Decision tree

To start investing in financial instruments (shares, bonds, investment funds including exchange-traded funds or ETFs) you must be a Citadele customer:

• with a current account or payment card account (if you are not yet a Citadele customer, see “How to become a customer without visiting a branch”);
• with access to the online bank (if you are a customer, but do not have online banking access, please apply for branch visit).

You must sign an agreement for opening a financial instrument account and making transactions with financial instruments. It is easiest and simplest to sign the agreement in the online bank under Investments.

In the application, you must add the following:

• Create a phone password. This is a password you make up yourself (a word using the Latin alphabet, may also contain numbers), which you will have to tell our brokers if you have to identify yourself during a phone call. This password is also used in transaction confirmations that are emailed to you. 
• Select a default currency by which the value of your securities portfolio will be calculated, your commission fee will be taken, and so on. Your financial instrument account is a multi-value account, so you can use it to hold and use funds in different currencies.
• Your financial instrument account can be designated an “Investment Account,” which in accordance with the Law On Personal Income Tax is subject to simplified tax calculation and declaration, however there are some restrictions to this (for example, for securities transfers). You can find out what choice is right for you here.

In the online bank, under Document History, you will see the completion status of the order you have submitted, and the associated account number. We will transfer the securities you purchase into this account, and hold them there, as well as the money you use for transactions with financial instruments. We open the account within 3 hours of receiving your application.

Important! To purchase securities which are sold on the U.S. markets, or who make their money in the U.S., fill in and submit three copies of a valid (personally signed) W-8BEN tax form. You can submit the form at any Citadele branch, first booking an appointment through our website.

We can use the data we have available to prepare this form and send it to your chosen Citadele branch for signing. You need to request this by, for example, submitting a free-form order through the online bank.
The form is valid for 3 years.

Additional information for legal entities: If the company’s management wishes to authorise an employee to make financial instrument transactions in the company’s account, and who is not an authorised person according to the business registry, you must submit an additional authorisation form. See example here.