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Is it possible to open an anonymous current account or an anonymous deposit account in any of the banks in the Czech Republic?

The possibility of opening an anonymous current account is ruled out de facto by the Commercial Code, which requires a written contract (hence both contracting parties have to be identified).

Current account contract 
Article 708 
Basic provisions

  1. Under a current account contract, the bank shall undertake to open a current account for the account holder from a certain date and in a specific currency.
  2. The contract shall be concluded in writing.

Article 709

  1. In the current account contract, the bank shall identify the account holder by stating the commercial name or designation and registered address of the holder and his identification number, if assigned, in the case of a legal entity, or by stating the first name, surname, address and birth index number or birth date, or commercial name, business location and identification number in the case of a natural person.

The same applies to deposit accounts. The Commercial Code stipulates the following:

Deposit account contract 
Article 716 
Basic provisions

  1. Under a deposit account contract, the bank shall undertake to open such an account for the account holder in a specific currency and to pay interest on the funds deposited on the account, and the account holder shall undertake to deposit funds on the account and to let the bank make use of them for a definite period of time or for an indefinite period of time with advance notice of withdrawal.
  2. The contract shall be concluded in writing.

Article 2(3)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, No. 61/1996 Coll., contains a clear instruction for client identification in respect of both accounts and savings books or other forms of deposit:

  1. The financial institution shall always be obliged to identify the parties to a transaction if this involves:
    1. a suspicious transaction;
    2. the conclusion of a current account contract, a deposit account contract, a deposit book contract, a deposit certificate contract or any other form of deposit agreement;
    3. the conclusion of a safe-deposit box rental contract or a bank-safe custody contract;
    4. a transaction that is otherwise subject to the identification duty pursuant to paragraph 1 or items a), b) and c) when the client is represented in such a transaction by another person under power of attorney.

The opening of an anonymous deposit book is also forbidden by an amendment to the Civil Code.

Article 782

A deposit book may be made out to name only. 
This also applies to other forms of deposits:

Article 787 
Other forms of deposits

  1. A financial institution may also conclude other forms of deposits with a depositor.
  2. Unless agreed otherwise, the provisions regarding deposit books and deposit certificates shall apply to these other forms of deposits.
  3. Other forms of deposits may be concluded to name only.

The formulation "to name" means that the depositor (account holder) is identified. The opposite formulation is "to bearer". 

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