Atilla

I am planning to start looking at countries to live soon with Malaysia and Panama being top of the list. I am not looking at which is the best of the international options as I do intend to keep at least one account in the UK. I'm also looking for one account (for now) to consolidate savings into so it will be easier (e.g. just one statement and letter) to prove the liquid assets for the Malaysia MM2H programme. Ultimately I will open a local account too, once I decide where to settle, but in the interim it will be useful to be able to both access and transfer money, preferably with little charge, as I travel around, maybe for months at a time testing out the different countries (e.g. Malaysia and Panama for starters).

At the moment I am with Lloyds TSB and being a long standing customer it's dead easy to open up an International with them and their criteria seem less stringent than with HSBC. I have a few accounts with LLoyds too with all bills and such like going out from the main current account so staying with Lloyds may be easier. I am a little concerned though in that Lloyds does not seem so visible internationally and while I understand HSBC has less ATMs etc in Malaysia than many banks there is a more more than Lloyds TSB I think? This was certainly the case in the UAE. Quite a few HSBC, no Lloyds in Abu Dhabi at all.

The other thing that concerns me is the international transfer charges. I've only started looking today at the various accounts but they both seem to charge for transfers and if that's the case what's the point of switching to these (for some people who don't meet the free criteria) premium fee accounts if it's no cheaper to send money out from the UK other than to access your cash on tour.

Any comments with regard to these two banks or indeed other options appreciated. I need to bear in mind that I'm not JUST visiting the Far East or Malaysia.

bakedbean

You are interested in people's views in Far East about these banks? Does Lloyds operate in the Far East?

Atilla

Allegedly. They have Asia locations and at least one in KL from what I can see. I do not think it is such a visible presence as HSBC though so I decided to go with them.

ex reg

We went to Lloyds in Singapore for some investment advice.
Top of their list was Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac.

Thankfully we didn't follow their advice.

bakedbean

Love it

Atilla

Decided to go HSBC Premier and moved entirely a few days ago. Benefits of HSBC for me:

Free use of ATMs overseas
Free transfer of UK funds with their 'Global View'
Free holiday insurance
Good international presence
Some good incentive saver schemes
Premier Credit Card (and free two year warranty extension on various goods)

Good deal really, and certainly better than any other UK bank on the international front, for me anyway. The 'criteria' funding you need to maintain is quite high but the money needs to be somewhere

So, I will now qualify in terms of the 3 months 'liquid asset' proof for my MM2H application on 7/5/11. Could have done it with statements and letters from the banks the money was originally split over, just couldn't be asked One statement, one letter, easier.

Rictus

I've been living in Malaysia for 6 years and also with HSBC Premier. I think you made a good choice going with HSBC in Malaysia. I've never seen a Lloyds TSB branch though have never looked. HSBC have a fairly decent presence here and have branches in many of the areas where expats would likely locate themselves. A lot of the branches also have Premier centres, many of which have dedicated parking for Premier customers (important in Kuala Lumpur in particular due to the volume of traffic). The local relationship managers are fine enough for day to day transactions, setting up accounts, deposits and suchlike, but I would not take investment advice from them based on my experience with them, not without a qualified second opinion (one from the UK at that). I did try a few of their relationship managers for investment advice and, other than a nice cup of coffee and no queue, did not feel that I was dealing with a person who was more qualified than the regular bankers in the non-premier zone of the bank. The relationship managers here, in my experience, have no concept of assessing a customer's financial situation and end goals, suggesting a range of investments based on these criteria. They weren't even particularly good at explaining the limited products they do offer. I was expecting more based on the brochure. I therefore still maintain a link with an independent financial advisor in the UK and use them for the majority of my investment advice. I just use HSBC Premier as a vehicle to move money around; the free global transfers are great in that respect.

What is also a little bit irritating is every now and then (around once a year) I'll suddenly get a new relationship manager. Given that I do not use HSBC for comprehensive advice (as mentioned above) this hasn't been a great issue, but it does further dilute the "relationship" with the bank.

ATM coverage with HSBC in Malaysia is not that great (especially when compared to the national banks like Maybank), but acceptable for my needs. Most major malls in Kuala Lumpur have HSBC ATMs, some malls having branches. Using other ATMs is possible and HSBC specify the banks you can use. If you withdraw from these specified banks, the fee is RM1. Using other banks you will likely be charged RM10. The HSBC Malaysia web site gives more information. You need to keep cash handy in Malaysia as debit cards haven't really taken off (HSBC Malaysia do not give one) and some places you go to may not accept credit card (for example, some of the more local restaurants will not accept credit card unless the bill is above RM50). I certainly have to carry more cash around with me compared to when I was in the UK with a debit card. Anyway, the HSBC and parter ATM coverage does limit use of ATMs somewhat but doesn't present a great inconvenience to me.

