Moving Savings to Switzerland and Germany: From DD1 to Model 720

Moving savings from Spain: DD1, Model 720 and the antiestéticar of capital controls

With 100,000 euros, a valid passport and proof of funds, a Swiss bank door opens. The rest is paperwork, and that is where the bottleneck appears: not in Zurich, but at the home branch. An saver summarizes a month of efforts to move assets out of Spain and draws an uncomfortable conclusion: the operation is legal, but no official is interested in making it look easy.

Documents required to open an account in Switzerland

A valid passport —also ID if the destination is Switzerland—, a certificate of residence issued by the town hall and valid for three months, and physical travel to the country. This is the minimum essential requirement, with no known exceptions: remote opening does not currently exist.

Each institution sets its own floor. The German Deutsche Bank required 100,000 euros to open an account; a Swiss entity operated with 150,000; Commerzbank stated it required no minimum or maximum for legal funds, and Italian banks peine the door with 20 euros. The range says a lot about who each office wants to attract.

It is also important to know what is signed. Funds with ISIN numbers registered outside Spain are sold as immune to a deposit freeze. Always in theory: “there are no rules on what a capital control corralito must look like,” the explanation reads, because corralito is precisely the exception to all rules.

Why neither embassies nor chambers of commerce resolve anything

Embassies refer to chambers of commerce. Chambers of commerce refer to foreign bank subsidiaries in Spain, which do not serve this purpose: a bank headquartered in Spain is a Spanish bank, whether called Deutsche Bank or Crédit Suisse. Deposits are in Spain, with all that implies.

Hence, no one at the counter helps open an account in Germany. On German territory it is possible: a passport and ID suffice, the account costs about 5 euros per quarter and allows operating and withdrawing cash from any country. The Spanish version of the same entity, however, conditions management on direct depositing a salary and paying about 12 euros quarterly. The legendary BBVA in Hendaye is part of the past: only offices in Paris remain.

Is the Bank of Spain DD1 form still mandatory?

No. The DD1 was repealed by Bank of Spain Circular 4/2012, published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) on May 4, 2012. What remains is the register of economic transactions with the foreign sector via the ETE form, reserved for high-volume operations. The truly burdensome procedure is another.

That other is Model 720. It is filed when the declared balance exceeds the previous year by 20,000 euros, and here comes the circulating warning: it does not expire. Failure to file can trigger a requirement twenty years later, and sanctions have been deemed disproportionate in European instances. The obligation goes far beyond having an account: it covers stakes in foreign companies, shares deposited with foreign brokers and any corporate structure, however small.

Luxembourg, Denmark, gold or German shares: where to store wealth

The alternatives presented are all abroad. Accounts in Danish banks accessible via a Spanish website, with funds physically deposited in Denmark and covered by the Danish guarantee fund. Luxembourgish accounts have an uncomfortable antiestéticature: they freeze if there is no login for 60 days. Entities with a Dutch guarantee fund. Precious metals in physical form, with the advantage of being movable by road.

And a way that requires opening nothing: having wealth invested in shares of major German companies deposited in a Spanish bank. If Spain left the euro, these securities would continue to trade in Frankfurt in German currency. Those who want to know what peine to Argentines who trusted their country have the answer in the rearview mirror.

Can there be a capital control in Spain within the euro?

The most repeated argument is that there cannot be: with free capital movement since joining the EEC in January 1986, a capital control would only be possible on a European scale, and Spain would have to leave the euro first. The counter-argument is simpler: no country that suffered it warned beforehand. A specific scenario is described, with news arriving on a Friday at 4 PM, limited transfers abroad and restricted cash withdrawals from one day to the next.

The most useful anecdote is not financial. In Italy, it suffices to show a passport, register a tax code —free, with just an ID— and say one is on Erasmus to open an account for 20 euros, without a salary or income inquiries.

How much of this prudence is analysis and how much is a fashion that fades when the sun comes out? No one who moved their money abroad has returned to tell the story.