Costs, licensing, consumer protection Privacy, self-custody, censorship resistance

Sparkasse — Conto Basic Conto Premium

A plan bySparkasse — Conto Basic · Mastercard

3.3/5 1.3/5
Account fee €4

Data verified on unchanged since the sources

Worth it if you live in South Tyrol or the Northeast and use Group ATMs: unlimited operations and free withdrawals on the Sparkasse network for €42/year.

Avoid it if you want everything included: the debit card costs €20/year separately, the account is non-interest-bearing (0%) and the network is not nationwide.

Conto Basic is the entry level of the packaged range of Cassa di Risparmio di Bolzano (Sparkasse), the leading savings bank of South Tyrol, headquartered in Bolzano. The fee is €42/year (billed monthly, i.e. €3.50/month) and includes unlimited operations, the Sparkasse ON internet banking at €0 and free withdrawals at Group ATMs in Italy. The Sparkasse Card (Mastercard) debit card costs €20/year separately. The range scales up with Conto Active (€6.50/month, discountable by up to −€2 with salary crediting and a securities account) and Conto Premium.

Conto Premium

Price
€10

What's included

  • Top plan of the packaged range
  • Indicative fee €10/month (check conditions on the Information Sheet)
€4
Account fee
EU guarantee €100,000
Deposit guarantee
Free
ATM withdrawal
Mastercard
Network
56
Transparency: Medium
56/100 · see methodology
56
Data exposure: Medium
56/100 · lower is better for sovereignty · methodology

Data & conditions

Account fee €4
IBAN dedicato · IT · IT
Deposit guarantee EU guarantee €100,000
Multi-currency No (single currency)
Outbound transfers to third-party IBANs Yes
Utility direct billing Yes
SEPA direct debit (SDD) Yes
On-chain crypto withdrawal No
SEPA transfer €1
Card included Carta di debito Sparkasse Card (Mastercard) a €20/anno, non inclusa nel canone
Interest on balance 0%
Network Mastercard
ATM withdrawal Free
Free ATM limit Group bank ATM withdrawals in Italy €0; at other banks €3
Fund custody Custodial (platform holds funds)
KYC Full
Supported countries EEA · 1+ countries
Regulator Banca d'Italia
Segment B2C
Funding / solidityLeading savings bank of South Tyrol · headquartered in Bolzano · parent of the Cassa di Risparmio di Bolzano Banking Group · absorbed CiviBank
MiCA / License status Licenza bancaria (iscritta all'Albo delle Banche di Banca d'Italia) IT banking licence (Bank of Italy)

Strengths

  • Unlimited operations included in the fee and Sparkasse ON internet banking at €0
  • Free withdrawals at Group bank ATMs in Italy; online SEPA transfers at €0.70
  • Bank supervised by the Bank of Italy with FITD deposit guarantee up to €100,000
  • Scalable packaged range (Basic/Active/Premium) with fee discounts on Active for salary crediting and a securities account
  • No notable sovereignty advantage documented.

Weaknesses

  • Sparkasse Card (Mastercard) debit card is not free: €20/year on top of the fee
  • €42/year fee (€3.50/month) + €34.20 stamp duty cannot be waived on the Basic plan; withdrawals at other banks €3
  • Non-interest-bearing account (credit rate 0.000%) and single-currency (EUR only)
  • Network concentrated in South Tyrol and the Northeast (it absorbed CiviBank): not a nationwide bank
  • Custodial: the platform holds your funds and can freeze or lose them.
  • Full KYC required: verified identity, zero pseudonymity.
  • Subject to regulation (IT banking licence (Bank of Italy)): reporting to authorities and freezes on order.
  • FATF-aligned jurisdiction: strong cooperation with authorities.
  • Closed source: no way to verify what it does with wallet and data.

Verdict

C D ★ 3.3/5 ★ 1.3/5

Conto Basic is well structured on protection: Sparkasse is supervised by the Bank of Italy and belongs to the Interbank Deposit Protection Fund (FITD) up to €100,000, with unlimited operations, internet banking at €0, free Group ATM withdrawals and online SEPA transfers at €0.70. The score stays mid-range because of the costs borne by the user: a €42/year fee (€3.50/month) + €34.20 stamp duty that cannot be waived and, above all, the Sparkasse Card debit card at €20/year charged separately — a cost many banks include. Non-interest-bearing, EUR only. Note the regional nature: network concentrated in South Tyrol and the Northeast, not nationwide.

Supervised bank account: custodial, full KYC, censorable and freezable by court order or AML obligation. The FITD deposit guarantee and Bank of Italy supervision — strengths for protection — are exactly what distance it from the trustless model. No self-custody, no permissionless use: on the sovereignty lens it sits at the opposite pole from a self-custody wallet.

Privacy & anonymity 30% 1.1
Fund control 20% 1.4
Censorship resistance 20% 1.4
Trustless / auditability 20% 0.0
Costs 10% 4.4

Promp's editorial rating based on real fees and net annual cost. Promp reviews third-party products independently.

"Sovereignty" rating: score computed on privacy/anonymity (30%), fund control (20%), censorship resistance (20%), trustless/auditability (20%) and costs (10%). Same data, different weights.

Reputation

What happened to people who used Sparkasse — Conto Basic, and what users say. External signals: they do not feed the promp.it rating.

Incidents & regulatory actions

No known incident

Search across public sources: no known hack, withdrawal freeze or regulatory action as of the verification date.

verified on

Public reviews

4.5/5 16,626 reviews
  • App Store ↗ 4.5/5 10,852 reviews

    'Sparkasse ON' app (seller Cassa di Risparmio di Bolzano SpA), IT store; rates home banking, not the Basic account alone. Exact mean 4.50581 from the iTunes lookup. Confirmed as the Italian entity, distinct from the German/Austrian Sparkasse namesakes.

  • Google Play ↗ 4.4/5 5,774 reviews

    Sparkasse ON app on Google Play (it.sparkasse.retail.mobile, developer Sudtiroler Sparkasse AG), IT storefront; exact count from JSON-LD (4.42). Rates home banking, not the Basic account alone.

Weighted average across 2 public review platforms (16,626 reviews in total), weighted by volume. This is not our rating: it is those platforms’ average.

FAQ

How much is Sparkasse's Conto Basic?

The fee is €42/year charged monthly (€3.50/month) and includes unlimited operations. On top come the €34.20/year state stamp duty (if the average balance exceeds €5,000) and the Sparkasse Card (Mastercard) debit card at €20/year.

Are there accounts with a discountable fee?

Yes: Conto Active costs €6.50/month but can be discounted by €1 with salary or pension crediting and €1 with a securities account, down to a minimum of €4.50/month. Conto Premium is the top plan of the range.

Are deposits guaranteed?

Yes, by the Interbank Deposit Protection Fund (FITD) up to €100,000 per depositor. Sparkasse is a bank supervised by the Bank of Italy.

Sources

Update history

✓ Terms unchanged since Jul 12, 2026

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