What Do You Need To Open A Nostro FCA Account & How Much Will It Cost?

So the government recently announced that civil servants will be getting US$75 as a bonus for the next 3 months, but in order to do so they should open a Nostro account where the US$75 will be deposited.

PS: It’s important to note that back in 2019, the RBZ made it such that individuals could not withdraw hard foreign currency from their Nostro accounts. Instead the only way to get money out of these accounts is by selling to the Interbank market.

At the time of writing this is problematic because the interbank market pegs the ZW$ at 25:1 with the US$ which is far from the 80-90:1 you’ll find on the parallel market.

It’s important to note that this MIGHT change after the introduction of a floating rate next week, but I wouldn’t be too confident in this government if I were you…

Anyway, rant aside – this article is about opening the accounts and not the implications etc.

What do you need to open this kind of account?

I browsed a number of requirements posted by different banks for Nostro FCA Individual accounts.

For most banks you will need to part with some cash to open the account. This will no doubt irritate civil servants who are opening the accounts to receive just US$25. The fees range from a US$1-US$20;

PS: The banks that are not included on the list or are included but have some sections that are incomplete are in that state because the banks themselves don’t have this information on their websites so we used information compiled from our older articles and other articles around the web.

Documentation

Usually when opening a bank account you need to submit some paperwork so the bank knows who you are. This process is known as KYC (Know Your Customer) and those applying for FCA accounts will need the following:

• A valid ID, passport or a driver’s license;
• Proof of residential address such as electricity, water or telephone bills  that is less than 3 months old;
• Proof of income.

Some banks also ask for the following:

• Confirmation letter from your employer (if employed);
• 2x Passport photograph;