as one deposit, excluding excluded deposits. The single-currency ceilings must not simply be added together, and opening another account at that bank does not itself create a fresh ceiling. This guide does not calculate a mixed-currency claim.
Are all deposits protected?
The law contains exclusions. Examples include deposits belonging to a bank’s senior officials or significant participants and their family members. These examples are not the full exclusion list, and the presence of a deposit on a bank statement does not by itself establish compensation.
What the official sources used here do not settle
This review does not establish a universal non-resident account-opening right, a bank’s document pack, fees, processing times or remote-opening availability. The current CBA-hosted AML compilation flags amendments and transitional provisions; the commencement of every specific quoted provision has not been established. The exact dates of some unchanged deposit-law provisions also remain unconfirmed. These gaps are separate from the confirmed commencement of the single-currency ceilings. Confirm the bank’s written requirements and the fund’s treatment of the actual deposit.
Related: Armenia country guide, Get your free results → and banking in Montenegro.
Corrections in this revision
remove unsupported bank rankings, promises about treatment of particular nationalities, general wait times and document packs presented as national rules.
See recorded sources
- Central Bank of Armenia, current English AML/CFT law linked from its Laws index — Armenia (national). CBA-hosted English consolidated law includes amendments of 3 July 2025 and flags final/transitional provisions. Commencement of the specific wording quoted has not been independently established; consultation date is not commencement. Read on 30 October 2026.
- Deposit Guarantee Fund of Armenia, English deposit-guarantee law — Armenia (national). Article 3(1) replaced by HO-422-N, effective 1 December 2020 under Article 2; applies also to deposit contracts already in force. English consolidated fund-hosted law cross-checked to official Armenian amendment. Mixed-currency Article 3(1)(c)–(d) effective 1 December 2020 under HO-422-N; original commencement of unchanged aggregation paragraph 3(2) not established. Article 2 consolidated text; amendments noted through 21 December 2015. Specific commencement of quoted exclusions not established. Read on 30 October 2026.
- ARLIS, official Armenian law HO-422-N — Armenia (national). HO-422-N Article 2 explicitly effective 1 December 2020, including then-existing deposit contracts. Read on 30 October 2026.
Planning to move to Armenia?
Explore recorded pathways and source links. This questionnaire does not determine eligibility or recommend a destination.
Get your free resultsVisa and WTE updates by email.
No fixed schedule is promised. Unsubscribe at any time.
About the author
António Mira is the founder of whereTOemigrate. For over a decade he has worked at the intersection of Portuguese real estate and overseas business, helping international clients navigate the cross-border decisions that come with relocating. He sits on the board of CCIAP (Portuguese-Arab Chamber of Commerce), the Portuguese-Saudi Business Council, and the Portugal-Hong Kong Business Association — always with one focus: enabling overseas business and human mobility into and out of Portugal.
How we verify our data · Editorial standards · About whereTOemigrate