HSBC Offshore

[Isan Farang]

At present I am banking with HSBC offshore in Jersey.

I just received the following form from HSBC today, and they appear to be looking for a lot of information.

I am wondering if HSBC requires permission from myself to pass out the information on this form, my thoughts are that this info is required by the UK government but they are using the banks to obtain the info

Personal_Information_Form_PDF_A_3.pdf

[cmsally]

Yes I received the same. Most of it really is none of their business!

[canuckoverseas]

All the jersey banks have been doing this, has to comply with new regulations, for tracking money laundering/terrorism ect....

[Soutpeel]

Although not for this specific reason, but the rumour of withholding tax on EU "citizens" even if your not resident in the EU, some years back I pulled the plug on all my accounts in jersey and the IOM and shifted the lot to Singapore

[Isan Farang]

Although not for this specific reason, but the rumour of withholding tax on EU "citizens" even if your not resident in the EU, some years back I pulled the plug on all my accounts in jersey and the IOM and shifted the lot to Singapore

I am thinking along the same lines, i am supposed to be a premier customer so i dread to think about the entry level service

What's your thoughts on a decent bank in Singapore, I have currency in USD, AUD, GBP. I get almost nothing in interest for my USD & GBP from Jersey but the account in OZ pays 3.25 for a 1 year TD lock in

I day rate in the O&G sector so my payment is in USD. I am holding a UK passport.

[Soutpeel]

Although not for this specific reason, but the rumour of withholding tax on EU "citizens" even if your not resident in the EU, some years back I pulled the plug on all my accounts in jersey and the IOM and shifted the lot to Singapore

I am thinking along the same lines, i am supposed to be a premier customer so i dread to think about the entry level service

What's your thoughts on a decent bank in Singapore, I have currency in USD, AUD, GBP. I get almost nothing in interest for my USD & GBP from Jersey but the account in OZ pays 3.25 for a 1 year TD lock in

I day rate in the O&G sector so my payment is in USD. I am holding a UK passport.

I am with Citi international personal banking in Sing, been with the them for quite a few years now and they are good, USD 150k gets you citigold ( premier) account and can hold multiple currency accounts using your USD as the principle current account

[Isan Farang]

Although not for this specific reason, but the rumour of withholding tax on EU "citizens" even if your not resident in the EU, some years back I pulled the plug on all my accounts in jersey and the IOM and shifted the lot to Singapore

I am thinking along the same lines, i am supposed to be a premier customer so i dread to think about the entry level service

What's your thoughts on a decent bank in Singapore, I have currency in USD, AUD, GBP. I get almost nothing in interest for my USD & GBP from Jersey but the account in OZ pays 3.25 for a 1 year TD lock in

I day rate in the O&G sector so my payment is in USD. I am holding a UK passport.

I am with Citi international personal banking in Sing, been with the them for quite a few years now and they are good, USD 150k gets you citigold ( premier) account and can hold multiple currency accounts using your USD as the principle current account

Thanks for the info, can I ask you if your main account is in USD will they provide a USD debit card ?

I work in the Middle East so I need a card to pull cash from the ATM mostly in the UAE & Oman, and then recharge all my expenses in USD.

[Baerboxer]

I received the same request last year. I provided the information at a meeting with them in HK. My relationship manager, previous relationship manager (they were just changing over) and one of their investment managers were at the meeting. Copies were taken and some originals provided. I thought that was it. I even received an email confirming all docs received and thanking me.

I received more standard emails saying I had missed the deadline and giving me a new deadline with the threat of suspending transactions on the accounts. I spoke to someone senior at their Premier call center who confirmed in writing the accounts would not be suspended whilst my relationship manager sorted it. My relationship manager eventually confirmed this was sorted internally with the usual apologies. Dragged on till early September though.

Guess what - I received a new request, for all the same info, on the 24th December, asking for completion by the 20th Feb. Yesterday I received another email asking for completion by the 10th March with the threat of suspension paragraph inserted.

I spoke to the Jersey call center last night and after some while discussing they said the Relationship Manager in HK has got to sort it out and they would send her an email to contact me. I didn't hear from her so tried to call her. Left 2 voice mails and sent a strong email. No response yet. See what tomorrow rings.

It is only HSBC International or Expat that I have this crap from. I've been a Premier customer since 2001 with them, and have attended meetings at Canary Wharf with them. I don't have any such issues with HSBC UK or HSBC Middle East where I have accounts. I've been a customer since 1974 (originally Midland Bank) and still maintain the original current account number and sort code.

