EU vs Non-EU: What Jurisdiction Actually Costs on a Business Account

2026-09-08

Most people who land on a fee schedule page know exactly what they're looking for: the card fee, the transfer fee, the one line item somebody mentioned to them. Few people click the small "Region" toggle sitting quietly next to the account type selector — EU or Non-EU — because it looks like a filter, not a pricing decision. It is a pricing decision, and a bigger one than most of the line items people do check.

On Polydirection's public fee schedule, switching a Business account from EU to Non-EU changes the numbers across nearly every section that has anything to do with the account itself, not just the transactions running through it. That's worth walking through in order, because the gap isn't uniform — some fees move a lot, some don't move at all, and knowing which is which actually matters when deciding where to register.

Opening the Account: Nearly a 3x Gap for the Same Paperwork

The starting point is the clearest example. Opening a Business account under the EU region costs 375 EUR. Switch the same toggle to Non-EU, keep everything else identical, and the same account opening costs 1,075 EUR — just under three times as much. An additional account opened under an existing login follows the same ratio: 50 EUR under EU, 150 EUR under Non-EU.

Nothing about the process itself is different between the two — it's the same onboarding, the same due diligence expectations, the same account infrastructure. The difference is entirely in the region selected, and it's a decision made before a single transaction, before the first deposit, before any of the fees that actually depend on how the account gets used.

It Doesn't Stop at Opening — Maintenance and Minimum Balance Follow the Same Pattern

The gap isn't a one-time opening surcharge that disappears afterward. Monthly maintenance runs 35 EUR under EU versus 50 EUR under Non-EU — a recurring cost, not a single line item. The required minimum balance follows the same direction: 250 EUR (EU) against 750 EUR (Non-EU), meaning a Non-EU account also ties up three times as much capital just sitting in the account to stay compliant with the minimum.

Put together, a Non-EU registration isn't one bigger number to budget for once — it's a higher entry cost, a higher ongoing cost, and more capital parked and unavailable, compounding for as long as the account stays open.

Payments Follow a Different Rule: Some Fees Move, Some Don't

Here's the part that's easy to miss if someone only checks one section: not every fee follows the EU/Non-EU split. SEPA outgoing transfers cost 3 EUR under EU and 5 EUR under Non-EU — a real but modest difference. SWIFT transfers, on the other hand, don't move at all: incoming is 0.2% (minimum 10 EUR) and outgoing is 0.5% (minimum 35 EUR) regardless of which region the account sits in. SEPA incoming and internal transfers stay free either way.

The pattern makes sense once it's spelled out: fees tied to local European payment rails (SEPA) and account infrastructure (opening, maintenance, minimum balance) scale with the region, because the operational cost of servicing an account genuinely differs by jurisdiction. Fees tied to a global rail (SWIFT) don't, because the underlying cost of a SWIFT message doesn't care where the account is registered. A founder who only checked the SWIFT rate and assumed the rest of the fee schedule was equally flat would be planning around the wrong assumption.

Why the Gap Exists (and Why It's Not Arbitrary)

None of this is unusual for the industry, and it isn't presented as a penalty — it reflects that servicing a Non-EU-registered business account genuinely carries different compliance, due diligence, and operational overhead than an EU one. Other fees on the schedule quietly confirm the same logic: account closing runs 100 EUR (EU) versus 250 EUR (Non-EU), and an official reference letter costs 15 EUR versus 25 EUR. Meanwhile, fees that depend purely on account activity regardless of jurisdiction — compliance audits, amendment requests, the balance-holding fee for balances above 20,000 EUR — stay identical across both regions. The schedule isn't charging more for Non-EU across the board; it's charging more specifically where jurisdiction changes the underlying cost of running the account.

What This Means Before You Pick a Region

The practical takeaway isn't that one region is "better" — a Non-EU registration might still be the right or only option depending on where a business is actually incorporated and operates. The point is that the region toggle deserves the same five minutes of attention as any other line on the fee schedule, ideally before submitting an application rather than after. A founder budgeting for account setup who only priced the EU column, or who assumed the numbers were identical everywhere, could be off by several hundred euros on opening alone — before maintenance, minimum balance, and transfer fees are even factored in.

Polydirection publishes the full EU and Non-EU fee schedule side by side for its business accounts — compare both regions on [the fees page](/fees/) before choosing where to register.