adamskix

Hi all.

I am moving out from the UK in August and have questions regarding bank accounts.

Should I retain my UK bank account and open another in HK?

Which are the banks that cater best for expats? Have lowest international transfer rates/dual currency accounts?

Any help appreciated

hong_konger

Yes open a bank account in Hong Kong and retain your UK one.
They are all much of a muchness when it comes to exchange rates and charges
I would suggest HSBC.... do you know what HSBC stands for ?

AaronAdair

HK is the bit expensive city so in my point of view, you must check the charges and taxes of HongKong to avoid any disturbance there.

hong_konger

There are no taxes on banking transactions in Hong Kong and the charges are on a par with anywhere else in the world.

penguinsix

Keep a UK account even if it just has a few pounds in it. Can be a devil of a time to reopen if you are not resident, and it is helpful for when you move back or if you have a few transactions (Amazon, Ebay.uk) back home.

adamskix

Thanks for the advice. I will keep my account open and transfer my salary in HKD into GBP as and when necessary. I may use a company like Travelex to do this. Any thoughts on this?

hong_konger

Why use Travelex - poor exchange rates and inconvenient ? When you open a bank account in Hong Kong you will have multi-currency accounts. You can just use on-line banking to convert from HK$ to GBP within your bank account. If and when you want to transfer to UK then just transfer from your HK GBP account to your UK GBP account. I understand (but am not certain) that if you have a HSBC account in UK and Hong Kong that you transfer GPB to your UK account without any charges.

penguinsix

Travelex is pretty poor. I use HSBC bank-to-bank functions and get a pretty good rate with no fees (but I do have a Premier account). The rate is even better than the 3d party Forex services like xe.com.