Best Neobank in Romania 2026: Revolut, Salt Bank, Libra, Wise

Quick Answer / TL;DR

Romania has one of the most competitive neobank markets in the CEE region in 2026. The combination of an already mature card-payment infrastructure, a young digital-first population (median age below the EU average), strong remote-work density in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca and Iași, and the BNR-licensed launch of Salt Bank (Banca Transilvania's neobank subsidiary) in 2024 has created real choice for Romanian consumers.

The practical 2026 shortlist for Romanian residents:

• Revolut — the most widely held neobank in Romania, with a Romanian RO IBAN since 2024 (Revolut Bank UAB Romania branch), full multi-currency wallets, savings, investing and crypto.
• Salt Bank — the country's first fully licensed neobank, owned by Banca Transilvania, BNR-supervised, Romanian RO IBAN, EUR + RON multi-currency, deposit insurance via Romanian FGDB.
• Libra Internet Bank — established digital-first Romanian bank, very strong on RON savings products and competitive EUR FX.
• ING Bank Romania (Home Bank app) — not strictly a neobank, but a digital-first incumbent that competes head-to-head with neobanks on UX and fees.
• Wise — strongest international transfers and multi-currency receiving (including local RON receiving details since 2023).
• N26 — supports many Romanian residents with a DE IBAN, useful for Romanians working part-time in Germany or Austria.

This guide is informational, not investment or banking advice, and does not include affiliate or referral links to third-party banks.

Romanian Banking Landscape in 2026

Romania's banking sector is led by Banca Transilvania, BCR (Erste Bank), BRD-Société Générale, Raiffeisen Bank Romania and ING Bank Romania. ING has historically punched above its weight in digital banking, with the Home Bank app routinely cited as the country's best legacy-bank mobile experience.

The pain points that push Romanian consumers toward neobanks:

• FX margins on EUR/RON. Despite being on a managed-float regime against the EUR (target band controlled by the National Bank of Romania, BNR), legacy banks typically charge 1–3% on EUR purchases and EUR card payments, and 2–4% on USD.
• Cross-border ATM fees abroad — typically 1–2% plus a fixed per-withdrawal fee.
• RON IBAN required for many Romanian state interactions — child allowance (alocația de stat), pension (CNPP), tax refunds (ANAF), social assistance — historically pushed users to keep a legacy account even if it sat largely unused.

The 2024 BNR licence for Salt Bank changed this materially: for the first time, Romanian residents could open a fully licensed RO-IBAN account, with FGDB deposit insurance, entirely from a mobile app, with no branch visit. Revolut then matched this in 2024–2025 by adding Romanian RO IBANs through its Romanian branch, removing the LT-IBAN-rejection edge cases.

Top Neobanks Available in Romania

Revolut

Revolut Bank UAB — Sucursala București opened a Romanian branch and began issuing RO IBANs to Romanian-tax-resident clients in 2024. As of late 2025, Revolut has reported more than 4 million Romanian users in company communications.

Strengths:

• RO IBAN for Romanian-tax-resident customers, removing rejection edge cases with ANAF / CNPP.
• Interbank-rate FX on EUR, USD, GBP on weekdays (small mark-up at weekends).
• RON savings vaults paid out at variable rates.
• Stock and ETF investing via Revolut Securities Europe UAB.
• Crypto exposure under MiCA-aligned partners.
• Apple Pay, Google Pay, Garmin Pay support.
• https://revolut.com/referral/?referral-code=rafa9jcta!MAR1-26-AR

Weaknesses:

• Deposit insurance is the Lithuanian IID up to 100 000 EUR, not the Romanian FGDB — many Romanian customers do not realise that the RO IBAN comes from a foreign-licensed branch.

Salt Bank

Salt Bank S.A. is Romania's first fully digital, BNR-licensed neobank. Owned 100% by Banca Transilvania, it launched commercially in April 2024 and surpassed 700 000 customers within its first year. The product is built mobile-first, with a "no monthly fee" basic plan and tiered premium plans.

Strengths:

• Fully Romanian-licensed; deposits up to 100 000 EUR equivalent are covered by the Romanian Deposit Guarantee Fund (FGDB, Fondul de Garantare a Depozitelor Bancare).
• RO IBAN, full SEPA Instant.
• Romanian-language and English UI.
• EUR + RON sub-accounts, competitive FX (close to interbank for EUR, RON, USD).
• Card-issuing partnership with Mastercard, supports Apple Pay and Google Pay.

Weaknesses:

• Newer product than Revolut — feature gaps in investing and crypto (as of early 2026).
• Customer base concentrated in Romania, so cross-border value-add is lower than Revolut/Wise.

Libra Internet Bank

Libra Internet Bank is a long-standing digital-first Romanian bank (founded 1996, re-positioned digital-first since the 2010s). Particularly competitive on RON time deposits — frequently among the highest interest rates in Romania per ANAR / banks' published rate tables — and an attractive choice for retirees and conservative savers.