All the issues I've had with incorrect postings on accounts, credit and debit, data theft and requests for copious information have been with Jersey.

I really don't want this repeated nonsense, and unless I get a very satisfactory answer will take them out my banking equation.

PM me if I can be of help or if you want to know the outcome.

[Baerboxer]

Although not for this specific reason, but the rumour of withholding tax on EU "citizens" even if your not resident in the EU, some years back I pulled the plug on all my accounts in jersey and the IOM and shifted the lot to Singapore

I am thinking along the same lines, i am supposed to be a premier customer so i dread to think about the entry level service

What's your thoughts on a decent bank in Singapore, I have currency in USD, AUD, GBP. I get almost nothing in interest for my USD & GBP from Jersey but the account in OZ pays 3.25 for a 1 year TD lock in

I day rate in the O&G sector so my payment is in USD. I am holding a UK passport.

I am with Citi international personal banking in Sing, been with the them for quite a few years now and they are good, USD 150k gets you citigold ( premier) account and can hold multiple currency accounts using your USD as the principle current account

Thanks Soutpeel. Do you have a contact there? Presume you have to go in person to open the accounts? I will be in SG in June.

[rwdrwdrwd]

@Baerboxer you do not have to go there, I opened an account without leaving Thailand, just couriered over a few documents. Took 2 or 3 weeks to get set up.

[Isan Farang]

I received the same request last year. I provided the information at a meeting with them in HK. My relationship manager, previous relationship manager (they were just changing over) and one of their investment managers were at the meeting. Copies were taken and some originals provided. I thought that was it. I even received an email confirming all docs received and thanking me.

I received more standard emails saying I had missed the deadline and giving me a new deadline with the threat of suspending transactions on the accounts. I spoke to someone senior at their Premier call center who confirmed in writing the accounts would not be suspended whilst my relationship manager sorted it. My relationship manager eventually confirmed this was sorted internally with the usual apologies. Dragged on till early September though.

Guess what - I received a new request, for all the same info, on the 24th December, asking for completion by the 20th Feb. Yesterday I received another email asking for completion by the 10th March with the threat of suspension paragraph inserted.

I spoke to the Jersey call center last night and after some while discussing they said the Relationship Manager in HK has got to sort it out and they would send her an email to contact me. I didn't hear from her so tried to call her. Left 2 voice mails and sent a strong email. No response yet. See what tomorrow rings.

It is only HSBC International or Expat that I have this crap from. I've been a Premier customer since 2001 with them, and have attended meetings at Canary Wharf with them. I don't have any such issues with HSBC UK or HSBC Middle East where I have accounts. I've been a customer since 1974 (originally Midland Bank) and still maintain the original current account number and sort code.

All the issues I've had with incorrect postings on accounts, credit and debit, data theft and requests for copious information have been with Jersey.

I really don't want this repeated nonsense, and unless I get a very satisfactory answer will take them out my banking equation.

PM me if I can be of help or if you want to know the outcome.

Thanks for the info provided. Its very strange for me as my main account is at Jersey but my relationship manager is based in Hong Kong and I have no account in Hong Kong. I also provided all this information last year and now again they are asking for the same information. I called Jersey yesterday and informed them I have just fired my relationship manager as she is useless, and will not reply to any of my mails and is impossible to locate.

HSBC Jersey is defiantly on a downward slope and it appears they have employed a lot of clowns who know nothing. Yesterday Jersey branch told me they would have someone call me at 10.00 GMT, and you guessed it no one called. You will never get any satisfactory answer from them, they will tell you they are very sorry and it will all be sorted out. These issues are never ending and you just get passed around the system.

I know Jersey have a lot of customers based in Thailand, and if they do not get there act together many will get fed up with the crap service and move to Singapore.

Regarding your Relationship Manager in HK would her initials be RF ?

[ThaiPauly]

I received the same request last year. I provided the information at a meeting with them in HK. My relationship manager, previous relationship manager (they were just changing over) and one of their investment managers were at the meeting. Copies were taken and some originals provided. I thought that was it. I even received an email confirming all docs received and thanking me.

I received more standard emails saying I had missed the deadline and giving me a new deadline with the threat of suspending transactions on the accounts. I spoke to someone senior at their Premier call center who confirmed in writing the accounts would not be suspended whilst my relationship manager sorted it. My relationship manager eventually confirmed this was sorted internally with the usual apologies. Dragged on till early September though.

Guess what - I received a new request, for all the same info, on the 24th December, asking for completion by the 20th Feb. Yesterday I received another email asking for completion by the 10th March with the threat of suspension paragraph inserted.

