The Nationwide International website has an announcement that it is to close in 2017.

The offshore banking options for expat British are rapidly diminishing, and I find myself hopping from bank to bank. Does anyone know of an offshore account with a low minimum (say, GBP 1,000 or less) that will accept Thai residents?

Link: http://www.nationwideinternational.com/home_files/news.htm

I'm not surprised they are closing. There is little scope for making a profit with today's low interest rates.

I've been moving my money back onshore for several years (higher interest rates, better deposit protection), and the recent scrapping of withholding tax in the UK has only encouraged me to do it faster as I no longer have to look for deposit takers who accept form R105.

I've been moving my money back onshore for several years (higher interest rates, better deposit protection), and the recent scrapping of withholding tax in the UK has only encouraged me to do it faster as I no longer have to look for deposit takers who accept form R105.

Unfortunately, it's now impossible for non-residents to open a UK bank account (at least, without lying). I really don't know what the realistic options now are.

I have to be honest i have never heard of nationwide international, i have a nationwide flex account, does this ruling affect my account, i am in the uk at the moment and can make any adjustments needed if required.

Sorry to sound naive but as stated have never heard of this account, hopefully someone knowlegable can advise me, thanks

No, it doesn't affect you. Nationwide International is the Isle of Man offshore subsidiary, it used to be really great but after Beale became CEO it went down hill and after ten years of loyalty they screwed me so badly I took them the Ombudsman in the IOM and won. The writing was on the wall when they integrated the NWI into NW UK, I'm happy to see it closed.

 

Max Corrigan.  Anything to do with Nationwide's closure of their International arm will not affect your Domestic banking with Nationwide in the UK or any international transfer arrangements you make with your local Branch or on-line.  This is how I figure it from from other International banks' closures.  I too have a Nationwide Flex Account and Nationwide Credit Card (unused) and I have never used the International arm.

On 30/07/2016 at 0:32 PM, Oxx said:

 

Unfortunately, it's now impossible for non-residents to open a UK bank account (at least, without lying). I really don't know what the realistic options now are.

Quite a few UK banks will accept non-resident account-holders. Not the big high street names, admittedly.

13 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

Quite a few UK banks will accept non-resident account-holders. Not the big high street names, admittedly.

Could you perhaps provide a few names?

My wife and I have a number of Nationwide accounts and the bank is fully aware of the fact that we live in Thailand. We opened these accounts years before we emigrated so it would seem that the Nationwide is quite happy for expats to have UK bank accounts as long as they existed when they were living in the UK. Try to open one after you've departed Blighty and you could have a problem.

Ditto HSBC and most high street banks, if they were legacy accounts they can continue.

1 hour ago, KittenKong said:

Quite a few UK banks will accept non-resident account-holders. Not the big high street names, admittedly.

name one

2 hours ago, KittenKong said:

Quite a few UK banks will accept non-resident account-holders. Not the big high street names, admittedly.

 

 

This from the British Bankers Association:-

Non-residents

If you live permanently outside the UK the following products are available to you.

Barclays –International Banking

HSBC –International Services

 

 

https://www.bba.org.uk/customers/personal-banking/current-accounts-personal-banking/bank-account-access-in-the-uk-for-non-residents-2/

 

 

 

I just recently closed my account with NW Int - I think the money laundering rules have made it too expensive to run and low interest rates haven't helped. HSBC were the last bank to be user friendly to expats but they were fined millions for helping open HSBC Swiss accounts recently. 

4 hours ago, salavan said:

name one

Investec.

I have an account with Nationwide Isle of Man, which I opened prior to retiring to live in Thailand. The benefit at that time was that I got interest paid gross. However, with the current low level of interest, which may fall further later this month if the Bank of England lowers base rate, and the new £1000 savings income exemption introduced by the government effective from 5th April, the advantage of having an offshore account has, for the moment, receded considerably. 

Unless interest rates increase substantially, the £1000 exemption will be sufficient for me to continue to receive interest free of tax for at least a number of years. I'll therefore close my account nearer the time and transfer my account to my existing Nationwide accounts,

Alan

10 hours ago, KittenKong said:

Investec.

From their .co.uk site - " We have a range of premier bank accounts that provide you access to a host of benefits for your everyday private banking requirements. Designed for individuals earning £300,000 or above per annum an account from Investec Private Banking......."

https://www.investec.co.uk/private-banking/bank-accounts.html

Offshore- https://www.investec.com/products-and-services/international/banking-services/personal-savings-accounts.html

But minimums 25k.........

Unless there is another site I cannot find?

 

Lloyds International used to accept applications from TH, then they took TH off the acceptable country list, then a few years later added it back. Don't know what the situation is now. Whether it's on/off the list doesn't matter once you have an account opened. 

