barry1312

So a lot of answers there some helpful some not so much, in reality the best way forward is to get professional advice from a UK regulated specialist, a qnups may or may not be the best way forward.

I work in the financial industry and if your interested pm me and  we can have a chat about your circumstances then I can put you in touch with a UK regulated specialist who is best suited to advise you. 

These services will be fee based but you will be given an upfront figure before any work is done

I was just renewing my visa in Hua Hin and asked them what happens in these circumstances and they told me that if you cannot get home because of flights or presumably quarantine you have to go to your embassy and can get a letter from them that you can take to immigration to get an extension for 30 days

I would suggest though that you check with your embassy first as immigration centres often seem to have different ways of interpreting rules and regulations and of course some of that information may of been lost in translation to me

Good luck and I hope that helps

Offshore Banks domiciled in the Isle of Man are covered by UK investor protection laws as they are simply branches of UK Mainland Banks.

Pretty much all of them will open accounts for expats but most have a relatively high minimum deposit that you must maintain Barclays I believe is about 25,000 GBP Lloyds are less I believe and Standard Bank I think are the lowest at about 3000GBP but you need to check those figures yourself.

All of them give debit cards and have internet banking available and phone banking, applying is a bit of a lengthy process these days as the ridiculous anti money laundering process simply makes it difficult for normal law abiding citizens while presumably hardly interrupting the criminal elements daily routine!!!

Probably allow about 3 months these days for that process to complete

I would ask your bank directly, personally I moved to Hua Hin a couple of years ago and SCB simply closed my old account and opened a new one in Hua Hin and transfered my funds automatically, there certainly wasn't any major paperwork requirements and from memory only took around 5 minutes

I would guess though if your holding funds for retirement visa or similar opening a new account would probably void the 6 month holding funds requirement with Immigration

I would imagine that they're asking for details to comply with MIFID 2 regulations that should of been done by January so I don't deal with Natwest or bank in Jersey but I have mainland UK and IOM banks and to comply I had to send them  

1) Passport copy verified by a local solicitor or notary with wording

THIS COPY IS A TRUE COPY OF THE ORIGINAL 

THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN SEEN AND VERIFIED BY THE CERTIFIER

THE PHOTO IS A TRUE LIKENESS OF THE APPLICANT

DATED AND SIGNED BY SOLICITOR

2 Proof of address would be bank statement, or similar that shows your address in Thailand, if in 

Thai it would need to be translated by a suitable translator and then a copy signed by a solicitor or notary and verified in writing that the copy is a true likeness of the original.

It is also possible that a certificate from immigration verifying your address would be suitable too they are about 500 THB as well but check with your bank, you should already have one of those in your passport to comply with Thai law and verifying your address

3 All documents must be under 3 months old so if you use the Thai immigration form you will probably need to get a new one

I discovered some banks accepted solicitors and some notaries so check what they want a nd what address document is suitable

Cost for certified copies are normally around 500 Baht each

Keeping that bank account is probably a good idea as in the future they will get more difficult for expats to open and they are also very handy for proving your address in the future

Just to respond to Tidybeards post, the law has changed on QROPS and if you transfer out of the UK now you will pay all your tax up front on transfer so only really an option if you choose to take tax on your pension at 400,000 K and then let it grow for 20 odd years and not pay tax on the interest unless the laws change during that period!!!

PPb's aren't a realistic option as you generally have to keep monies transfered in them for 5-7 years or you will get a penalty for withdrawing before that of up to 7% and you still have the problem of either transfering into them as a QROP and paying the tax or encashing and paying the tax, a SIPP though will not have that problem and can generally invest those via internet platforms similar to Internaxx or Interactive, please note I said similar not definately with them as I don't know first hand they accept sipps but certainly some do.

You may also be able to invest a SIPP via a PPB not 100% certain but be aware PPB's are expensive and have lot's of hidden costs even if on face value they appear cheap

To give a bit of clarity here you are allowed when you first disburse a pension 25% tax free lump sum, the balance of your pension is taxed at whatever your personal tax rate will be so as a guideline for a single person between 20 and 40  percent tax, of which you should be allowed to claim back tax on your personal allowance, for a single person, currently, it is just over 10,000 GBP per Annum

Under the pension reform act you are allowed to take your tax free lump sum and and disburse a percentage of your pension each year to keep from paying unecessary tax so first year 25% tax free lump sum and your annual tax free allowance which you can reclaim from HMRC and then each year the relevant tax free allowance

Problem is though that most UK pension companies for some unknown reason are not adhering to the pension reform act for expats, so you should be ok with the above if you are still registered as living in the UK with your pension company if not they'll probably make you take the whole amount in one go so you'd have to find a pension provider who does allow you to use the reform act guidelines and transfer your pension to them, they are pretty few and far between at present I only know of one SIPP provider that will do that for expats but I'm sure there must be more

I hope that's a bit clearer for you

Doubt you'll get a great deal at the moment investing cash in any Euro bank with 0.15% interest rate, you may get a better rate with a lump sum locked up for three to five years with them

