UK euro account and SEPA

m567

hello,
Does anybody know about a EUR account that I can open in london, from which I can make free SEPA transfers to EUR account in France?

regards,

97trophy

citibank offer free euro accounts but I think they just started charging for sepa payments

m567

yep, £10 since march 9... I'm with them.
I was wondering if others still offered free SEPA transfers.

i read somewhere non euro countries forces their banks to offer free SEPA transfers while the UK didn't

jonesMUFCforever

m567 wrote: »

yep, £10 since march 9... I'm with them.
I was wondering if others still offered free SEPA transfers.

i read somewhere non euro countries forces their banks to offer free SEPA transfers while the UK didn't

Main reason is that we are not in the single currency.

eslick

sepa was orginally just for euro payments but now other currencys are getting involved. Prices will come down but real sepa transfers wont start properly until Nov and possibly even later depending on the banks.

jonesMUFCforever

eslick wrote: »

sepa was orginally just for euro payments but now other currencys are getting involved. Prices will come down but real sepa transfers wont start properly until Nov and possibly even later depending on the banks.

Banks are ready now but customers who argue that the payment they want to do today but with incomplete Bic and IBAN's because they went through last time are NOT!

System

The UK is in the Single Euro Payment Area. Citibank is currently purporting to charge £10 for outgoing SEPA transfers, but this charge is illegal under EC Regulation 2560/2001. For transfers in euro (and Swedish krone, because the Swedish goverment so decided, but not GBP, because the craven UK government didn't want to annoy the banks) banks have to charge the same for a cross-border transfer as they do for an internal one.
Citi doesn't (currently) charge for a BACS transfer in euro. Therefore, they cannot charge for an outgoing SEPA transfer either.
If you've paid £10, demand it back, citing the EC regulation. If necessary, sue them - small claim in the county court.
Because Citi are in such straits, they may now start charging for BACS euro transfers as well, of course. That would be legal, but an even more obvious than usual rip-off.

System

The spiel on Citibank's own website
http://www.citibank.co.uk/personal/banking/international/sepa.htm?merchant=citi
says that

SEPA Funds Transfers enable you to make payments in Euros from your Citibank UK bank account to anywhere within the Single European Payment Area as quickly, safely and inexpensively as you do within the UK today.

Correct, that is what the EC regulation was designed to achieve. But not what Citi are purporting to do, with their illegal £10 charge. If you opened a Citibank euro account on the basis of this misleading advertising, also claim damages for misrepresentation.