Before you start

Carné de extranjería
Proof of your Lima address, usually a utility bill
Proof of income — an employment contract or payslips
A Peruvian mobile number, for Yape and for the bank's app

Step-by-step

1
Wait until the carné de extranjería is in your hand
The major banks — BCP, BBVA, Interbank, Scotiabank — will generally not open an ordinary account on a passport alone for a resident. Attempting it in week one and being refused is a standard rite of passage rather than a sign of a problem.
In personWho: YouAfter the CE is issued
2
Open soles and dollars together
Ask for both currency accounts at account opening. Rent is very often quoted and paid in dollars while your salary arrives in soles, and having both under one client number saves converting through a counter every month.
In personWho: You
3
Register the CCI for anything that pays you
The código de cuenta interbancario is the twenty-digit identifier used for transfers between banks. Employers, clients and SUNAT all ask for it rather than for the ordinary account number. Find it in the app on day one — it is not on the card.
Mobile appWho: You
4
Set up Yape or Plin immediately
Yape (BCP) and Plin (the other major banks, interoperable with Yape) move money instantly by phone number and are used for everything from a market stall to splitting a restaurant bill. Life in Lima without one is noticeably more awkward.
Mobile appWho: YouSame week
5
Get a RUC and Clave SOL only if you actually need one
Employees on a payroll usually do not need a RUC. Anyone invoicing independently, letting a property or running a business does. It is obtained from SUNAT online or at a counter and comes with the Clave SOL login used for filing.
OnlineWho: You
6
Use a specialist service for international transfers
Peruvian banks' outbound international transfers carry both a fee and a poor spread. Wise and similar services are dramatically cheaper for moving money in and out, and are widely used by foreign residents here.
Mobile appWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Carné de extranjería
Passport
Proof of address
Employment contract or payslips
Peruvian mobile number

Things most newcomers don’t know

Everything in Peruvian banking hangs off the carné de extranjería, which hangs off the visa.

Banks treat the CE as the identity document for foreign residents, and the major ones will not open an ordinary account without it. Since the CE follows a resident status, which follows a labour contract, which follows the employer's quota headroom, a delay at the very start of the chain shows up weeks later as an inability to be paid. It is the single argument for pushing the immigration file hard in month one.

Source: Superintendencia de Banca, Seguros y AFP

Peru is genuinely bi-currency, and that changes how you should hold money.

Salaries are usually in soles; rents, property and many services are quoted in dollars. Banks give residents parallel soles and dollar accounts as standard, and the choice of when to convert is a real one rather than a technicality. Holding the currency you actually spend in — and converting in planned amounts rather than monthly at whatever the counter offers — is worth more than most people expect.

Source: community-reported

Yape and Plin are infrastructure here, not a convenience.

Instant phone-number transfers are accepted by market stalls, taxi drivers, hairdressers and landlords. Yape alone counts users in the tens of millions in a country of thirty-four million. Newcomers who stick to cards find themselves the only person at the counter without the thing everyone else is using, and cash handling in Lima carries its own small risk.

Source: community-reported

The CCI, not the account number, is what people actually ask you for.

Interbank transfers in Peru use the twenty-digit código de cuenta interbancario. Employers and clients request it, and giving them the shorter account number results in a failed or delayed payment. It lives in your banking app rather than on the card or the welcome pack, and finding it in advance saves an embarrassing first payday.

Source: community-reported

Common mistakes to avoid

Trying to open an account before the carné de extranjería exists.
Opening only a soles account and then paying dollar rent through a counter every month.
Giving an employer the account number instead of the CCI.
Relying on a Peruvian bank for international transfers instead of a specialist service.
Getting a RUC you do not need and inheriting monthly filing obligations with it.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.