Current Accounts - Online Features

richardrichard_2

I currently use a HSBC bank account and regularly spend 30mins - 1hour in my branch, the ususal reason for needing to speak to someone is to arange international bank transfers.

Is there any UK bank which enables international transfers to be made online?

Alternativley is there a Business account which offers this?

Generally I find the services offered by all the UK banks are poor, and not as good as whats available in other countries. Does any UK bank offer SMS alerts for certain account activity - as appears quite common in the USA.

Is there a good online source of the features of current accounts offered by different banks?

ihatepasswords

First Direct offer event driven SMS for I beleive £2.50 a month. Not sure about arranging foreign transfers online, there is a secure message service include in their internet banking which might let you do this, best ask them though as I've never had to make such a transaction.

Gers

My LloydsTSB account has SMS service - I have it set up to tell me my account balance every Friday morning. Even get a choice of time slot!