ING Bank Romania

ING Bank Romania is not technically a neobank, but its Home Bank app, Online Banking and ING Card Complet often outperform neobanks on UX surveys in Romania. ING was a pioneer of debit-card-with-cashback, contactless and BLIK-like instant transfer in Romania, and is BNR-supervised with FGDB insurance.

Wise

Wise offers Romanian residents a Belgian IBAN plus local receiving details in EUR, GBP, USD, RON, HUF, PLN and others. Romanian local receiving details have been available since 2023, which makes Wise particularly useful for freelancers invoicing local Romanian clients in RON while also receiving USD/GBP from foreign customers.

N26

N26 Bank AG issues DE IBANs to Romanian residents who meet EU residency requirements. Practical use cases include Romanians who split time between Bucharest and Munich/Vienna for work, and EU-passport holders living in Romania who want a German DGS-guaranteed account.

Comparison Table

Deposit insurance note: The Romanian Deposit Guarantee Fund (FGDB) covers eligible deposits up to 100 000 EUR per depositor per institution at licensed Romanian banks, in line with Directive 2014/49/EU. Foreign-passported neobanks (Revolut, N26, Wise) are covered by their home-state schemes; this is a meaningful distinction for clients keeping more than 100 000 EUR liquid.

Local Tax and Regulatory Notes

The National Bank of Romania (BNR, Banca Națională a României) is the prudential supervisor for Romanian credit institutions, including Salt Bank, Libra and ING Bank Romania. The Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF) supervises capital markets, including ETFs, and the National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF) is the tax authority.

For tax purposes:

• Personal income tax on salaries is a flat 10%.
• Capital gains on EU-regulated securities are 1% if held over one year, 3% if held shorter (since 2023).
• Dividends are taxed at 8%.
• Bank-deposit interest is taxed at 10% withholding.
• The CRS / DAC8 framework means all neobanks (Revolut, Wise, N26) report Romanian-tax-resident clients' balances and income to ANAF annually.

Crypto-asset gains are taxable as 10% if profits exceed 600 RON per year; the 2026 implementation of MiCA harmonises reporting across all CASPs serving Romanian residents.

Who Should Pick Which (Decision Matrix)

• Romanian salaried employee — Salt Bank for primary RO IBAN with FGDB protection + Revolut for FX, travel and investing.
• Romanian freelancer invoicing EU/US — Wise (USD/GBP/EUR receiving) + Salt Bank RON IBAN for ANAF compliance.
• Polish digital nomad working remotely from Bucharest or Cluj — Polish-IBAN account in Poland + Revolut with Polish or Romanian IBAN based on declared tax residency.
• Romanian retiree — legacy bank or Libra Internet Bank for RON time deposits + ING for digital-first daily banking.
• Romanian crypto / investing enthusiast — Revolut for low-friction multi-asset exposure; serious investors typically pair this with a dedicated EU broker (XTB Romania, Goldring, Tradeville, Saxo) for tax-efficient access to ASF-supervised products.
• Romanian e-commerce seller — Revolut Business + Wise Business + Salt Bank for RON payouts.

Salt Bank vs Revolut: The 2026 Match-Up

The most-discussed Romanian neobank question in 2026 is Salt Bank vs Revolut. They overlap heavily on positioning ("free mobile-first daily account") but differ structurally in ways that matter for Romanian residents.

Licence and deposit insurance. Salt Bank holds a BNR banking licence, with FGDB protection up to 100 000 EUR equivalent per depositor on eligible deposits. Revolut operates in Romania through a branch of Revolut Bank UAB (Vilnius), so Romanian customers' deposits are protected by the Lithuanian IID up to 100 000 EUR — not by the Romanian FGDB. For a Romanian-tax-resident retiree holding cash savings well above 100 000 EUR, this distinction may influence allocation between the two.

Salary acceptance. Both issue RO IBANs (Revolut since 2024 via its Romanian branch), so neither is rejected by Romanian payroll systems or by ANAF.

FX. Revolut wins decisively on weekday EUR/USD/GBP FX for low-volume retail customers, with interbank-rate conversion up to a monthly allowance on the Standard plan. Salt Bank's FX is competitive but typically wider on USD and GBP, more comparable on EUR.

Investing. Revolut offers fractional shares, ETFs and crypto through Revolut Securities Europe UAB. Salt Bank's investing roadmap is more conservative as of early 2026, with savings products and Romanian mutual funds taking priority over direct equities.

Local features. Salt Bank integrates Romanian state-payment flows (utilities, taxes via ANAF, bill aggregator) more deeply than Revolut, which is more focused on cross-border use cases.

Premium plans. Both offer paid tiers with higher FX limits, travel insurance and concierge benefits. Pricing is set by each issuer and varies by promotion.

Common Romanian pattern in 2026: keep Salt Bank as the primary RO IBAN with FGDB coverage for cash savings up to 100 000 EUR, and use Revolut as the secondary card for FX, travel, investing and crypto. Many users in Romania consider this combination the most efficient.

