I had to open a bank account today. I chose La Caixa – a very popular bank here in Barcelona. Mainly because it’s not a bank but a “caixa“. I don’t know any translation for this word in English, but it’s something like a non-profit bank ran by non-greedy bankers, which for me is a contradiction in terms. So I will stop thinking about what a caixa is, because if I don’t, my brain will explode. If you’re still curious about it, have a look at its Wikipedia entry.
Fortunately Meri – one of my flat mates – agreed to come with me to the bank’s office and act as a translator, so things went pretty smooth. I’ve opened a bank account, all the terms were pretty straight forward, no hidden taxes or fine prints. Not that I would be able to read Spanish fine prints. La Caixa offers self-services (ATMs / online) on a large variety of languages, that includes English and Romanian, which, for me, translates as “usable”.
Much to my surprise, the online service is based on a very distant relative of today’s Digipass. The system is like this: they hand out a card with some numbers on it, and when you login, the site asks for something like “please type in the number that is located on your card on line 4, column 5″. Kind of lame, less secure than the Digipass, but, no doubt, cheaper.