Banking Access Index

How easily a new resident can open, hold and move money — onboarding, multi-currency access and correspondent standing.

Median: 45
Mean: 49
Top decile from: 80
Highest: 95

What this index measures

Moderate · scored 0–100

01
Account opening for new residents
02
Multi-currency and international transfer capability
03
Correspondent banking standing

Banking is where a lot of paper plans die. Several high-tax jurisdictions score at the top here precisely because they are unremarkable.

How the score is weighted

Each input is normalised to 0–100 across all 209 jurisdictions, then combined at the weights below. Weights sum to 100 and are held constant across every jurisdiction in an edition, so scores stay comparable.

Moderate in the composite

Account opening for new residents35% of the score
Documentation burden and rejection rates.
Multi-currency and transfers25% of the score
Holding and moving foreign currency.
Correspondent standing25% of the score
AML status and international clearing access.
Digital and service quality15% of the score
Remote onboarding and day-to-day usability.

Who leads it

The ten highest scores on this signal, with their overall standing beside them — the gap between the two columns is the trade-off.

01
Switzerland
Europe
95ovr 72
02
Jersey
Europe
92ovr 73
03
Guernsey
Europe
92ovr 73
04
Liechtenstein
Europe
92ovr 69
05
Isle of Man
Europe
90ovr 73
06
Singapore
Asia
90ovr 73
07
Luxembourg
Europe
90ovr 67
08
Monaco
Europe
88ovr 72
09
Cayman Islands
Americas
85ovr 77
10
Gibraltar
Europe
85ovr 76

Distribution · top 60 scoresrange 10–95

How regions compare

Average score per region against its best case. A wide gap means the region is worth searching; a narrow one means the whole region behaves the same way.

Europe
68 / 95
Americas
52 / 85
Asia
47 / 90
Middle East
47 / 78
Oceania
40 / 85
Africa
33 / 62

