Yes, it is the same in Germany. My employer rented an apartment for us, and to do this we assigned limited power of attorney (Vollmacht) to a consultant to regi

Yes, it is the same in Germany. My employer rented an apartment for us, and to do this we assigned limited power of attorney (Vollmacht) to a consultant to registered for us. So, with lots of money you can break the circular problem of: you need a residence to get a local account, and getting a residence requires a local account and physical presence in the town hall registration office. There are probably (hopefully) more efficient ways to do this, but that's how we did it.