Listen Very Carefully

Nowadays it is never a good idea to be giving false addresses with all the data and electronic evidence that you leave behind

clint

OH got a message with a closing down date of Barclays account around end of October since then we have applied for an account with HSBC. Setting up account with HSBC has been a bit of a nightmare firstly because they insisted documents had to be certified by a lawyer, eventually found one who did it for us. Documents were sent to HSBC by dhl delivered 10/11 it has been totally frustrating dealing with their customer service dept. It was ok the first calls when we dealt with people answering from UK but then most of the calls were dealt with I guess from outside the UK. First they confirmed receipt of documents and everything was ok account should have been set up the following week, which didn't happen. We called and they said oh we couldn't read signature to which we pointed out ,there were the lawyer's business cards attached to each document, after checking we were told all ok and again account would be set up in 4/7 days. Again nothing happened so another call to be told they had not received the certified documents, this was a "manager" answering again from outside the UK we pointed out they had documents since 10/11 we were assured we would get a call the following day and guess what no call. Eventually OH sent a complaint message via HSBC fb page things seem to be much better that route, they replied very quickly to messages and dealt with the on going saga. Always via FB got confirmation that account had been set up and letter with account details and necessary info to set up internet banking etc had been sent out. Also yesterday OH requested their account switch service, they will automatically deal with moving everything from Barclays to the account with HSBC. Now it is a matter of getting letter which with Christmas post and everything else no idea when we will get it.

My advice if applying with HSBC is try to upload proof of ID and address via their online system (didn't work for us though) to speak to customer service it is ok if they answer from UK if outside UK it is a nightmare try their FB page

philat98

Geordieborn

Odd none of them say why, especially as everything is still not decided - do they know something?

philat98

I like the enigmatic title "Find out how your accounts are impacted". They might have just said "Accounts all to be closed".

C.2s

Or even just "Bugger Off Yer Not Wanted!" ;-)

Don't mean to be flippant about what is a very frustrating situation, but I figure you gotta laugh...

philat98

I expect they didnt make much money from their Italian accounts. With my new Transferwise debit card I save money by not using my Unicredit Genius card. I think they did me a favour.

Listen Very Carefully

The reason for the closures are because the UK will not tell the EU the rules under which UK banks will operate and in particular the UK has indicated that they will not follow the EUs attempts to clean up the banking system following the crash in 2007 And herein is the nub of Brexit The rich have no intention of disclosing where they are hiding their wealth the UK wants British financial institutions to carry on laundering dirty money and the Russians (many of whom make huge donations to the Tory party) want to channel their criminal profits through London
In the meantime the gammons are all distracted by an argument over fish It makes you want to weep

philat98

I bet in the end for some reason those fishy benefits never materialise.

Capo Boi

Listen very Carefully....

‘The reason for the closures are because the UK will not tell the EU the rules under which UK banks will operate and in particular the UK has indicated that they will not follow the EUs attempts to clean up the banking system following the crash in 2007.’

Actually no.

The reason is that UK bank licences will no longer be passported. Currently pre Brexit if a UK bank has a banking licence in one EU country (including UK) they have a licence to operate as a bank in all. Passporting.
With Brexit (as it currently stands, although could change) a UK bank will have to obtain a banking licence in each individual EU country that it wishes to operate as a bank. So if a UK bank sees little opportunity for banking business, then why bother to apply for a licence. Result....accounts closed.

Capo Boi

The UK banks have actually not had a significant presence in Italy for sometime. Barclays involvement comes from their takeover of the Woolwich building society. Woolwich and Abbey National around the turn of the century were the main providers of Italian mortgages to UK buyers. Barclays sold the Woolwich to National Bank of Australia and Abbey’s Italian mortgage book was sold to Intesa, hence ending their participation. Lloyds have never really been involved in Italy and HSBC although more active tend to concentrate on the top end of the market.

jiminalpago

​​​​​​The Nationwide letter posted by Phil98 is dated 20 Nov. ("ages ago" in this context) and, read against the information on cross-border banking services published in the GOVUK newsletter on 17 Nov., seems very much Nationwide's individual position. Other news sources posting about the same period indicated that few EU residents would see a change; that was the information I was given by Lloyds at the time and they have not since informed me otherwise.
Recent posts, however, caused me to re-read the 17 Nov. GOVUK info. I am still reassured by the continual reference to "banking services" being provided on foreign territory ("passporting") but nowhere is there the simple statement that to hold a bank account in UK, one has to be UK resident - indeed, the whole thrust of the document is in the opposite direction!
Am I being naive?

HADENOUGHPIZZA

For UK banks to offer banking services in the EU after 31/12/2021 they will require a license to do so , there will be cases in which the UK bank already has the license and is able to continue and cases in which they do not have the license or decide not to offer the service . One thing is the legal effect of Brexit another is the individual banks response . If you are a UK resident then there is no issue , if you are an EU resident then you need to check if /how/when your bank is changing their services . Prior to Brexit UK Banks were not particularly strict about establishing residency status because there were no restrictions however if after 31/12/2021 they need to be sure they are not unwittingly comitting a crime and so their Terms and Conditions will be updated to state quite clearly that you have to be a UK resident which means that if you've provided a UK address but are legally resident elsewhere the responsabilty is entirely yours. There might still be some magical last minute deal but since all financial istitutions have been forced to prepare for no deal their response could well be ' Too Late '' .

Capo Boi

HADENOUGHPIZZA,

Excellent Post.

I was trying to say this but my powers of explanation are much inferior to yours.

CB.

Listen Very Carefully

Once the transition period ends UK banks become third party country financial institutions so to operate in the EU they need to comply with EU standards and the UK have said that they will not disclose to the EU the standards that they will operate under The UK is currently a haven for financial fraud and money laundering It is a financial banana republic which is why the EU are denying them passporting rights