Polish Expat and Digital Nomad Angle

Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca have become realistic alternatives to Warsaw and Berlin for Polish tech workers in 2025–2026, with lower cost of living and a high-density English-speaking IT scene. The typical multi-account setup:

• Polish PLN account at mBank, ING Bank Śląski or PKO BP — for Polish ties.
• Revolut: critical decision — Polish PL IBAN if Polish tax residency is retained; Romanian RO IBAN if Romanian tax residency is established (183-day rule).
• Salt Bank or Libra for a Romanian RO IBAN that satisfies ANAF, child-allowance and rental-contract requirements.
• Wise for non-EUR freelance income.

Note: opening a Romanian neobank account does not automatically change tax residency — that is decided under the 183-day rule and centre-of-vital-interests test by both KAS in Poland and ANAF in Romania.

Sidebar — Tracking multi-IBAN portfolios across borders. Romanian and Polish remote workers in 2026 typically run between three and six IBANs across two or three countries. Freenance is a financial-tracking platform that consolidates these accounts into a single multi-currency net-worth view, with the Financial Freedom Runway showing how long your assets would cover your spending if income stopped — modelling RON, EUR, USD and PLN side by side. It is a tracker, not a bank, and does not move funds.

FAQ

1. Is Salt Bank safe? Yes. Salt Bank S.A. is BNR-licensed, capitalised by Banca Transilvania (the largest Romanian bank by assets), and its eligible deposits are covered up to 100 000 EUR equivalent by the FGDB.

2. Does Revolut issue Romanian RO IBANs? Yes — since 2024, Revolut's Romanian branch (Revolut Bank UAB — Sucursala București) issues RO IBANs to Romanian-tax-resident customers. Deposits remain covered by the Lithuanian IID, not the Romanian FGDB.

3. What is the FGDB coverage limit? 100 000 EUR equivalent per depositor per Romanian-licensed bank, under Directive 2014/49/EU. Joint accounts: limit applies per depositor share. Certain temporary high balances (e.g. property-sale proceeds) may have additional 100 000 EUR coverage for a limited period.

4. Can I receive my Romanian salary on a Wise BE IBAN or N26 DE IBAN? Yes — under Regulation (EU) 260/2012 (the SEPA Regulation), Romanian employers cannot legally refuse a SEPA-area IBAN. Edge cases exist with older payroll software; a Salt Bank or legacy RO IBAN avoids these.

5. Are Revolut Invest fees in Romania the same as in Poland? Largely yes — pricing is set by Revolut Securities Europe UAB. Romanian-tax-resident clients are subject to Romanian capital-gains and dividend taxation (1% or 3% capital gains; 8% dividends).

6. Are there genuinely Romanian-licensed neobanks other than Salt Bank? Salt Bank is the only one that markets itself explicitly as a neobank with full BNR banking licence (as of early 2026). Libra Internet Bank and ING Bank Romania are digital-first but classified as traditional banks. Several Romanian-licensed e-money institutions exist (e.g. Twispay) but operate primarily B2B.

Salaries, BNR Reference Rate and the EUR/RON Risk Picture

Romania has a managed-float regime: the BNR reference rate for EUR/RON has trended gradually upward over the past decade with episodic stability windows. For a Romanian-tax-resident salary earner paid in RON who holds savings in EUR via a neobank, the practical question is FX-conversion friction:

• A RON salary moved into Revolut's EUR wallet at weekday interbank-rate FX has cost almost nothing in 2024–2026 (small mark-up only beyond the monthly allowance on the Standard plan).
• The same transfer through a legacy Romanian bank typically incurred 1–2.5% on the EUR/RON pair, plus a per-transaction fee on outgoing EUR transfers.

For a freelancer paid in EUR or USD by foreign clients, the calculus inverts: Wise's mid-market FX with a transparent fee is often the cheapest path to RON when the funds are needed for Romanian rent or VAT. Revolut, Salt Bank and Wise have all converged on weekday EUR/RON FX that is within a few basis points of the BNR reference. Many Romanian users in 2026 consider FX a solved problem at neobanks and a meaningful pain point at legacy banks.

Sources

• National Bank of Romania (BNR) — supervisory data, banking statistics
• Romanian Deposit Guarantee Fund (FGDB, Fondul de Garantare a Depozitelor Bancare) — coverage rules
• ANAF (National Agency for Fiscal Administration) — personal-tax and CRS guidance
• ASF (Romanian Financial Supervisory Authority) — investment-services rules
• Banca Transilvania, Salt Bank S.A., Libra Internet Bank, ING Bank Romania — public reports and product terms
• Regulation (EU) 260/2012 — SEPA non-discrimination
• Directive 2014/49/EU — Deposit Guarantee Schemes Directive
• Revolut Bank UAB, N26 Bank AG, Wise Europe SA — public terms and conditions