I spoke to the Jersey call center last night and after some while discussing they said the Relationship Manager in HK has got to sort it out and they would send her an email to contact me. I didn't hear from her so tried to call her. Left 2 voice mails and sent a strong email. No response yet. See what tomorrow rings.

It is only HSBC International or Expat that I have this crap from. I've been a Premier customer since 2001 with them, and have attended meetings at Canary Wharf with them. I don't have any such issues with HSBC UK or HSBC Middle East where I have accounts. I've been a customer since 1974 (originally Midland Bank) and still maintain the original current account number and sort code.

All the issues I've had with incorrect postings on accounts, credit and debit, data theft and requests for copious information have been with Jersey.

I really don't want this repeated nonsense, and unless I get a very satisfactory answer will take them out my banking equation.

PM me if I can be of help or if you want to know the outcome.

Thanks for the info provided. Its very strange for me as my main account is at Jersey but my relationship manager is based in Hong Kong and I have no account in Hong Kong. I also provided all this information last year and now again they are asking for the same information. I called Jersey yesterday and informed them I have just fired my relationship manager as she is useless, and will not reply to any of my mails and is impossible to locate.

I have the same situation, bank in Jersey , relationship manager in HK, but since I have been with them I have had many RM's some based in Singapore others in HK and even Jersey itself.

I sent back all the answers to their very intrusive questioning only to get another letter saying that if I did not respond it could lead to the eventual CLOSURE of my account !!!.

This prompted me to phone Jersey and after a 10 minute wait they told me that they now had it.

I don't like being threatened by banks, they have my money, they pay not a penny in interest....time to consider alternatives

[Schmeen]

Thanks for the info provided. Its very strange for me as my main account is at Jersey but my relationship manager is based in Hong Kong and I have no account in Hong Kong. I also provided all this information last year and now again they are asking for the same information. I called Jersey yesterday and informed them I have just fired my relationship manager as she is useless, and will not reply to any of my mails and is impossible to locate.

HSBC Jersey is defiantly on a downward slope and it appears they have employed a lot of clowns who know nothing. Yesterday Jersey branch told me they would have someone call me at 10.00 GMT, and you guessed it no one called. You will never get any satisfactory answer from them, they will tell you they are very sorry and it will all be sorted out. These issues are never ending and you just get passed around the system.

I know Jersey have a lot of customers based in Thailand, and if they do not get there act together many will get fed up with the crap service and move to Singapore.

Regarding your Relationship Manager in HK would her initials be RF ?

My relationship manager is certainly initialed RF. As much use as tits on a bull.

I emailed her recently telling her to contact me as I needed to make a large currency transaction. This is what she told me to do.

After no response I went directly to the treasury in Jersey and did it myself. Two days later I got a response asking how much I wanted to transfer so she could look at it and get back to me.

Regarding this topic.

I also have received these rather frequently often just weeks after completing them. I asked her if I needed to do it again, she said she'd get back to me, twice after two weeks my third request was greeted with an out of office notice that took us another two weeks down the line.

I spoke to Jersey (again at my expense) and they said I had to complete them this time.**

I did.... by email (Jan 13th), they acknowledged receipt) and by hard copy with original documents. Registered of course...received Jan 20th.

Yesterday my wife who is a joint account holder got an email saying we hadn't replied and out accounts were now restricted.

My wife (of course it was me) wrote a stern reply telling them that if our cards are restricted just prior to departing on a family holiday to Japan we would be most displeased.

I think I shall now write to RF, not that she'll be awake until Tuesday......

edit** Incidentally I have an email from my previous RM in HK stating that I would not need to have this information reviewed until 2020 after I completed it last time.

Edited February 6, 2015 by Schmeen

[Schmeen]

Regarding offshore banks in other countries....

I thought about Singapore but my long term intention is to return to the UK (or at least Europe) within 3-4 years, I don't want to stay in Thailand once my job here finishes.

I would like to start looking at an alternative to HSBC Jersey however, no point in threatening closure if you are not going to do it.

Does Singapore still work well if I'm back in the UK or would transfer costs be higher?

Any recommendations for me to look at?

[Cloggie]

I opened an 'offshore account' with HSBC in Singapore years ago, if I remember it correctly they only wanted two utility bills to prove my address.

Never a question asked, not then - not now :-)

[cmsally]

Actually looking back I received something similar last year and if I remember correctly, I conveniently forgot to send it back. It culminated in a phone call from the relationship manager trying to extract info out of me, with me being as vague as possible. Maybe this years plan of action will be the same.