For your information, local banks do have deposit insurance just like in the UK and HSBC is included in the coverage. The information is found on the front page of the HSBC Malaysia web. Currently, they are insuring deposits up to RM250,000 per bank in Malaysia. This is not far off the coverage in the UK.

Overall, I don't think you'll go far wrong with HSBC in Malaysia - I'll certainly be staying with them while I'm over here and from your post it seems like your main goal is to use it much in the same way as I do i.e. a vehicle to move funds around using the global transfer facility. If you need any more than this, I just suggest you be cautious of the relationship managers' ability to fully understand your needs and get a second, independent opinion if you are seeking investment advice.

ex reg

Rictus,
Just to add to your in depth post I believe deposit insurance in the UK is now GBP 83k since Jan 1 this year.

bakedbean

Hi Rictus and welcome to the forum Hope to see you over in the Malaysia sub-forum on here. Great info from you.

I've only got a somewhat dormant HSBC account in the UK but can tell you that with other banks you get this change of relationship manager thing and it drives you nuts, doesn't it. We've got accounts with a Singaporean bank and they are always changing managers. Okay... end of rant.

Atilla

Hi Rictus, yes I will be using the bank for the same as you. I don't really 'do' banks much other than for holding my money and giving me access to it. When I was in my youth and scraping a living they were not much use, now I am quite a lot better off they are constantly trying to throw loans and other products at me. I also consider bank financial advice to be sales pitches so never bother. I just select the products I want from them and open and close them as I see fit.

Inasmuch as I do need a bank of some sort I do find HSBC has the best facilities for what i need, their internet banking is good and well laid out, service swift and staff helpful. Enough for me. I will also be checking out a few places I suspect before I plump for Malaysia so it's good to have that international access.

FSCS limits in the UK are now £85K. Care needs to be taken over ownership of banks though. First Direct is HSBC also so a person would only be covered up to £85K however that might be split between the two banks, if you used both. Over £85K in them and it's not covered.

Henley

Hi, I am new to this forum and may be out of topic but i need some advice from HSBC Premier holders.
I have just opened a HSBC Primer in Malaysia . To my surprise HSBC in UK called me to setup another Primer account in HSBC UK. Very efficient indeed.
Please advise on the best and economical way (or zero bank fees/charges) to transfer GBP fund from HSBC Primer to Lloyds TSB in UK.
I would also like to know if there is any transactions fees/charges for fund transfer between banks in UK. If yes, howto minimise such transaction fees/charge.
Thank you in advance.

Atilla

Between banks in the UK no problem. BACS transfers through online banking. Different banks will set different daily limits (most fairly high) but there are no charges. When I closed and cleared out Lloyds TSB I filtered it all to HSB through online banking over a few days.

Henley

Thank you Atilla for your quick response and advise.

Cpt_Jack

This is a bit old but I'll say HSBC, have always used them and never regretted it.

From helping slightly alter my paperwork so I can open an account* to the fact I can get an ATM in any country, the reasons are endless. You also get free transfers between accounts if you need to send funds to family and good investment opportunities for your nest egg (if you're lucky enough to have one). Plus their customer service is just that, customer service. If they can make a good bank in the Middle East that answers my issues and helps me then they can do anything.

Sorry, HSBC just leaves all the rest behind and I'm happy to say that. Heck, they've survived for over a hundred years for a reason!

I think that most people use them as a) a place to put funds and b) to shuttle money around. At that they are great. The fact that they only have a handful of locations does cause problems but I have a local bank account as well.

Jack

* I required 'proof of address in my country of origin that was no more than 3 months old'. I hadn't lived in the UK for 2 years so we got a photocopy of the back of the passport section that asks for 'contact addresses' and wrote my old address in that. See, when your personal banker helps you defraud your own bank for the greater good, that's service.

Icecube

Agree with the choice. As you say the premier account offers free ATM withdrawls from HSBC as well as other Banks ATM's. I found this very useful in Bangkok as the local banks slug you with fees when you use their ATM's but with Premier these fees were waived......enjoy