The best I can find at the moment in the UK for instant access is 1.5% maybe 2.5% for a lock in, Australia is much better but you may have to go there to open an account or have Australian address

Commerzbank do some capital guarantee funds where your original is guaranteed 100% and gains are linked to the performance of the stock market

Alternatively you can buy a mutual fund like JP Sterling Bond or Euro equivalent which invest in things like government bonds or corporate bonds, guilts etc I have some in there and has returned over 5% year to date but you need to watch they can go down as well

While exchange rates are difficult to predict over a short term the longer term trend should be a further weakening of the Thai Baht, the reasoning being that as the US continues with it's current policy of bringing down quantitative easing the USD will strengthen which generally brings currencies like Sterling along with it.

The UK also has a 375billion GBP Asset Purchase Facility which at some stage will be withdrawn this should also have the effect of strengthening Sterling when it happens.

In the longer term inflation is expected to pick up in Western economies which will undoubtedly be countered by the Central Banks raising interest rates thus adding further strength to their currencies

The current political situation will more than likely have a short term effect on Thai Baht rates and naturally political instability should cause it to weaken

My personal strategy at present would be to bring over smaller amounts for day to day expenses and bide my time for the above scenario to take place but it could theoretically be 2017 before we see all of the above playing out fully and of course my Thai girlfriend points out I have been wrong before, quite frequently apparently!!!!

Guess really it depends on what the stocks are, do they provide a dividend, do you need the cash right now?

The Dollar will likely strengthen considerably as quantative easing is taken off so would expect a better exchange rate than of the recent past from next year onwards

You need to do due diligence on the stocks you have to see what there performance is likely to be in the upcoming months, register with Financial Times, they give comprehensive information

I certainly would not put money in a bank at current low interest rates there are a lot better opportunities than that out there, even a stock market tracker would of given over 20% so far this year

It is important to spread the funds around to various investments and finding those sort of returns is not easy in safe investments so here are a few ideas

Commerzbank has a 100% Capital Guarantee fund paying a dividend of 1.6% p.a plus participation in any rises in the fund it is invested in, so if the fund loses money at term you get 1.6% pa plus original capital back if it gains 7% original capital plus 8.6% profit, 5 year term I believe without checking

Litigation funding has become a big source of returns since the change in Champerty laws regarding 3rd party funding EasyQrops have one that is 100% Capital Guarantee and 9% pa, funds held in trust and litigation mainly against multi nationals and governments, these are normally 3 year term

Alternatively look for blue chip stocks that pay a good dividend and long term invest for that alone then you can chose to sell when the stock price is good, just use common sense when looking at companies, hopefully coming out of recession transport and shipping companies and big retailers will be a good long term buy, Maersk Tesco etc but check the divi's

As quantitative easing will almost certainly start to be withdrawn next year and interest rates will inevitably rise at some point short US Treasury Bonds, Proshares TBT ticker on Yahoo Finance will be a good bet for strong returns from an all time low they are up 50-60% this year just on talk of Easing being withdrawn so I'd expect good gains over the next few years with very little downside at this time

Just a few ideas feel free to contact me if you want more info on any of those

Personal Bankers seem to have almost completely disapeared unless your a high net worth client, the only bank I know of that does this is Standard Bank in their offshore division in the Isle of Man, but you have to keep at least 3,000GBP or currency equivalent in the account, if thats any help.

Alternatively to the other answers you could set up an offshore bond in the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands with a company like Royal Skandia or Friends Provident, theres no reporting and no information given to any government worldwide, you can invest in any legitamately quoted vehicle worldwide without any tax, for instance if your looking for safety invest via the bond in a UK Building Society at the gross rate, because it's done via the life company you have no tax liability, be aware though there are charges for the bond which will come out of your profits. As someone suggested you could use Ozzie funds there are some offering 9.5% at present fixed rate but again be aware of currency fluctuation, but the Oz dollar is fairly robust at the moment.There are lots of low risk funds with 8-10% pa available in Sterling if you wish you can access all via a bond

Skandia allow you to link to a Lloyds TSB bank account so you can use an ATM card here to access your cash and they'll deal with the transfer paperwork for you

Generally the advantages over Singapore or other jurisdictions are ease os setting up you don't have fly there to do it, the paperwork can be done from whereever you are, better investor protection than a bank, easy access to any legitamate investment vehicle, you can get an investment expert to manage for you if you don't understand the best ways to get returns, easy access to cash, no tax and no reporting of profits.

Check on any of the companies websites for info on offshore bondsand info on how to do it.

Hope that helps

Hi Choppy

I work in Phuket and deal with all the major financial institutions around the world,I can give you advice on the differences between all the major banks and building societies, minimum amounts, charges etc, onshore, offshore, tax implications for UK non residents.

Happy to sit down over a coffee and give you some advice if you want, you can buy me a beer if you find it useful!!! Drop me a line at [email protected] if you want

Barry