[paz]

I have received this advice, after having completed all the required information last year, including a lawyer's stamp on utility bills to prove residence outside the UE.

Since I wasn't happy about it, I called customer support and complained, they had then a relationship manager call me the day after. He kind of admitted that from now on, they may require to re-submit all the information every year. I told him that the most I could have done could be to minimally fill the form as "nothing changed" and sign it. He indicated that that would be probably be OK, and if not we would go from there.

Below the 2nd advice received yesterday:

We wrote to you recently asking you to provide us with your most up-to-date information. Our records show we haven’t received this information from you. If you have sent this to us recently, please accept our apologies and ignore this message. If you have not yet sent us this information, please complete and return our Personal Information Form with the documentation by 10 March 2015. Why we need this from you

As we mentioned in our earlier message, we’re introducing HSBC Safeguard, a series of initiatives designed to better protect all of our customers from fraud and financial crime. To do this effectively, we need to ensure the information we have about you is accurate. Having your most up-to-date details also enables us to meet our regulatory and legal obligations. What happens if we don’t receive this information?

We want to be able to meet your banking needs and help you manage your finances effectively. We’d also like to avoid any disruption to your banking services, so we hope you’ll find the time to provide the information we need. As part of our regulatory and legal obligations, we need to hold the most up-to-date information for our customers. If we don’t receive this information from you by the above date, regrettably, you will no longer be able to carry out the following transactions on your account:

• Transact via our online banking service
• Send or receive international payments or use your debit card
• Continue with any recurring instructions currently in place (excluding UK standing orders and direct debits) If we still haven’t received all your information by 11 May 2015, unfortunately in addition to the above, we will also have to consider restricting any UK standing orders and direct debits that may be on your account. Please note if you have a joint account, we will require both account holders to complete this information and return it to us.

Edited February 6, 2015 by paz

[yougivemebaby]

Although not for this specific reason, but the rumour of withholding tax on EU "citizens" even if your not resident in the EU, some years back I pulled the plug on all my accounts in jersey and the IOM and shifted the lot to Singapore

I am thinking along the same lines, i am supposed to be a premier customer so i dread to think about the entry level service

What's your thoughts on a decent bank in Singapore, I have currency in USD, AUD, GBP. I get almost nothing in interest for my USD & GBP from Jersey but the account in OZ pays 3.25 for a 1 year TD lock in

I day rate in the O&G sector so my payment is in USD. I am holding a UK passport.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I do believe ALL banks world wide are following the US IRS lead with FATCA. The only non compliant countries were China and Russian. But I do believe China is on board now too.

[Kered]

At present I am banking with HSBC offshore in Jersey.

I just received the following form from HSBC today, and they appear to be looking for a lot of information.

I am wondering if HSBC requires permission from myself to pass out the information on this form, my thoughts are that this info is required by the UK government but they are using the banks to obtain the info

[Kered]

It is nothing to do directly with the UK it is the European money laundering regulations and a pain in the ar.e. Thailand has had a bad reputation.

[radjag]

I banked with HSBC Offshore (and also HSBC in Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, Australia and USA at various times) for over 30 years. The bureaucracy and ineptitude progressively got worse.

When HSBC sold their retail operation in Thailand to BAY Krungsri I was quite upset, but it turned out to be a godsend. My HSBC Thailand relationship manager moved over to BAY and very quickly organised for me a Platinum VISA card and all of the accounts I need (both in Baht and US$). Service is excellent - much, much, much better than HSBC, even though it is generally their old staff.

I have now closed all of my HSBC accounts in several countries and will never darken their doors again.

[HenryC]

Had the same thing from HSBC Expat jersey last year and thought it was sorted as I haven't changed address, but Oh no, after talking to my personal <deleted>, looks like it will be a yearly occurrence.

To compound the issue, I do not have my name on any utility bills at my condo address I use for post in Thailand. I had to get a letter from my employer confirming my address in Thailand. They accepted that.

The stupidity of it all - even tho I hadn't changed address I had to give the same letter this year.

I banked a few years ago with HSBC Singapore and left them as they charged extortionate rates for transferring between HSBC accounts. HSBC Expat jersey is free to transfer to HSBC UK.

These banks are becoming more and more intrusive. I am thinking of HK next. I heard it probably the best bet if you reside overseas in SEA.

[jacko45k]

Is this just peculiar to HSBC or will other Jersey banks be following the lead?