6 hours ago, topt said:

From their .co.uk site - " We have a range of premier bank accounts that provide you access to a host of benefits for your everyday private banking requirements. Designed for individuals earning £300,000 or above per annum an account from Investec Private Banking......."

But minimums 25k.........

Unless there is another site I cannot find?

 

Sounds about right. I didn't say that they were interested in small accounts, just that they will open accounts for non-residents. There are several other UK banks that will do the same, including one subsidiary of LloydsTSB and a couple of Indian ones.

11 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

 

Sounds about right. I didn't say that they were interested in small accounts, just that they will open accounts for non-residents. There are several other UK banks that will do the same, including one subsidiary of LloydsTSB and a couple of Indian ones.

So, in other words, totally off topic.  In my original post I wrote "Does anyone know of an offshore account with a low minimum (say, GBP 1,000 or less) that will accept Thai residents?"

Do you know any of those?

9 hours ago, regedit said:

Lloyds International used to accept applications from TH, then they took TH off the acceptable country list, then a few years later added it back. Don't know what the situation is now. Whether it's on/off the list doesn't matter once you have an account opened. 

Thailand is currently on the list but the minimum deposit initially for a standard £ account I think is 25K.

 

3 hours ago, Oxx said:

So, in other words, totally off topic.  In my original post I wrote "Does anyone know of an offshore account with a low minimum (say, GBP 1,000 or less) that will accept Thai residents?"

Do you know any of those?

I know over the last 5/10 years a lot of banks have been closing their offshore accounts or bumping up the deposit levels. From the Barclays link supplied earlier it looks like 25k as well. I was forced to move when AIB closed their operation a few years ago.

 

Oxx I would be happy to be proved wrong but I don't think you will find the beast you are after unless there is one with horrendous monthly charges. It is just not worth their while for that level of business.......I know you love a challenge

4 hours ago, Oxx said:

So, in other words, totally off topic.  In my original post I wrote "Does anyone know of an offshore account with a low minimum (say, GBP 1,000 or less) that will accept Thai residents?"

 

I wasnt answering your original post. I was answering a later question asked by both you and topt.

 

As I explained previously I have been progressively moving all my funds back onshore, for several reasons.

 

For offshore accounts with a low opening deposit, how about these: http://www.santander.co.im/default-instant.aspx

On 30/07/2016 at 0:17 PM, KittenKong said:

I'm not surprised they are closing. There is little scope for making a profit with today's low interest rates.

I've been moving my money back onshore for several years (higher interest rates, better deposit protection), and the recent scrapping of withholding tax in the UK has only encouraged me to do it faster as I no longer have to look for deposit takers who accept form R105.

 

Interesting that you see higher interest rates onshore than off because I see the opposite, perhaps you can point at a couple of examples?

The various "best buy" websites have them all. Rates generally seem to be a tad higher onshore, presumably due to the extra competition. Admittedly the offshore providers tend to be a bit slower to respond to general rate movements and so small temporary anomalies can occur.

 

I'm still getting nearly 5% for several onshore deposits I made about 4 years ago, and the closest available offshore at that time was 4.25% Those days are gone though.

Nationwide Int'l has stopped accepting new accounts prior to its announced closure mid-2017. I had hoped they might hand off the accounts to another offshore bank, but there's no indication of that happening.

 

http://www.nationwideinternational.com/home_files/news.htm

On 7/30/2016 at 0:32 PM, Oxx said:

 

Unfortunately, it's now impossible for non-residents to open a UK bank account (at least, without lying). I really don't know what the realistic options now are.

I am in a similar situation.  I am currently with Nationwide International but I am now looking for other options.  Is there anything else out there we can switch to?  Nationwide themselves have FlexBasic, can we sign up for that or must you be a UK resident?

26 minutes ago, ianwuk said:

I am in a similar situation.  I am currently with Nationwide International but I am now looking for other options.  Is there anything else out there we can switch to?  Nationwide themselves have FlexBasic, can we sign up for that or must you be a UK resident?

 

You must be UK resident.

 

The link in the previous posting by "orientalist" makes it clear that you have to be UK resident, and having an account with Nationwide International means nothing.

Anyone know if Santander accepts applicants from Thailand?

13 minutes ago, orientalist said:

Anyone know if Santander accepts applicants from Thailand?

 

If you mean Santander UK, the answer is definitely "no".  There's not a single UK bank that will accept non-residents as new clients.

25 minutes ago, Oxx said:

 

If you mean Santander UK, the answer is definitely "no". 

 

...but once you have a Santander UK account opened they don't seem to have a problem if you change to a non-UK address.

I was thinking of Santander, Jersey, which has a brochure covering non-residents, but interest is 0% unless you deposit a lot.

 

http://www.santanderpb.je/documents/interestratesintl01092016.pdf