opening a personal account can be easy, opening business account very difficult because business account must be aproved by the tax office and ofcourse is easier if in the meantime u r already a personal client. To the easy part: As ALL eastern banks it is MUCH easier to open an account in a local bank (Alpha, Privat, Mono, Pumb etc) than a foreign own bank (Reiffeisen, Credit Agricole, Piraius, Ukrsisbank etc) etc why: because foreign banks will try to intimidate you︀ or refuse with questions about residency and source of money. Also opening account in them︁ is not automatic but there is a waiting period. Most "serious" Banks are Privat from︂ the domestic and Reiffeisen and Piraius from the foreign. You must try ALL banks, even︃ if you r rejected in one establishment the same firm can accept you on the︄ next corner. It all depends on the willingness of the employee and his eagerness to︅ loose time with you because they will be communication problems. Go to a LESS busy︆ establishment. You need passport and some proof of address (just state where you r living)︇ You ll get an account in US $ or Euro and sometimes an obligatory account︈ in Hrivna and a debit card for each currency that sometimes (Privat) comes with some︉ mickey - mouse credit too plus internet banking which in the case of privat and︊ Mono is superb. MINUS: The Debit cards work fine abroad in buying bUT you cannot︋ withdraw cash as there are monetary restrictions on foreign currency and have low limits on︌ buys something like 800-1000 E don expect to buy ROLEX with this (u can use︍ several ofcourse) The same applies to internet banking you cannot send money to anybody abroad︎ except by going yourself to the bank and paying something 1% fee in the case️ of Privat. About war and such forget it, it's rubbish, what you must be careful is that small (and big like Privat) ukrainian banks from time to time go bankrupt, this is the time for MonoBank which is/was an internet bank u can have account opened and debit card in 5 minutes.
