Expat banking

I could not resist, I copied pasted something I posted on another Turkish form.

My wife and I are Dutch nationals and live permanently in Türkiye, where we own our home. From a risk‑management perspective, we try to keep bank balances relatively limited: local deposit insurance is lower than in Western Europe, and bank ratings here are largely constrained by sovereign risk rather than by the individual institutions themselves.

For historical reasons, I still maintain my primary bank account with Rabobank in the Netherlands, under Dutch law. As far as I understand, holding at least one bank account in the EU (and the UK) as a passport holder is generally possible. However, in practice I've found that Rabobank does not allow me to open any new products as a non‑resident—not even a simple savings account or term deposit.

This leads to a somewhat frustrating situation: funds sitting in a current account generate no return, while inflation remains a real consideration. I therefore see three broad options:

Open an additional EUR account with a Dutch bank (for example bunq), where deposits would fall under the Dutch deposit‑guarantee scheme.

Open EUR term deposits in Türkiye, potentially spreading balances across more than one local bank to stay within insurance limits.

Use TRY term deposits, where—even after withholding tax—the interest rate may still exceed local inflation, albeit with obvious currency risk.

At the moment, my inclination is toward opening one or more EUR accounts with a Dutch bank such as bunq, but I'm also evaluating whether the Turkish options might be reasonable as part of a diversified approach.

I'd be interested to hear about others' experiences and views on managing savings in a similar cross‑border setup, particularly around risk, practicality, and peace of mind.