Best place in S.E.Asia to open a £ stirling bank account..

[noobexpat]

7 minutes ago, HugoFastor said:

Wise does pay monthly interest on USD, GBP, and EUR account balances.

 

Another one who doesn't understand?

 

https://wise.com/gb/interest/

[HugoFastor]

7 minutes ago, noobexpat said:

 

Another one who doesn't understand?

 

https://wise.com/gb/interest/

Another one who seems to only understand about Wise accounts setup in the UK. 

 

How they pay interest is different in each jurisdiction:

 

https://wise.com/us/interest/

 

 

[NanLaew]

4 hours ago, Digitalbanana said:

IOM or CI is easier than Asia isn't it? I have an international GBP account in CI with no fees or minimum bal required.

 

Opening a new account in IoM or CI requires that you be resident there.

[roquefort]

48 minutes ago, noobexpat said:

 

Why not just use any investment platform that you already have?

This is for noobs who've never invested before and just see 4.67%

Its not slightly, the fund costs 0.1% and wise takes 0.46%

 

I'm not looking to invest in gilts. I can do that through my investment portfolio. This is a current account to park spare cash and earn a decent rate of interest.

[bradiston]

Wise provides sort code, account no, bank address, IBAN and all the rest. I have both £ and $ accounts. But no interest if you're registered in Thailand. Mostly EU and US.

[BangkokAlan]

On 2/21/2024 at 11:31 PM, BillStrangeOgre said:

Thanks, do you know if I would need a visa or a work permit etc to open an account in Singapore?

Cheers

Almost impossible to open an account in a country you don't have permanent or temporary residency (not tourist). Even in Thailand it's hard to open accounts without some type of long-term visa. 

[noobexpat]

2 hours ago, HugoFastor said:

Another one who seems to only understand about Wise accounts setup in the UK. 

 

How they pay interest is different in each jurisdiction:

 

https://wise.com/us/interest/

 

 

 

Fair enough, but look at the title (£) ...usa not invited 😉

 

[noobexpat]

2 hours ago, roquefort said:

I'm not looking to invest in gilts. I can do that through my investment portfolio. This is a current account to park spare cash and earn a decent rate of interest.

 

The 4.67% you quoted. What do you think that is?

 

[HugoFastor]

31 minutes ago, noobexpat said:

 

Fair enough, but look at the title (£) ...usa not invited 😉

 

True, but you could have an address in the USA, Germany or one of the many other countries that Wise are registered to operate in and still receive interest on your £ balance without being invested into a fund as you would need to do with a UK address. Not sure why they don't pay straight interest to people with a UK residence address, but that seems to be the way it is. 
 

I should have mentioned this earlier, but Skipton is another good option for people wanting an offshore Sterling account and they are located in Guernsey. They are supposed to be good to deal with as well:

 

https://www.skiptoninternational.com/offshore-savings-accounts

 

I believe Skipton has no minimum balance requirements, but require at least a £10,000 balance to earn interest. In Guernsey, bank deposits are also protected by the Guernsey Banking Deposit Compensation Scheme, which provides compensation to depositors in the event that a licensed bank is unable to meet its obligations.

Edited February 23 by HugoFastor

[sungod]

3 hours ago, NanLaew said:

 

Opening a new account in IoM or CI requires that you be resident there.

really?

[Paul9989]

4 hours ago, NanLaew said:

 

Opening a new account in IoM or CI requires that you be resident there.

Absolutely incorrect if you reside outside of IoM or CI and are aiming to open an offshore account. If you wanted to open an onshore account at a local bank over there then, yes, you would need to be a resident there and would need to prove local residency. 

Edited February 23 by Paul9989

[Liverpool Lou]

11 hours ago, roquefort said:

Wise beats all the traditional offshore banks in terms of ease of opening accounts and convenience.

That's because a Wise account is not a bank account.

[Liverpool Lou]

9 hours ago, Digitalbanana said:

IOM or CI is easier than Asia isn't it? I have an international GBP account in CI with no fees or minimum bal required.

Which bank?  Which Channel Island?

Edited February 23 by Liverpool Lou

[Liverpool Lou]

2 hours ago, HugoFastor said:

https://www.skiptoninternational.com/offshore-savings-accounts

 

I believe Skipton has no minimum balance requirements

£25,000 minimum deposit for a savings account.

 

"How much would you like to invest with Skipton International?

 

Minimum £25,000 deposit"

Edited February 23 by Liverpool Lou

[noobexpat]

4 hours ago, HugoFastor said:

True, but you could have an address in the USA, Germany or one of the many other countries that Wise are registered to operate in and still receive interest on your £ balance without being invested into a fund as you would need to do with a UK address. Not sure why they don't pay straight interest to people with a UK residence address, but that seems to be the way it is. 
 

I should have mentioned this earlier, but Skipton is another good option for people wanting an offshore Sterling account and they are located in Guernsey. They are supposed to be good to deal with as well:

 

https://www.skiptoninternational.com/offshore-savings-accounts

 

I believe Skipton has no minimum balance requirements, but require at least a £10,000 balance to earn interest. In Guernsey, bank deposits are also protected by the Guernsey Banking Deposit Compensation Scheme, which provides compensation to depositors in the event that a licensed bank is unable to meet its obligations.

 

Righto ...good info 

[VocalNeal]

6 hours ago, BangkokAlan said:

Almost impossible to open an account in a country you don't have permanent or temporary residency (not tourist). Even in Thailand it's hard to open accounts without some type of long-term visa. 

 

As you said . Almost but not impossible.

[VocalNeal]

7 hours ago, NanLaew said:

 

Opening a new account in IoM or CI requires that you be resident there.

 

Erroneous information.