[kbelyeu]

Although not for this specific reason, but the rumour of withholding tax on EU "citizens" even if your not resident in the EU, some years back I pulled the plug on all my accounts in jersey and the IOM and shifted the lot to Singapore

I am thinking along the same lines, i am supposed to be a premier customer so i dread to think about the entry level service

What's your thoughts on a decent bank in Singapore, I have currency in USD, AUD, GBP. I get almost nothing in interest for my USD & GBP from Jersey but the account in OZ pays 3.25 for a 1 year TD lock in

I day rate in the O&G sector so my payment is in USD. I am holding a UK passport.

I am with Citi international personal banking in Sing, been with the them for quite a few years now and they are good, USD 150k gets you citigold ( premier) account and can hold multiple currency accounts using your USD as the principle current account

Thanks for the info, can I ask you if your main account is in USD will they provide a USD debit card ?

I work in the Middle East so I need a card to pull cash from the ATM mostly in the UAE & Oman, and then recharge all my expenses in USD.

Yes. The primary account is held in US dollars and using the debit card you can withdraw US dollars.

Another plus I rarely see wire transfers worldwide taking longer than 24 hours on business days and as short as 1 hour.

Regards,

Kurt

[karlclose]

Much the same story as the posts above:

Received a form last year that I begrudgingly filled in and returned. In December I received a new form asking for the same details, followed by a reminder letter a few days ago – which I found to be too threatening. I sent a strong email reply and within a few hours my RM (also based in HK but not the one mentioned above) phoned me to apologise. He said that many people had complained about the form and the information needed to fill it in. He said that it was the bank regulators in Jersey that have asked that the banks hold this information on their clients and in order to comply they had sent the form to every account holder. He was aware that people were not happy with the situation and had been in touch with Jersey but there is no scope for relaxing any of the requirement. He also mentioned that it is likely that this information would be required on an annual basis, although it might be in a simpler form to update anything that has changed from the previous year. He said that some clients had said this was not acceptable and were going to move their accounts – I think many will do this.

I will be filling in and submitting the form, but at the same time will look to see if there are any more convenient ways to do my banking. As I am based in BKK and will be here for the duration it would be nice to find something here. When I opened my HSBC account many years ago they had an office on Silom that housed an Offshore account representative, but then the Offshore part moved to HK – been downhill ever since. I noticed that Standard Chartered have offices in BKK has anyone experience of using them?

[Geordie59]

I have HSBC a premier accounts in Manila and KLM. The RM in Manila is useless and I hardly ever use the accounts there. The RM in KL is very good and I have made a lot of money from investments there over the years.

For those commenting on the costs of transferring between HSBC accounts I suggest you use Global View, it is free and instant.

I am pretty sure it is less the bank and more the RM that makes the difference in people's good or bad experiences so changing to City Bank for example would still be a gamble.

As for the Monet laundering / terrorism claims - we all know it about taxation.

[karlclose]

Is this just peculiar to HSBC or will other Jersey banks be following the lead?

My Relation Manager said the form was a requirement of the Jersey bank regulators so I guess it appies to all banks based there - although I haven't heard about other banks.

[thurien]

Yes I received the same. Most of it really is none of their business!

look at the last page of that HSBC questionaire: "We are here to help": yes, help governments, help tax offices, help anybody but not the client

[cmsally]

I remember last year (I didn't fill in the form and the RM called me). Presumably she filled it in for me.

A lot of my answers were - don't know. One question was actually basically how much money do you have in total (ie worded as, what percentage of your total assets is your acct at HSBC worth)

I laughed at that one.

[rotary]

Standard Chartered in Singapore has good service and provide a key fob for the 3th verification number for online banking. Around 5 years ago you could start an account there by filling out their form they emailed you, going to one of their banks in the country you were in so they witness you signing the papers then mail the paperwork to Singapore. You never had to go to Singapore. I am not sure if they will still do this.

As far as HSBC well they are trying to meet the new international standards countries blame on terrorist but we all know it is a tax thing. I worked for a company one time we had 1.5 million USD in an account at HSBC. We asked for a 1 million USD letter of guarantee letter from HSBC for customs clearance reasons against equipment we would import for 6 months, use then export out of the country. The money was staying in the bank to back up the letter. HSBC charged us 26,000 USD just to write that letter if memory serves me right. As far as Citibank their roots are in the USA so I would stay away from them. I know they run their Singapore operation as a separate bank they say but of all the banks I have used in business for transfers and accounts it seems like if there is a problem it is with an American bank. Easier to give US banks a pass.