Banks in Georgia for Non-Residents: Which One to Choose

Georgia's banking market is built around two large universal banks — TBC Bank and Bank of Georgia, both with London-listed parents — surrounded by banks owned by foreign groups and, since 2022, a small set of digital banks licensed by the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) under a staged procedure. For a non-resident the choice is rarely about interest rates. It comes down to three questions that different banks answer differently: whether the account can be opened without travelling, whose sanctions policy sits on top of Georgian law, and how much of the balance the deposit guarantee actually protects.

The last question has one answer for every bank. Since 1 April 2026 the Deposit Insurance Agency reimburses up to GEL 50,000 per depositor per bank, up from GEL 30,000, and the scheme's FAQ is explicit that residents and non-residents, individuals and legal entities are covered, that accounts at one bank are aggregated, and that the payout is capped at GEL 50,000 whatever the currency of the deposit. At about GEL 2.6 to the dollar that is roughly USD 19,000 — a cushion sized for a spending account; capital needs a different structure.

What a Georgian account is for

A Georgian account is a working account. It pays rent and utilities in lari, holds dollars and euros alongside lari under one number, issues local cards and, at the banks that offer it, reaches the euro area through SEPA. It is the natural second account for someone living in Georgia on the visa-free regime or a residence permit, for an individual entrepreneur using the Georgian 1% small-business status described under the territorial tax regime, and for a company that invoices from Georgia.

What it does not do well is hold large balances or lend to newcomers. Every lari above the insured amount is a claim on one bank, and credit decisions run on Georgian data: Hash Bank's general conditions, for example, let the bank obtain information from the credit bureau Creditinfo Georgia and the Revenue Service, records a new arrival does not have. Dollar payments leave the country through US correspondent banks, so the filter that matters for a cross-border payment sits partly outside Georgia — the mechanism is set out in the banks hub.

Who is excluded before the choice begins

Four conditions remove options regardless of the bank:

• Sanctions status. Hash Bank's terms make the client warrant that neither they nor associated persons are subject to UK, US, EU or UN Security Council sanctions; on a breach of that warranty the bank may stop the service and close the account.
• A need for credit. Loan limits are calculated from Georgian income and credit-history data, which a non-resident usually does not have.
• No travel at all. The digital Hash Bank publishes a remote route on a foreign passport; at the universal banks a non-resident should plan for a branch visit.
• Balances well above GEL 50,000. They need either several banks or a different instrument, because the guarantee is counted per bank.

The matrix: eight banks on one set of axes

The rows are grouped by type because in Georgia the type predicts most of the answer: the universal banks carry the widest product set, the foreign-owned banks belong to their parents' groups, the digital banks trade product breadth for remote opening.

Three things follow. First, the published remote route for a foreigner sits at the digital end of the market, and the digital banks are small: Hash Bank ended 2025 with about GEL 72 million of assets and a net loss of about GEL 10.5 million, on its own Pillar 3 report. The route is real, but it leads to a bank whose balance sheet still rests on shareholder capital, which is one more reason to keep the balance inside the guarantee.

Second, the universal banks are where a durable relationship lives — salary, IE account, mortgage, brokerage — and a non-resident should come prepared to explain the source of funds. Real estate with a market value above USD 150,000 gives a short-term residence permit, while an investment residence permit needs an investment of at least USD 300,000 or real estate worth more than USD 300,000 (art. 15 of the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons); these routes and the individual-entrepreneur route are easiest to run through one of the two universal banks.

Third, several banks belong to foreign groups — ProCredit Bank Georgia is wholly owned by ProCredit Holding AG and Halyk Bank Georgia by Halyk Bank of Kazakhstan. None of them changes the deposit guarantee, which is the same GEL 50,000 everywhere.

Profile → bank

Worked example. A household moving to Tbilisi brings USD 60,000 of liquid savings. Kept at one bank, GEL 50,000 is guaranteed — about USD 19,000 — and roughly USD 41,000 is an unsecured claim on that bank. Split across Hash Bank, TBC and Bank of Georgia, three guarantees cover about USD 57,000, close to the whole amount. The remaining question is which of the three the household can actually open: without travelling, Hash; the other two are best planned after arrival.

Cost, timing and tax

As checked on 28 September 2026, TBC's card FAQ lists expat prices of GEL 10 monthly or 100 annually for TBC Card, 30/300 for Concept and 50/500 for Concept 360; the basic card is free for expats under 24. Bank of Georgia's SOLO non-resident packages cost GEL 35/350 for X, 55/550 for Premium and 80/800 for Club. Monthly and annual payment are alternatives, not cumulative charges. SOLO's published eligibility thresholds are income/deposit/loan of GEL 3,000 per month/30,000/100,000 for X or Premium, and 8,000/100,000/250,000 for Club; one financial criterion does not replace bank approval and KYC. These are package prices, not an all-inclusive cost of opening an account or transferring money; confirm transaction, intermediary and additional-service fees for the intended use.

Hash Bank publishes a free package with no annual or monthly fee, SEPA transfers at EUR 5, SWIFT at USD or EUR 15 for a standard transfer with shared charges (SHA) and 30 for a guaranteed transfer with all charges paid by the sender (OUR), and 2% (minimum 2.50 USD or EUR) on ATM cash withdrawals abroad; the account opens on sign-up and the IBAN is shown in the app.

On tax, Georgian residence follows presence, not the account: a natural person is resident after 183 or more days in Georgia in any continuous 12-month period ending in the tax year (art. 34 of the Tax Code). Georgia taxes individuals territorially — foreign-source income of an individual is generally outside Georgian tax, while Georgian-source income is taxed at 20% or under the small-business regime — with the tests set out in the territorial tax regime. On transparency, Georgia takes part in the automatic exchange of financial account information, and other centres report to it: Hong Kong, for example, lists Georgia as a reportable jurisdiction from the 2020 period. Whether a Georgian account is reported to a given country of residence depends on the activated relationship for that pair.

Where it goes wrong

• Reading a remote account as approval. Hash Bank's process is remote, but the bank may refuse service without giving reasons and, on a breach of the sanctions warranty, close the account.
• Keeping everything in one bank. GEL 50,000 is a per-bank cap aggregated across all accounts and currencies of the depositor; shareholders holding 5% or more, bank administrators and financial institutions are excluded altogether.
• Treating a crypto balance as a deposit. Cryptoassets a bank holds remain the client's property in custody (at Hash Bank directly or with a VASP partner); they are not a deposit and the guarantee does not reach them.
• Counting on credit. Without Georgian income and credit history a limit is hard to obtain: the bank checks income through the credit bureau and the Revenue Service.
• Confusing the digital banks. Pave Bank Georgia is built for companies; it is not a retail alternative to Hash or Paysera.

In Georgia remote opening and the durable relationship sit at opposite ends of the market. The digital banks open without a visit but their balance sheets are small; the two universal banks carry the full product set, but a non-resident should plan for a branch visit. Because the GEL 50,000 guarantee (from 1 April 2026) is identical at every bank and counted per bank, the working structure is a digital account for arrival and spending, a universal-bank account once resident, and no more than the guaranteed amount in either.