Full ranking

#	Jurisdiction	Region	Banking	Overall
001	Switzerland	Europe	95	72
002	Jersey	Europe	92	73
003	Guernsey	Europe	92	73
004	Liechtenstein	Europe	92	69
005	Isle of Man	Europe	90	73
006	Singapore	Asia	90	73
007	Luxembourg	Europe	90	67
008	Monaco	Europe	88	72
009	Cayman Islands	Americas	85	77
010	Gibraltar	Europe	85	76
011	Australia	Oceania	85	70
012	Norway	Europe	85	66
013	Denmark	Europe	85	65
014	United Kingdom	Europe	85	62
015	Bermuda	Americas	82	73
016	New Zealand	Oceania	82	73
017	Netherlands	Europe	82	67
018	Canada	Americas	82	66
019	Sweden	Europe	82	66
020	Finland	Europe	80	68
021	Ireland	Europe	80	66
022	USA	Americas	80	53
023	Estonia	Europe	78	75
024	British Virgin Islands	Americas	78	74
025	Germany	Europe	78	68
026	Austria	Europe	78	67
027	Israel	Middle East	78	62
028	Iceland	Europe	75	70
029	Japan	Asia	75	65
030	Belgium	Europe	75	64
031	Andorra	Europe	72	75
032	Georgia	Europe	72	69
033	Taiwan	Asia	72	67
034	South Korea	Asia	72	65
035	France	Europe	72	65
036	Hong Kong	Asia	72	60
037	Portugal	Europe	70	75
038	Czech Republic	Europe	70	67
039	San Marino	Europe	68	73
040	Spain	Europe	68	72
041	Bahamas	Americas	68	69
042	Latvia	Europe	68	69
043	Lithuania	Europe	68	68
044	Slovenia	Europe	68	68
045	Macau	Asia	68	62
046	UAE	Middle East	68	59
047	Qatar	Middle East	68	59
048	Cyprus	Europe	65	75
049	Panama	Americas	65	68
050	Poland	Europe	65	64
051	Slovakia	Europe	65	64
052	Antigua and Barbuda	Americas	62	70
053	Mauritius	Africa	62	67
054	Barbados	Americas	62	65
055	Chile	Americas	62	65
056	Brunei	Asia	62	64
057	Bahrain	Middle East	62	60
058	Saudi Arabia	Middle East	62	59
059	Malta	Europe	60	72
060	Italy	Europe	60	66
061	Hungary	Europe	60	61
062	St Kitts and Nevis	Americas	58	71
063	Croatia	Europe	58	67
064	Uruguay	Americas	58	66
065	Malaysia	Asia	58	66
066	Oman	Middle East	58	63
067	South Africa	Africa	58	57
068	Kuwait	Middle East	58	56
069	Grenada	Americas	55	70
070	St Lucia	Americas	55	69
071	Greece	Europe	55	67
072	Bulgaria	Europe	55	66
073	Romania	Europe	55	63
074	Seychelles	Africa	55	62
075	Paraguay	Americas	55	62
076	China	Asia	55	46
077	Montenegro	Europe	52	70
078	Dominica	Americas	52	68
079	Serbia	Europe	52	64
080	Thailand	Asia	52	60
081	Botswana	Africa	52	58
082	Brazil	Americas	52	58
083	Kazakhstan	Asia	52	57
084	Armenia	Asia	52	57
085	Namibia	Africa	52	56
086	Jordan	Middle East	52	54
087	Costa Rica	Americas	50	66
088	Vatican City	Europe	50	64
089	Mexico	Americas	50	61
090	Maldives	Asia	48	62
091	Albania	Europe	48	62
092	North Macedonia	Europe	48	61
093	Turkey	Asia	48	60
094	Morocco	Africa	48	59
095	Tunisia	Africa	48	59
096	St Vincent & Grenadines	Americas	48	59
097	Belize	Americas	48	58
098	Ghana	Africa	48	57
099	Indonesia	Asia	48	57
100	Peru	Americas	48	56
101	India	Asia	48	54
102	Trinidad and Tobago	Americas	48	53
103	Azerbaijan	Asia	48	51
104	Colombia	Americas	45	61
105	Fiji	Oceania	45	58
106	Vietnam	Asia	45	56
107	Dominican Republic	Americas	45	55
108	Kenya	Africa	45	52
109	Jamaica	Americas	45	52
110	Russia	Europe	45	48
111	Vanuatu	Oceania	42	64
112	Cape Verde	Africa	42	61
113	Argentina	Americas	42	58
114	Cook Islands	Oceania	42	58
115	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Europe	42	57
116	Rwanda	Africa	42	55
117	Ecuador	Americas	42	55
118	Moldova	Europe	42	55
119	Senegal	Africa	42	54
120	Sri Lanka	Asia	42	53
121	Philippines	Asia	42	52
122	Guatemala	Americas	42	51
123	El Salvador	Americas	42	50
124	Mongolia	Asia	42	50
125	Belarus	Europe	42	50
126	Egypt	Africa	42	49
127	Algeria	Africa	42	47
128	Samoa	Oceania	38	55
129	Tonga	Oceania	38	55
130	Tanzania	Africa	38	52
131	Bhutan	Asia	38	52
132	Cambodia	Asia	38	51
133	Bolivia	Americas	38	50
134	Guyana	Americas	38	50
135	Ivory Coast	Africa	38	49
136	Zambia	Africa	38	49
137	Nicaragua	Americas	38	49
138	Uzbekistan	Asia	38	49
139	Kyrgyzstan	Asia	38	49
140	Uganda	Africa	38	47
141	Gabon	Africa	38	46
142	Honduras	Americas	38	46
143	Pakistan	Asia	38	43
144	Ukraine	Europe	38	39
145	Niue	Oceania	35	55
146	Kosovo	Europe	35	54
147	Suriname	Americas	35	50
148	Nepal	Asia	35	49
149	Laos	Asia	35	48
150	Eswatini	Africa	35	47
151	Bangladesh	Asia	35	45
152	Nigeria	Africa	35	44
153	Lebanon	Middle East	35	42
154	Palau	Oceania	32	53
155	Benin	Africa	32	48
156	Gambia	Africa	32	48
157	Malawi	Africa	32	48
158	Madagascar	Africa	32	48
159	Solomon Islands	Oceania	32	48
160	Djibouti	Africa	32	46
161	Mozambique	Africa	32	46
162	Lesotho	Africa	32	44
163	Cameroon	Africa	32	44
164	Tajikistan	Asia	32	44
165	Angola	Africa	32	43
166	Papua New Guinea	Oceania	32	43
167	Ethiopia	Africa	32	42
168	Turkmenistan	Asia	32	41
169	Marshall Islands	Oceania	30	51
170	Micronesia	Oceania	30	50
171	Sao Tome & Principe	Africa	28	50
172	Cuba	Americas	28	50
173	Tuvalu	Oceania	28	50
174	Kiribati	Oceania	28	48
175	Nauru	Oceania	28	48
176	Timor-Leste	Asia	28	48
177	Sierra Leone	Africa	28	46
178	Togo	Africa	28	46
179	Comoros	Africa	28	46
180	Liberia	Africa	28	44
181	Zimbabwe	Africa	28	43
182	Guinea	Africa	28	42
183	Mauritania	Africa	28	42
184	Congo	Africa	28	41
185	Burkina Faso	Africa	28	40
186	Iran	Middle East	28	38
187	Iraq	Middle East	28	34
188	Burundi	Africa	25	40
189	Equatorial Guinea	Africa	25	39
190	Mali	Africa	25	36
191	Niger	Africa	25	36
192	Myanmar	Asia	25	32
193	Palestine	Middle East	25	30
194	Guinea-Bissau	Africa	22	40
195	Venezuela	Americas	22	35
196	Chad	Africa	22	34
197	DR Congo	Africa	22	34
198	Haiti	Americas	22	32
199	Libya	Africa	22	28
200	Syria	Middle East	20	27
201	Sudan	Africa	20	26
202	Eritrea	Africa	18	34
203	Western Sahara	Africa	18	31
204	Central African Republic	Africa	18	29
205	Yemen	Middle East	18	26
206	South Sudan	Africa	15	26
207	Afghanistan	Asia	15	24
208	Somalia	Africa	12	26
209	North Korea	Asia	10	31

At the other end

The five lowest scores on this signal: North Korea (10), Somalia (12), Afghanistan (15), South Sudan (15), Yemen (18). A weak score here is not disqualifying on its own — read it against the composite.

Where this comes from

Each input is normalised to a 0–100 scale and weighted into the score above. We cite the underlying publication rather than the aggregator wherever one exists.

Edition 2026.1 · reviewed quarterly

01Global Findex Database
World Bank
Account ownership and access to formal banking.
02Financial Access Survey
IMF
Branch, correspondent and cross-border banking depth.
03AML/CFT mutual evaluations and monitored jurisdictions
FATF
Onboarding friction and correspondent banking standing.