The Legal Framework — What Governs the Opening Procedure
In Georgia a commercial bank carries out the account-opening procedure under the Law on the Activities of Commercial Banks: the procedure follows the Law on the Facilitation of the Suppression of Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism, the intergovernmental agreement implementing the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), and — under the wording now in force — the international agreement on the automatic exchange of information on financial accounts (CRS). At the same time, the relationship between a client and a bank regarding banking services is regulated on a contractual basis, and where no rule of the National Bank of Georgia exists, the bank acts in accordance with international banking norms and practices. The honest starting point is this: no law gives anyone an entitlement to have an account opened. A commercial bank operating in Georgia has the right to refuse to open an account or to provide services without stating any justification at all — save for the obligation defined by the law on the payment system and payment services, where fulfilling it does not violate the anti-money-laundering legislation. That is precisely why the quality of the first application matters: a well-documented client is a calculable risk for the bank, while a thin file is an invitation to refuse.