Connecting European banks

Connect bank accounts across 30 EEA countries through Salt Edge and the PSD2 open banking consent flow, including 180-day consents and SCA.

4 min read

On this page

Search for your European bank
Approve access at your bank
What data European banks share
Consents of up to 180 days
Confirm it worked
Troubleshooting
Next steps
Related guides

European banks connect to BankSync through Salt Edge, a licensed Account Information Service Provider (AISP), under PSD2, the EU's open banking framework. Coverage spans the full EEA: all 27 EU countries plus Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein. You search for your bank, review a short disclosure, and approve read-only access on your bank's own pages with Strong Customer Authentication (SCA). This guide covers the Europe-specific parts of the flow on top of the general Connect a bank steps.

Search, review the open-banking disclosure, approve access, and connect through Salt Edge.

Before you start

You need a BankSync account and your online banking login for the European institution you want to connect. SCA means your bank will ask for two verification factors (for example app approval plus a code), so have your bank's mobile app or token generator handy.

PSD2 keeps you in control

Access is read-only, scoped to the accounts you approve, and revocable at any time. You authenticate on your bank's own pages under SCA; your credentials never pass through BankSync, and BankSync cannot move money.

Search for your European bank#

Type your bank's name and BankSync searches every supported provider and region at once, then routes European institutions through Salt Edge automatically. The country filter defaults to your locale when it matches a supported country.

Find your institution

Open the Banks page
Select Banks from the navigation, then click the dashed "Connect a new bank" tile.
Type your bank name
Enter at least 2 characters (for example "N26", "Deutsche Bank", "BNP Paribas", or "ING"). Matching institutions appear as cards as you type.
(Optional) narrow by country
Click the filter button and pick your country. This matters for pan-European brands: "ING" in the Netherlands and "ING" in Poland are separate institutions with separate consents.
Check the result card carefully
Branded banking groups can list many member banks (for example hundreds of local Sparkasse and Volksbank institutions in Germany). Pick the exact institution you bank with.
Select your institution
Click the matching card. BankSync shows a short disclosure of what will be accessed and for how long, then opens your bank's secure consent page.

Approve access at your bank#

Authorise data sharing

Review what is being requested
The consent covers account details, balances, and transactions. It is read-only under PSD2.
Complete Strong Customer Authentication
Sign in with your bank credentials and confirm with your second factor (app approval, code generator, or SMS).
Select which accounts to share
Choose only the accounts you want BankSync to access.
Confirm and return
Approve the consent. The window closes and returns you to BankSync, which fetches your accounts.

Data type	Shared	Notes
Account details	Yes	Account name, type, IBAN or identifiers for the accounts you select.
Balances	Yes	Current and available balance.
Transactions	Yes	Posted transactions within the history window the bank exposes (commonly 90 days to 2 years, set per bank).
Account types	Current, savings, and card accounts	Where the bank exposes them under PSD2.

History windows vary by bank

Each bank decides how much transaction history its PSD2 API exposes. Many banks provide around 90 days on the first connection; some provide years. BankSync syncs everything the bank makes available. For older records, export a statement from your online banking.

Consents of up to 180 days#

Consent duration is set per bank. Since the 2023 update to the European SCA standards, most EEA banks issue consents lasting up to 180 days before a re-authentication is required. BankSync shows the expiry date on each bank's detail view and displays a renewal prompt during the final week.

Renewing takes about a minute

Open the bank in BankSync, click "Renew now" (or "Reconnect"), and complete SCA on your bank's page. Your synced history and feeds are untouched.

Confirm it worked#

You have connected your European bank successfully when:

The institution appears as a card on the Banks page.
The accounts you approved are linked to that bank.
The bank shows an active state, not a "Requires re-authentication" label.

With the bank connected, create a feed to sync its transactions and balances. See Create your first feed.

Troubleshooting#

Common European-bank issues

Consent expired or syncs stopped: PSD2 consents lapse at the end of their window; renew from the bank's card in BankSync. Wrong country selected: pan-European brands are separate institutions per country; connect the one for the country where you hold the account. SCA loop or failure: complete the verification in your bank's mobile app first, then retry. Bank not found: try the local-language name (for example "Caixa Geral" rather than a translation).