Despite doing some searching on here re opening an HSBC on-line account, I can't find what I'm looking for.

Can anyone tell me what 'KYC' stands for? It is one of the questions on the 100 point ID form. At the bottom where it says 'Result of Check' it asks 'Has the appropriate KYC been achieved?'. The HSBC haven't filled in this portion of the form, so before we tick it, thought I better find out what it means! Can anyone remember if they or their bank ticked this box when they took their forms to be verified. Despite a scintillating 40 mins in our local HSBC branch, they had absolutely no idea what to do with the forms and had never been asked to do this before, so hoping someone can remember what this bit meant.

Thanks in advance.

Sam

I have heard of KFC but this one has me we are going to use HSBC when we arrive so would like to hear how this turns out for you.

Good luck.

Hi there i have just searched on google for you. it stands for Know Your Customer. I think its something to do with money laundering and checking out exactly who you are. i will try to find out more.

debbie and jason

Yeah agree with DBass but I thought it was for bank to fill that part out, not you. I'm sure the checking officer ticks it.

My local branch eventually figured out that KYC was Know Your Customer but weren't very clear what to do with this bit as I'm not a HSBC customer.

Somewhere along the line it's gone wrong as I've just had an email from Customer Services in Sydney asking me to do the 100 point check again!

I'm not sure what went wrong so I've emailed back for clarification first.

Elaine M

Just wanted to say that we tried today to open a HSBC account abroad. We've banked with First Direct for ten years and cannot believe that the two banks are linked in some way...appalling and the start of a really bad day today!!! Some people need serious job training and people training!!!
Susan

know you customer is correct.. but I would do like we did, and take your form to the HSBC and let them fill it in.

Bit of advice make sure you have your Australian bank account set up in advance of you arriving. so that all your cards etc are waiting when you arrive. also get money transferred before youn leave England. We arrived and had to wait for our cards because we left it until the week before we left to open the account so nothing was ready when we arrived. we also asked for money to be transferred from England HSBC to Brisbane, while in the Brisbane branch. we have waited 3 weeks and nothing, only a lot of shoulder shrugging from england and Brisbane, meanwhile we are trying to start a new life. in the end we have rung up England for the umteenth time and told them to do it from their end. so we may end up with it done twice but hopefully something will come. We have a car waiting for us to pay for, so it's very frustrating.

so don't be taken in by the thought, that being with the same bank will be quicker... I think they are treated as different. you would think in this day and age it would take hours rather than weeks.

yeah i agree with stefian...
we arranged our oz account a while before we left the uk..had to open account with $2000 i think. so at least we had that when we got here....and as stefian says..all our cards etc were ready too.
we couldnt do our main money transfer until our house went through and it was a nightmare cos it didnt go through until a week after we left the uk..was supposed to go through as we left the uk.
we did all the paper work and organsied potential main money transfer via halewood international (hifx) before we left the uk.soooo when the money was sitting in the uk account we could just phone halewood..agree a rate and then (cos i had previously managed to get the local internal telephone number of uk hsbc branch thankyou kind lady!) i rang her and say..right send the money to halewood...phew...if that makes sense!
so organisation is the key.....try to arrange as much as possible while still in the uk...makes life much easier!...esp when you have 3 kids!
one thing i found weird at first was that you cant pay over the phone for things with your bank card(ie 'switch'/ eftpos as its called here). and it took us a while to sort out a visa card cos we're fortunate not to have a mortgage..so no credit history here.
eventually when we had both been working a while we re applied for one and got one
...but im glad we kept our visa from the uk so that we could use that. we just arranged for the bills to be sent to my mum and then i pay them by internet banking....
just a thought for you who are soon to make the move!
every little helps i hope....

Hi Steph,

Can you please let me know a little more about how to open HSBC account in Australia (Brisbane) befre we arrive. We've got an account with HSBC in NZ, but we are not in NZ now. We'd like to do the same as you did: open the account online before we arrive, transfer some money etc. Any tips on that? Thanks so much
Tasha

I seem to be the only one who has had a hassle free time with HSBC and First Direct.

We rang the International division of HSBC in London (there was a thread about a year ago with the phone number).

They sent us out a pack with all the forms that needed filling in.

We then had to take our 100 point ID check to our HSBC bank, who then rang the International one in London to confirm what they were supposed to do. They stamped everything that they were supposed to stamp. We had also arranged a bankers cheque for $A2000, which we picked up at the same time.

We then sent everything back to HSBC in London, who forwarded it to HSBC in Oz.

About 2 weeks later we received a letter informing us that our account had been opened and we were just to call into the bank when we got to Oz to pick up our cards.

About a week before I left, I used Halewood to transfer some more money over to HSBC in Oz, which went very smoothly.

Then last month, once our house had sold in the UK, I rang First Direct (who we banked with in the UK) and asked them for an exchange rate. Compared it to Halewoods rate, and as it was better than Halewoods, we asked First Direct to transfer our money to our HSBC account over here. They charged us 10 pounds to transfer it, and the money was in our Oz account within 24 hours.

I think we have been very lucky, both with First Direct and HSBC.

Has anyone else had a GOOD experience with HSBC?

Regards

Hi Barrakuda

It happened just as Jay Kay said. but to Transfer money, it seems better to speak to the uk to send money , than to ask Brisbane to ask Uk to send it, it seems to get lost in the process.

Steph

Thanks a lot Steph and JayKay for your replies, all info is helpful. My problem is though that my HSBC account is in NZ, but I'm now based in Vietnam and we will be moving to Brisbane in August without going either to the UK or to NZ. Which certainly adds challange to the task. I suppose I will need to contact people in HSBC NZ for advice, or, start opening the account process after I arrive (which is not ideal of course).

Tasha

YES!

I put a few notes together for opening an HSBC account in this thread.

Hi Everybody.

Thanks for all your replies. As we met the 100 point ID check, I hope I'm right in thinking that that means we would also meet the KYC check so I think I'm going to tick it and hope for the best.

Stefian - we DID take the form into our local HSBC branch and they hadn't got the foggiest what they were supposed to do with it. The 'very nice lady without a clue' photocopied all our docs twice and certified them all but didn't complete the 100 point ID form as she thought we were supposed to do it. In the end we ticked the boxes of the ID we had taken in and went back and the Manager signed it for us, but it left us with the questions 'Was the 100 point ID met' and 'did we meet the KYC check' as she forgot to fill them in. I'm guessing as it is just ticks, HSBC in Australia won't know who ticked them as long as it is correct and signed. Well here's hoping anyway................... .

If this doesn't work, I will ring the London number and try them.

Banks...............AARGHH

Sam