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Opening up a UK Bank Account from Canada - Which Bank is Best?

Opening up a UK Bank Account from Canada - Which Bank is Best?

Old Feb 25th 2023, 3:16 pm
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Default Opening up a UK Bank Account from Canada - Which Bank is Best?

We have been living in Canada for almost 33 years. We have been contributing to our UK State Pension and wish to open up a bank account to be able to make payments easier. Which banks are the preferred method for these sort of transactions. We have British Passports.
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Old Feb 25th 2023, 4:40 pm
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Default Re: Opening up a UK Bank Account from Canada - Which Bank is Best?

If you are not residendent in the UK it is unlikely that any UK bank will currently open an account for you, which means that your only viable option is something like the "borderless account" that Wise offers.

Wise will give you a Sort Code and account number that looks exactly like a UK bank account, which can be used to both send and receive payments, so which should meet your needs, however I would point out that Wise is not a bank and a "borderless account is" not a bank account* for the purposes of deposit insurance, so I would treat a borderless account primarily as a transactional service, not a place to hold significant funds.

* Wise's web site talks about how you are protected by "segregation of funds" which is great, but that is not the same as, nor IMO a complete replacement for deposit insurance, which pays back 100% of the first £85,000 of your deposit (UK rules) if a bank fails.
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Old Mar 16th 2023, 11:29 pm
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Default Re: Opening up a UK Bank Account from Canada - Which Bank is Best?

The UK International Pension Centre will send your pension to any Canadian Bank, either as GBP or as CAN$.

I phoned them and they were very helpful, everything was sorted out in one phone call.

​​​​​​https://www.gov.uk/international-pension-centre
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Old Mar 17th 2023, 9:19 pm
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Default Re: Opening up a UK Bank Account from Canada - Which Bank is Best?

We have a UK HSBC account which we opened since we lived in Canada. It is linked to our Canadian HSBC accounts and we can instantly transfer money between them.
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Old Mar 20th 2023, 6:39 pm
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Default Re: Opening up a UK Bank Account from Canada - Which Bank is Best?

Originally Posted by S and J W
We have been living in Canada for almost 33 years. We have been contributing to our UK State Pension and wish to open up a bank account to be able to make payments easier. Which banks are the preferred method for these sort of transactions. We have British Passports.
HSBC, Barclays & Lloyds are the top 3 banks in the UK.
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Old Apr 8th 2023, 4:37 am
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Default Re: Opening up a UK Bank Account from Canada - Which Bank is Best?

Originally Posted by HGerchikov
We have a UK HSBC account which we opened since we lived in Canada. It is linked to our Canadian HSBC accounts and we can instantly transfer money between them.
I have this set up with HSBC Canada for my Canadian pension and Investments when I moved back to the UK. HSBC are pulling out of Canada at the end of the year and have been bought out by RBC providing the authorities authorise the sale. I am not sure how this will work out!
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Old Apr 14th 2023, 12:11 pm
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Default Re: Opening up a UK Bank Account from Canada - Which Bank is Best?

Originally Posted by getoutofbritainquick
I have this set up with HSBC Canada for my Canadian pension and Investments when I moved back to the UK. HSBC are pulling out of Canada at the end of the year and have been bought out by RBC providing the authorities authorise the sale. I am not sure how this will work out!
I opened up HSBC premier last week and asked the branch manager this question, he said the reason RBC purchased HSBC Canada was to leverage its international connections and learn from them, and potentially bridge the gap over to RBC customers as well.

He said they do not plan to amalgamate HSBC accounts into RBC, they plan to run it as a separate company as it is now, and they do not plan to disrupt the unique international features of HSBC. HSBC Canada will continue to accept new clients and such as well.


HTH.
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Old Apr 14th 2023, 12:56 pm
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Default Re: Opening up a UK Bank Account from Canada - Which Bank is Best?

Originally Posted by HGerchikov
We have a UK HSBC account which we opened since we lived in Canada. It is linked to our Canadian HSBC accounts and we can instantly transfer money between them.
I think HSBC is in general a wise choice.

This works both ways, by the way.

Opening a UK account from Canada and opening a Canadian account from the UK.

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Old Apr 14th 2023, 2:03 pm
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Default Re: Opening up a UK Bank Account from Canada - Which Bank is Best?

Originally Posted by OrangeMango
I think HSBC is in general a wise choice.

This works both ways, by the way.

Opening a UK account from Canada and opening a Canadian account from the UK.
As already posted above, HSBC is withdrawing from Canada by the end of 2023. HSBC banking operations in Canada have been sold to RBC.

Last edited by Pulaski; Apr 14th 2023 at 2:47 pm.
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Old Apr 14th 2023, 2:23 pm
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Default Re: Opening up a UK Bank Account from Canada - Which Bank is Best?

Originally Posted by Gozit
I opened up HSBC premier last week and asked the branch manager this question, he said the reason RBC purchased HSBC Canada was to leverage its international connections and learn from them, and potentially bridge the gap over to RBC customers as well.

He said they do not plan to amalgamate HSBC accounts into RBC, they plan to run it as a separate company as it is now, and they do not plan to disrupt the unique international features of HSBC. HSBC Canada will continue to accept new clients and such as well.


HTH.
That would be good. I don’t really want to cash in an investment policy with HSBC Canada and take a hit with the 30% withholding tax.
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Old Apr 17th 2023, 9:59 pm
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Default Re: Opening up a UK Bank Account from Canada - Which Bank is Best?

Originally Posted by Gozit
I opened up HSBC premier last week and asked the branch manager this question, he said the reason RBC purchased HSBC Canada was to leverage its international connections and learn from them, and potentially bridge the gap over to RBC customers as well.

He said they do not plan to amalgamate HSBC accounts into RBC, they plan to run it as a separate company as it is now, and they do not plan to disrupt the unique international features of HSBC. HSBC Canada will continue to accept new clients and such as well.


HTH.
They'd probably have to change the name from HSBC though; it would be similar to when Scotia Bank bought ING Canada and renamed it to Tangerine.
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