[NanLaew]

3 hours ago, Paul9989 said:

7 hours ago, NanLaew said:

 

Opening a new account in IoM or CI requires that you be resident there.

Absolutely incorrect if you reside outside of IoM or CI and are aiming to open an offshore account. If you wanted to open an onshore account at a local bank over there then, yes, you would need to be a resident there and would need to prove local residency. 

 

Yes, my imprecision, I apologize.

 

A non-resident can indeed open a new offshore account in these jurisdictions on the proviso that a substantial opening deposit is made, and a significant balance is retained.

 

As suggested earlier, offshore banking is largely a quest to sign-up customers with a high net worth and keep them hooked up to their bespoke milking machines.

[NanLaew]

2 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

12 hours ago, Digitalbanana said:

IOM or CI is easier than Asia isn't it? I have an international GBP account in CI with no fees or minimum bal required.

Which bank?  Which Channel Island?

 

And probably more to the point, when was that no-fee, no-minimums account first opened, and what are the rules that one needs to abide by to make sure it retains the no-fee, no-minimums status?

 

In other news, I now qualify for the East Lancs bus pass.

[HugoFastor]

4 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

£25,000 minimum deposit for a savings account.

 

"How much would you like to invest with Skipton International?

 

Minimum £25,000 deposit"

Yes, they do require a £25,000 initial account opening deposit, but, you only need to maintain a balance of £10,000 over the long-term. So you could withdraw 15K after a few months if you wanted to. Anyway, 25K is far better than the 100K required by many of the big banks like HSBC, Barclays, Santander, etc. And Skipton generally pays better interest rates too. 

[HugoFastor]

A good (purely) online bank option for GBP is N26 Bank. 
 

https://n26.com/en-eu/blog/n26-now-available-to-everyone-in-the-uk
 

However, you are going to need a verifiable UK address to open this account and most likely you will need to physically be in the UK when you open the account because they will do a video call verification and check your IP address to ensure your in the UK. 
 

Otherwise, you can use the account normally once you have the account open and you don't need to stay in the UK. 
 

They will provide an ATM card for easy access to the account and send it by post to your UK address.
 

They also have no minimum balance requirements. Can even have a zero balance once the account is open. 

[aublumberg]

On 2/22/2024 at 12:11 AM, BillStrangeOgre said:

Hi, I'm a Brit looking to open a Stirling bank account. I have a Bangkok bank account here in Bangkok but opening a Stirling account with them is still not easy and banking in Thailand is not cheap.

Have you considered HSBC Expat? Found them good to work with. 

 

https://www.expat.hsbc.com/international-banking/products/bank-account 

Interest rates offered: https://expatexplorer.hsbc.com/interest-rates 

Edited February 24 by aublumberg

[Digitalbanana]

19 hours ago, NanLaew said:

And probably more to the point, when was that no-fee, no-minimums account first opened, and what are the rules that one needs to abide by to make sure it retains the no-fee, no-minimums status?

 

In other news, I now qualify for the East Lancs bus pass.

 

I opened a new NatWest international account in the CI with no fees and no minimum balance last year from Thailand, but I did already have an account there that I closed down and moved the money from as they were about to introduce fees on that old account. The new account is called an Instant Saver account. Meets my needs. I think only rules to abide by are proof I am still alive. It does not offer auto bill payments, but comes with internet banking so I can send the GBP anywhere I like from here inc to Wise GBP account at no cost per transfer also.

 

Good luck with the East Lancs bus pass.

[BKKKevin]

On 2/22/2024 at 9:30 PM, noobexpat said:

 

They don't offer interest bearing deposit accounts though, only their fixed interest funds through blackrock(?) ...which are overpriced anyway.

My Wise USD account pays 4.85%…

Also a bit off subject but US citizens can have their Social Security payments deposited directly to their Wise account.

[HugoFastor]

14 hours ago, Digitalbanana said:

 

I opened a new NatWest international account in the CI with no fees and no minimum balance last year from Thailand, but I did already have an account there that I closed down and moved the money from as they were about to introduce fees on that old account. The new account is called an Instant Saver account. Meets my needs. I think only rules to abide by are proof I am still alive. It does not offer auto bill payments, but comes with internet banking so I can send the GBP anywhere I like from here inc to Wise GBP account at no cost per transfer also.

 

Good luck with the East Lancs bus pass.

Presumably, if you weren't already a customer of the bank, you would've had to go through the standard passport copy and address certification process for new overseas customers, thus requiring your documents to be certified (possibly by a lawyer), unless they offer some form of video call document verification method for this. 
 

The no minimum balance is definitely a nice benefit though, same as N26 Bank. 

[VocalNeal]

On 2/24/2024 at 12:29 AM, NanLaew said:

 

Yes, my imprecision, I apologize.

 

A non-resident can indeed open a new offshore account in these jurisdictions on the proviso that a substantial opening deposit is made, and a significant balance is retained.

 

As suggested earlier, offshore banking is largely a quest to sign-up customers with a high net worth and keep them hooked up to their bespoke milking machines.

 

I just needed an account where someone in UK could simply transfer GBP. It does cost GBP 50 per annum for the privilege, otherwise OK.  

[Digitalbanana]

On 2/25/2024 at 11:41 AM, HugoFastor said:

Presumably, if you weren't already a customer of the bank, you would've had to go through the standard passport copy and address certification process for new overseas customers, thus requiring your documents to be certified (possibly by a lawyer), unless they offer some form of video call document verification method for this. 

Oh yes I did that also. Proof of ID and proof of address in Thailand. For latter they DHLd me a letter to sign and return so DHL proved my address! I think PP had to be notarised by Thai lawyer. This all happened about 4-5 years ago as part of new KYC document requirements.