Which banking services are free by law in Algeria?

Article 14 of règlement n° 20-01 of 15 March 2020 requires banks to deliver eight basic services free of charge: opening and closing dinar accounts, issuing a chequebook, issuing a savings passbook, issuing domestic bank cards, cash deposits at the account holding bank, drawing up and handing over an annual account statement, online consultation of the account, and issuing a transfer between individuals within the same bank.

How many banks are licensed in Algeria?

Twenty one at 4 January 2026, four of them branches of foreign banks, plus eight financial institutions that are not banks. The list is published in Journal officiel n° 09 of 29 January 2026 by décision n° 26-01 of the Governor of the Bank of Algeria, taken under article 102 of loi n° 23-09.

What does running a business account cost in Algeria?

There is no national tariff. Article 16 of règlement n° 20-01 lets banks set their commissions freely, except for the eight free services in article 14 and the foreign trade commissions in article 15, which are set by instruction of the Bank of Algeria. We removed the ranges this page used to quote: they had no source. Ask for the banking conditions in writing, article 9 requires the institution to hand them to you.

How long does it take to open a business account in Algeria?

No text in our corpus sets a deadline, and we do not promise a bank's timetable. What we commit to is on our side: a firm quote within 48 h, a complete file at the first appointment, one contact until the account details are handed over, and a WhatsApp reply within 4 working hours.

Can you open a bank account entirely online in Algeria?

The legal category exists: règlement n° 24-04 of 13 October 2024 defines a digital bank as one offering its services exclusively through digital channels, bars it from the foreign branch form and requires it to host its platform in Algeria. But the official list of licensed banks at 4 January 2026 labels no institution a digital bank, and we do not infer it from a name. For a bank on that list, ask them in writing what can be done remotely.

Which payments cannot be made in cash in Algeria?

Décret exécutif n° 15-153 requires payment by scriptural means from 5,000,000 DA for real property and from 1,000,000 DA for new vehicles and equipment, yachts, valuables, antiques and works of art, public auctions and services of non financial professions. Since article 207 of the 2025 finance act, four categories are caught with no threshold at all: real estate transactions, sales of vehicles and industrial equipment by dealers, purchases of yachts, and compulsory insurance policies.

Who sets bank commissions on import operations in Algeria?

The Bank of Algeria, not the bank. Article 15 of règlement n° 20-01 reserves to the regulator, by instruction, the tariffs of commissions charged on foreign trade import operations and on income transfers. It is the only family of commissions that article 16 removes from the banks' pricing freedom.

Which statute governs banks in Algeria today?

Loi n° 23-09 of 21 June 2023, the monetary and banking act, which replaced ordonnance n° 03-11 of 26 August 2003 on money and credit. Its article 102 is the basis for the annual publication of the list of licensed banks in the Journal officiel, where earlier decisions cited article 93 of the 2003 ordinance.

Opening a Business Bank Account in Algeria, 2026

This guide starts from the texts rather than from custom: the official list of licensed banks published in the Journal officiel, the services the Bank of Algeria requires to be free, the payments that can no longer be made in cash, and what the law actually says about a fully online bank.

Content verified on August 22, 2026Our methodology

ByÉquipe UpGrowth, Algeria business banking and regulation specialists

Published on January 15, 2026Updated on August 22, 2026

Assisted business account opening, UpGrowth Connect

Choosing the bank, the file, the appointment, follow up to the account details

Assisted business account opening, UpGrowth Connect

The statute that governs banks in 2026

This page used to cite no source at all. It now cites five, starting with the one the other four depend on.

Loi n° 23-09 of 21 June 2023 is the monetary and banking act. It replaced ordonnance n° 03-11 of 26 August 2003 on money and credit.
It is under its article 102 that the Governor of the Bank of Algeria publishes in the Journal officiel the list of licensed banks and the list of licensed financial institutions. Earlier decisions still cited article 93 of the 2003 ordinance: the change of citation is the trace of the change of statute.
Its article 68 is the one a branch licence refers to when stating that the institution may carry out all banking operations.
Banking conditions, meaning the remuneration, tariffs and commissions applied to operations, are governed by règlement n° 20-01 of 15 March 2020 of the Bank of Algeria.

The 21 banks licensed in Algeria at 4 janvier 2026

The previous version of this page named six of them, with inaccurate company names. Here is the official list, copied word for word from annexe I of décision n° 26-01 of the Governor of the Bank of Algeria, published in Journal officiel n° 09 of 29 January 2026.

