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Money to Romania when the recipient has no account?

The right to a basic payment account is stronger than most people expect. The state postal money order, the obvious way around it, lists no Australian counterparty.

Reviewed by the Tradergy editorial team · September 2026
In short

Banca Nationala a Romaniei reports that 71 per cent of Romanians over 15 held an account in 2024, against a European Union average of 94 per cent, the lowest degree of financial inclusion in the Union. Directive 2014/92/EU gives consumers legally resident in the Union the right to open a basic payment account, with a decision due within ten business days.

Romania has the European Union's lowest rate of account ownership, so a sender from Australia is more likely to meet a recipient with no account here than anywhere else in the Union. European Union law gives that recipient the right to open one. The state postal money order, the obvious way around it, lists no Australian counterparty in either direction on the country lists Posta Romana publishes.

Key Takeaways

  • Banca Nationala a Romaniei reports 71 per cent of over-15s with an account in 2024 against a European Union average of 94 per cent, the lowest in the Union.
  • Ownership is lowest in rural areas, in the poorest 40 per cent of households, and among people with at most primary education.
  • Article 16(2) of Directive 2014/92/EU ties the right to a basic payment account to legal residence in the Union, not to income, employment or a fixed address.
  • Finance Watch found such an account offered in Romania 31 per cent of the time when its researchers asked for one.
  • Posta Romana's international money order pays cash without an account, but Australia is on neither of its country lists as published.

How many people in Romania have no bank account?

Banca Nationala a Romaniei sets it out in Box 5 of its Financial Stability Report of December 2025, drawing on the World Bank Global Findex 2025 database, whose Romanian reference year is 2024. The central bank writes that "compared with the European Union, Romania records the lowest degree of financial inclusion, namely 71 per cent, against the EU average of 94 per cent".

The distance to the next member state is unusual:

Lowest first Member state Adults 15+ with an account
1 Romania 71.34%
2 Bulgaria 84.72%
3 Italy 86.02%
4 Poland 86.14%
5 Hungary 86.96%
26 Finland 99.84%

Ranked lowest first among the 26 European Union member states with a 2024 value in the World Bank's Global Findex 2025 database; Luxembourg was not surveyed. Ranks 6 to 25 are omitted.

Romania sits 13.4 points below second place, a wider gap than the whole spread from second to twelfth.

The central bank also publishes who the remaining 29 per cent are.

Split Higher group Lower group
Where they live Urban 81% Rural 67%
Household income Richest 60% of households, 82% Poorest 40%, 55%
Education At least secondary, 80% At most primary, 41%

Why do people say they have no account?

Banca Nationala a Romaniei publishes the four reasons people gave for themselves, in the same box: insufficient funds, 37 per cent; lack of trust in banks and similar institutions, 36 per cent; financial services too expensive, 36 per cent; and someone else in the family already has an account, 35 per cent.

Two of those are answered by European Union law. Cost is met by the directive's rules on fees, and the family account by the fact that the right belongs to each consumer individually.

Who has the right to a basic payment account?

Directive 2014/92/EU, the Payment Accounts Directive, states it in Article 16(2):

"Member States shall ensure that consumers legally resident in the Union, including consumers with no fixed address and asylum seekers, and consumers who are not granted a residence permit but whose expulsion is impossible for legal or factual reasons, have the right to open and use a payment account with basic features with credit institutions located in their territory."

  • The right attaches to legal residence in the Union rather than in the particular member state, and Article 15 forbids discrimination by nationality or residence.
  • It is not conditional on income or employment and may not be refused for a credit history. Refusal is allowed for anti-money-laundering compliance, where the consumer already holds an equivalent active account in that member state, or on a limited list of further grounds a member state may add.
  • Article 16(3) requires a decision within ten business days of a complete application, and Article 16(7) a written, reasoned refusal with signposting to complaints and dispute resolution.
  • Article 16(9) forbids conditioning access on buying additional services. Article 18 requires the account free or for a reasonable fee, and lets member states require free provision for vulnerable consumers.

Article 29 set the transposition deadline at 18 September 2016. Romania notified a single measure, Legea nr. 258/2017, published in Monitorul Oficial nr. 1032 of 28 December 2017, more than a year late.

Why does the right not always produce an account?

Finance Watch, a European public-interest association, studied basic payment accounts in Spain, Germany and Romania across 53 case studies, with fieldwork from September to December 2023. Reading the transposing Romanian law, its April 2024 report describes three obstacles.

