Offhsore banking for a British expat

[partington]

4 hours ago, jackdd said:

Why don't you just open a bank account in your home country?

Is there any legal reason why somebody would have an off shore bank account?

A question that betrays very limited experience of the problems of expat banking. Firstly almost no UK bank will open a new account for someone who does not have a UK address, and proof of this address.

 

Secondly a number of UK banks close the accounts of customers who have permanent foreign addresses even if they opened the account while a permanent UK resident and have been a customer for decades.

 

So, thirdly, the legal reason to have an offshore account is so you can continue to manage UK  banking and your assets in a bank that is part of the UK banking system, but knows and does not care that you are not UK resident and in fact is tailored to providing banking services useful to British citizens who live or work outside the UK

Edited March 19, 2018 by partington

[jackdd]

42 minutes ago, partington said:

A question that betrays very limited experience of the problems of expat banking. Firstly almost no UK bank will open a new account for someone who does not have a UK address, and proof of this address.

 

Secondly a number of UK banks close the accounts of customers who have permanent foreign addresses even if they opened the account while a permanent UK resident and have been a customer for decades.

 

So, thirdly, the legal reason to have an offshore account is so you can continue to manage UK  banking and your assets in a bank that is part of the UK banking system, but knows and does not care that you are not UK resident and in fact is tailored to providing banking services useful to British citizens who live or work outside the UK

Ah ok, i see. These problems don't exist in Germany, so i didn't understand why somebody would need an offshore account. In this case i do of course understand it.

Edited March 19, 2018 by jackdd

[Letseng]

On 16/03/2018 at 4:36 PM, Halfaboy said:

Are these Singapore Dollars ?

US$

[Guderian]

Many thanks for all the replies. I don't know why but it's only this morning that the forum told me there were any replies so I'll have to read and digest them a while.

 

It's certainly interesting to see that many people have had similar experiences with offshore banking in Jersey, and not just with Barclays. Sometimes when the seemingly endless forms arrive, with demands to return the information pronto or else your account will be frozen, you can start to feel a bit paranoid, like the system's got it in for you personally. But evidently not.

[Guderian]

On 3/17/2018 at 11:13 AM, Mburo said:

I agree with the OP. Barclays has become useless. Like me, ur likely now chatting to somebody in London who sounds like a Chinese exchange student. She’s even called me at 10pm here.

I’ve contacted CitiBank Singapore and it’s relatively easy to open an account with them. Min. Balance as another poster has said is $200,000.

I have been Barclays for 45 years. It’s gone from 10/10 to -1/10. 

 

 

 

 

Yes, that sounds like my experience with Barclays. I used to have an excellent RM, Paul Clark, who had worked for Barclays in Jersey for years and assured me he’d be there for many more as he enjoyed his job so much. He got the chop, of course, and they moved their staff to London so my RM is now, as you say, somebody who sounds like a Chinese exchange student. I really have problems understanding what she says, it’s like conversing with the Chinaman played by Benny Hill on his TV show way back when.

 

And for an RM she seems to be unable to actually do anything useful so I wonder what the point is? That’s maybe not her fault, I guess the banks have tightened up on what the RM can do nowadays, but it’s not helpful to me when I ask her something and she can’t reply by e-mail so she has to phone me. After all the security checks once she’s called me she then tells me she can’t do what I want and instead puts me through to somebody else who then has to repeat all the security checks. This is not an efficient way for either side to be spending their time.

[Guderian]

On 3/17/2018 at 11:40 AM, Superlight said:

As someone who has worked offshore as an OFA I would say the following.  Offshore banking has changed dramatically and the hoops and fences are not worth bothering with. Assuming your money is legit - and if it is in your bank account it is. Why bother.... Use a local vehicle such as SCB, you will be astounded at the level and excellence of service.

 

One reason I use an offshore account is because I spent may years working overseas and my largest pension is based in Bermuda and as I’m UK non-president for tax the pension is paid gross into my Jersey account. It’s all legit but IMHO there’s no point in waving a red flag in front of HMRC by having it paid into a UK-based account.

 

As I’m sure you know, the TRD aren’t interested in taxing your income outside Thailand unless it’s remitted into the country in the year in which it arises. That would make paying a pension into a Thai bank account unwise, so I prefer to keep it offshore.

 

I know that some Thai banks allow you to open a foreign currency account, but I’ve never looked into it as until the last few years I’ve been happy with my Jersey account. Is that what you’re referring to? If so, how does the TRD treat it for local tax purposes?

[Guderian]

On 3/17/2018 at 2:59 PM, khunPer said:

Most off-shore private banking require a higher minimum today, that about a decade ago, making it difficult to use them, if you don't have a certain level of funds to invest; many European banks now has a minimum of 300,000 €.

 

Furthermore all banks, both off-shore and national, require an increased information level; as another poster said "it's the system", due to white washing and like.

 

You could try to take a look at Saxo Bank, they are fairly easy to open a foreign resident account with, and they have branches all over, including Singapore, and furthermore an award winning on-line trading platform.

 

I was looking at the Saxo trading platform. It was supposed to be recommended by Barclays International as a 'strategic partner'. I asked my RM if this was still the case and she refused to answer, saying it was not a part of the Barclays group so she could not say anything about it, even though there was a Barclays web page recommending it.

[Guderian]

On 3/17/2018 at 5:15 PM, Cranky said:

It all depends what you want - be careful not to mix retail banking services with investment advice.  

 

HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds et al pass information from their retail arm to the investment 'advisors' who in reality are commission driven sales people armed with your personal info.  The likelihood of the 'best' retail bank giving the 'best' investment advice is zero.  Shop around for each.

It seems to have gone from one extreme to the other with Barclays. I’ve been very happy with the advice from the guys in Barclays Dubai, since 2008 I’ve averaged around a 7% return on my investments via them. The last time I saw one of them here in Pattaya he told me they were no longer allowed to approach Barclays customers directly, we had to take the initiative and ask them to recommend something. It seems that Barclays is trying to kill its own investment banking business.

[Guderian]

On 3/17/2018 at 9:27 PM, Jen65 said:

Try Standard Bank IOM  !!!!   

I'll have a look at that, thanks.