Banque extérieure d'Algérie
Banque nationale d'Algérie
Crédit populaire d'Algérie
Banque de développement local
Banque de l'agriculture et du développement rural
Caisse nationale d'épargne et de prévoyance (Banque)
Banque Al Baraka d'Algérie
Citibank N.A Algeria (bank branch)
Arab Banking Corporation-Algeria
Natixis - Algérie
Société Générale - Algérie
Arab Bank PLC - Algeria (bank branch)
BNP Paribas Al-Djazair
Trust Bank - Algeria
The Housing Bank For Trade And Finance - Algeria
Gulf Bank Algérie
Fransabank Al-Djazair
H.S.B.C - Algeria (bank branch)
Al Salam Bank-Algeria
Banque nationale de l'habitat
T.C Ziraat Bankasi-Algeria (bank branch)

Four of these twenty one institutions are branches of foreign banks rather than banks incorporated under Algerian law: the decision itself labels them that way. Annexe II of the same decision separately lists 8 licensed financial institutions, which are not banks and do not hold deposit accounts: Société de refinancement hypothécaire, Sofinance, Arab Leasing Corporation, Maghreb Leasing Algérie, Caisse nationale de mutualité agricole, Société nationale de leasing, Ijar leasing Algérie and El Djazair Ijar.

What we no longer do: sort these banks into "public and slower" and "private and pricier". The page carried that judgment about named institutions, with no measurement and no source. It has been removed. The only honest comparison runs on the written banking conditions each institution has to hand you.

What the bank may not charge you for

This is the most concrete correction on the page. It quoted you fees on three services the regulation requires to be free.

Opening and closing dinar accounts.
Issuing a chequebook.
Issuing a savings passbook.
Issuing domestic bank cards.
Cash deposits at the account holding bank.
Drawing up and handing over or sending, where applicable, an annual account statement to the customer.
Online consultation of the account.
Issuing a transfer between individuals within the same bank.

These 8 services are the exact list in article 14 of règlement n° 20-01 of 15 March 2020, which provides that "banks are required to deliver free of charge the following basic banking services". The old version of this page announced "opening fees: 0 to 5,000 DA", "chequebook: free to 500 DA" and "bank card: 2,000 to 5,000 DA a year". All three are gone.

For everything else, article 16 is just as clear in the other direction: apart from the free services in article 14 and the foreign trade commissions in article 15, the rates and levels of other commissions are set FREELY by banks and financial institutions. There is therefore no national account keeping tariff to publish, and that is why you will no longer find a range here.

What you can insist on is in article 9: the bank must bring its banking conditions to the attention of its customers by all means, inform the customer about the conditions of use of the account, the prices of the services and the reciprocal commitments, and those conditions must be set out in the account opening agreement. Ask for them in writing before you sign, and compare at least two offers.

The account opening file, and why we do not publish a list

No text in our corpus sets the file for opening a company account. Publishing an "official" list would be inventing a rule.

The trade register, because the company only exists as a legal person once registered.
The tax identification number, because the bank has to attach the account to an identified taxpayer.
The articles of association and the minutes appointing the manager, because they prove who can bind the company.
Identity documents for the authorised signatories, and evidence of the registered office.

These four families of documents are not a statutory list: they are the documents a company already holds and without which no bank can identify its customer or the signatory on the account. The exact list belongs to each institution, and article 9 of règlement n° 20-01 requires it to communicate that list to you and to set it out in the account opening agreement. Ask for that agreement before the appointment rather than after.

Two things this page used to announce that rested on nothing: a minimum deposit of 10,000 to 50,000 DA, and an opening time. Neither has a source in our corpus. Both are gone.

If you are still incorporating, the permanent account comes after the capital deposit, which is a separate operation. The full route is here: https://www.upgrowth.dz/creation-entreprise-algerie

What can no longer be paid in cash

This is the real reason an Algerian company needs an account: no text obliges it to open one, but several texts forbid paying any other way.

Purchase of real property: any payment equal to or above 5,000,000 DA must be made by a scriptural means of payment through the banking and financial circuits (décret exécutif n° 15-153, article 2).
The same obligation applies from 1,000,000 DA for the purchase of yachts and pleasure boats, new rolling stock and new industrial equipment, new vehicles, motorcycles and mopeds subject to registration bought from dealers and approved resellers, valuables from dealers in precious stones and metals, antiques and works of art, and movables at public auction.
The same 1,000,000 DA threshold applies to settling services supplied by the non financial businesses and professions covered by article 4 of loi n° 05-01 (article 3 of the same decree).
Since the 2025 finance act, four categories of transaction must be settled by means other than cash through the banking and financial circuits, with no threshold: real estate transactions in built and unbuilt property, sales by dealers and distributors of vehicles, machinery and industrial equipment, purchases of yachts and pleasure boats, and compulsory insurance policies (loi n° 24-08, article 207).