The first is the test for a free account. Reading the Romanian law, the report describes the account as free for consumers deemed vulnerable, with vulnerability set at monthly income no higher than 60 per cent of the gross average salary forecast by the National Forecasting Commission. The report notes that "if the consumer has had an income that is higher than this threshold in one month or more within the last six months, they are not eligible", a barrier for people with low irregular incomes.

The second is at the counter: some credit institutions "mistake the average national income with the minimum income (which is lower) so people who could benefit from the free basic payment account are sometimes misinformed and denied access".

The third is bundling. The report finds the account is sometimes sold in a package with an overdraft, insurance or instalment shopping facilities, and a consumer who wants it without those must ask explicitly, which the report says consumers are usually unaware of. Across the study, a basic payment account was offered in Romania 31 per cent of the time.

That the bundling boundary is contested is not one organisation's view. The European Commission's own 2023 review of the directive records sixteen member states, Romania among them, asking it to clarify what counts as a "package" where a basic payment account meets other products, and reports uptake of these accounts remaining low in Bulgaria, Croatia, Latvia, Poland and Romania.

Can cash from Australia be collected at a Romanian post office?

Not through the state money order. Posta Romana runs an international postal money order under which money is sent and received as cash in foreign currency, the beneficiary is invited to the post office serving their domicile, an identity document is required, and no account of any kind is needed.

The limit is the counterparty list. The service runs only with administrations Posta Romana holds bilateral agreements with, and both lists it publishes were read. Money orders are paid out in Romania from eleven administrations: Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Czechia, China, Cyprus, Egypt, Jordan and Madagascar. The outbound list is the same set plus Italy. Australia is on neither list as published by Posta Romana. Both documents sit in a 2015 directory and carry no internal date, so they are the current documents linked from the live service page rather than a dated statement of today's coverage.

Post office counters do still pay out cash in Romania, but for commercial money transfer services rather than under the state money order, and the country lists above do not govern those. What the lists rule out is the state instrument as a route from Australia. That leaves the practical route running through the recipient holding the account the directive says they are entitled to.

Does an instant transfer reach someone without an account?

No, and for two reasons that are worth separating. Romania's domestic instant scheme moves money between accounts held at participating Romanian banks, so a person without one cannot be the party receiving it. Proxy addressing, where a phone number stands in for the account details, changes what the sender types rather than what the recipient must hold.

The European instant-payments regulation does not close the gap either. Under Regulation (EU) 2024/886, a member state outside the euro area such as Romania has until 9 January 2027 to receive and 9 July 2027 to send, and it governs transfers between providers in the Union rather than one arriving from Australia. Every instant rail in this story is defined as account to account, which is exactly where a recipient in the 29 per cent is stopped.

What is the postal network obliged to do?

Reach everyone. ANCOM, the national communications regulator, designated Posta Romana the universal postal service provider for 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2029 by Decision no. 810/2024, published on 23 December 2024. The obligation is at least one collection from each access point and one delivery to each indicated address every working day, a minimum of five days a week, in every locality.

Postal money orders are not among the universal services that obligation enumerates. The network that must reach every village in Romania carries a money service that is not part of the guarantee, and that has no Australian counterparty.

Where to look next

Sources

General information about sending money to Romania, describing published rules and published statistics rather than any particular transfer, and not a recommendation of any provider, bank or account. Tradergy is not a money-transfer service, keeps no account and collects no personal data. Reviewed by the Tradergy editorial team, September 2026.

Common questions

How many people in Romania have a bank account?

Banca Nationala a Romaniei, in Box 5 of its Financial Stability Report of December 2025, reports 71 per cent of Romanians over 15 holding an account in 2024, against a European Union average of 94 per cent.

Does everyone in Romania have a right to a bank account?

Article 16(2) of Directive 2014/92/EU gives consumers legally resident in the Union the right to open and use a payment account with basic features, including people with no fixed address.

How long does a bank have to decide on a basic account application?

Article 16(3) of Directive 2014/92/EU requires a decision no later than ten business days after a complete application. Article 16(7) requires a written, reasoned refusal with signposting to dispute resolution.

Can a basic payment account be refused because of a credit history?

No. Under Article 16 of Directive 2014/92/EU refusal is allowed for anti-money-laundering compliance, because the consumer already holds an equivalent active account in that member state, or on a limited list of national grounds a member state may add.

Can money be sent from Australia for cash collection at a Romanian post office?

Not through the state postal money order. Posta Romana runs one that pays cash and needs no account, but only with administrations it holds agreements with, and Australia is on neither list as published. Post office counters do still pay out cash for commercial money transfer services, which those country lists do not govern.