Bank accounts in Finland may be opened by anyone who can present an adequate statement of the person opening the account, the holder of the account, and the necessity for and purpose of the account. The bank must ultimately determine what constitutes an adequate statement for the establishment of a customer relationship in each case.

A bank account must be opened for a new business during the establishment process. In the case of a limited liability company, a bank account must be opened before the company is entered in the trade register. The share capital of the company must be paid to the company's account in a Finnish deposit bank before filing the trade register notification and its entry in the register. It is only possible to make payments from the account after a certificate of arrival concerning the delivery of the start-up notice issued to the trade register and showing the business ID of the company has been delivered to the bank.

The person opening an account for a limited liability company or cooperative must present a decision (either minutes of the meeting or an extract of the minutes) by the decision-making body (usually the Board of Directors) on the opening of the account and the persons authorised to use the account, as well as the required services (electronic funds transfer, Internet service, debit card, etc.). The right of the person in question to open the account on behalf of the corporation, or the authorisation granted him/her, must also be shown in the statement.

A person opening a bank account for a partnership (general partnership and limited partnership) must present the partnership agreement showing the names of the partners. Partners (in a limited partnership, the general partners) not present when the account is opened must grant a separate power of attorney for the opening of the account.

With regard to the establishment of customer relationships and the opening of accounts, banks have a statutory obligation to carefully identify both the person opening the account and the holder of the account, if the account is opened by a person other than the holder. This applies to situations where the holder is a legal entity, for example. If the person opening an account on behalf of a corporation does not have a personal identity number, he/she must present a passport issued by authorities in his/her home country; otherwise, identification is made on the basis of a Finnish passport or another valid personal identification document issued by the police. Banks recommend that individuals moving to Finland make application to the local register office for a personal identity number. If the identification documents of the person opening an account on behalf of a legal entity are not adequate for reliable identification, the person cannot open a bank account.

The bank may, at its discretion, require a letter of recommendation concerning the holder of the account from a correspondent bank or another bank it considers reliable. Banks are obligated by law to request a statement on the type of the customer's operations, the purpose of the account and the type and extent of the intended payment transfers, etc.). If necessary, the bank may request a statement on the origin of the money deposited in the account from the customer. In the case of a foreign legal entity, the bank may also request a statement on its owners.