Two details that matter. First, article 5 of décret n° 15-153 also catches partial payments of a single debt deliberately split where the overall amount exceeds the thresholds: slicing an invoice does not take you out of the regime. Second, article 6 imposes the reverse on your own company: public administrations, public bodies, undertakings running a public service and public and private operators alike are required to ACCEPT settlement by scriptural means of payment. A customer who wants to pay you by transfer or by card is entitled to do so.

Scriptural means, under article 4 of the decree, are the cheque, the transfer, the payment card, the direct debit, the bill of exchange, the promissory note and any other scriptural means of payment provided for by law.

The fully online account, where the law stands

The question comes up at every meeting. The honest answer is neither yes nor no: it turns on the difference between a digital bank and a bank that has a website.

Règlement n° 24-04 of 13 October 2024 sets the specific conditions for authorising the constitution, licensing and exercise of digital banking activities. The category has therefore existed in Algerian law since late 2024.
A digital bank is defined there as any bank offering banking services and products exclusively through digital channels, platforms and media, relying on modern technologies (article 2).
It may not be constituted as a branch of a foreign bank (article 4), must count among its shareholders a bank incorporated under Algerian law with experience in online banking services holding at least 30 % of the capital (article 5), and must have a registered office in Algeria and host its operational platform and its redundancies there (article 6).
It is not allowed to open agencies other than fully automated "digital" agencies, and may serve its customers through its own network of automated machines or those of other banks (article 7).

What we will not say: that a digital bank is open to the public today. Décision n° 26-01 of 4 janvier 2026 publishes the list of the 21 licensed banks without labelling any of them a digital bank, and we do not infer it from a name. To open an account with one of the banks on that list, the arrangements belong to each institution: ask them, and have them confirm in writing what can be done remotely and what requires you to be present.

Operations with other countries

The tariffs of commissions charged by banks on foreign trade import operations and on income transfers are NOT free: they are set by instruction of the Bank of Algeria (règlement n° 20-01, article 15). It is the only family of commissions the regulation removes from the pricing freedom of article 16.
Credit and debit interest rates are set freely by banks and financial institutions, but the overall effective rates on credit may in no case exceed the excessive interest rate set by the Bank of Algeria (article 13).
For any credit operation on the account, the bank must credit the customer's account within the deadlines corresponding to the regulatory value date, and any delay beyond that gives rise to remuneration paid to the customer (articles 10 and 12).

Bank domiciliation, meaning the file you open with your bank for each import or export operation, is not covered here: it belongs to the guide that carries it, along with the customs documents and the bodies you now file with since the September 2025 reform. https://www.upgrowth.dz/import-export-guide

The texts read, and what we do not say

Loi n° 23-09 of 21 June 2023, the monetary and banking act, cited by its articles 68, 100 and 102.
Décision n° 26-01 of 4 January 2026 of the Governor of the Bank of Algeria publishing the list of licensed banks and financial institutions, Journal officiel n° 09 of 29 January 2026.
Règlement n° 20-01 of 15 March 2020 setting the general rules on banking conditions, Journal officiel n° 16 of 24 March 2020. Its article 18 repeals règlement n° 13-01 of 2013.
Règlement n° 24-04 of 13 October 2024 on the conditions for exercising digital banking activities, Journal officiel n° 77 of 19 November 2024.
Décret exécutif n° 15-153 of 16 June 2015 setting the threshold above which payments must be made by scriptural means, Journal officiel n° 33 of 22 June 2015.
Loi n° 24-08 of 24 November 2024, the 2025 finance act, article 207, Journal officiel n° 84 of 26 December 2024.

What this page does not say, and why. It gives no commercial banking tariff: outside the free services of article 14 and the foreign trade commissions of article 15, article 16 lets each bank set its commissions freely, and an invented range would be wrong for almost everyone. It gives no account opening time: no text we read sets one. It gives no minimum deposit. It does not compare named banks against each other. And it does not present a set of documents as a statutory list, because no text in our corpus sets one.

Verified on 2026-08-22 against our local archive of the Journal officiel, complete from 2002 to 2026. Règlement n° 20-01 is still cited there as being in force by a 2025 Bank of Algeria regulation, and no text repeals the annual January 2026 decision.

Free comparison of the licensed banks

21 banks That is the exact number of licensed institutions in Algeria at 4 January 2026, from the list the Bank of Algeria publishes in the Journal officiel. No national tariff separates them: outside the services the regulation makes free, each bank sets its commissions freely. Let us compare yours on paper.