diff --git a/bin/access-check-manager.pl.in b/bin/access-check-manager.pl.in
index b09a2c865a3cb41588526205c8f08404f0762865..6cfcc7a04e62ae4b6a508cbb987696affaed3ba5 100755
--- a/bin/access-check-manager.pl.in
+++ b/bin/access-check-manager.pl.in
@@ -58,7 +58,8 @@ AccountManager::DB->register_db(
     database => $configuration->{database}->{name},
     host     => $configuration->{database}->{host},
     password => $configuration->{database}->{password},
-    username => $configuration->{database}->{username}
+    username => $configuration->{database}->{username},
+    options  => [ split(/, */, $configuration->{database}->{options}) ]
 );
 
 my $db = AccountManager::DB->new();
diff --git a/conf/manager.conf.in b/conf/manager.conf.in
index ebe24fdd54395a94891a8dd1a0fe850bcc1ad20f..8b8941af0a4db5fe49253648c835b9179c41b137 100644
--- a/conf/manager.conf.in
+++ b/conf/manager.conf.in
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ host = localhost
 name = idp_account_manager
 username = idpadmin
 password = secret
+options  = mysql_enable_utf8
 
 [idp]
 scope = my.fqdn
diff --git a/lib/AccountManager/App.pm b/lib/AccountManager/App.pm
index 96e3c15475071d2519c476bb2e40bd9cc583f17d..0c769a5884364b25471e5abce0ab5abfe29293b1 100644
--- a/lib/AccountManager/App.pm
+++ b/lib/AccountManager/App.pm
@@ -96,6 +96,7 @@ sub new {
             host     => $self->{configuration}->{database}->{host},
             username => $self->{configuration}->{database}->{username},
             password => $self->{configuration}->{database}->{password},
+            options  => [ split(/, */, $self->{configuration}->{database}->{options}) ]
         );
     } else {
         $self->{logger}->fatal(
diff --git a/lib/AccountManager/DB.pm b/lib/AccountManager/DB.pm
index 8703bf7b118d559763e2e7200d4ad0ecd3dd12ed..0c9f98d7323100cfcc30241521642977e7650ce1 100644
--- a/lib/AccountManager/DB.pm
+++ b/lib/AccountManager/DB.pm
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ use base 'Rose::DB';
 __PACKAGE__->use_private_registry;
 
 __PACKAGE__->SUPER::register_db (
-    connect_options => { AutoCommit => 1, ChopBlanks => 1 },
     driver          => 'mysql',
     host            => 'localhost',
     database        => 'fake',
@@ -19,8 +18,16 @@ __PACKAGE__->SUPER::register_db (
 sub register_db {
     my ($pkg, %args) = @_;
 
+    my $options = {
+        AutoCommit => 1,
+        ChopBlanks => 1,
+    };
+    if ($args{options}) {
+        $options->{$_} = 1 foreach @{$args{options}};
+    }
+
     __PACKAGE__->SUPER::register_db (
-        connect_options => { AutoCommit => 1, ChopBlanks => 1 },
+        connect_options => $options,
         driver          => $args{driver},
         host            => $args{host},
         database        => $args{database},