Euro Bank Account

theslades

My apologies if this is not the right area to pose my question but her we go..

I am soon to start getting paid a pension from previous employment in Belgium and have the option of having it paid in Sterling or in Euros. I presume that I will need a Euro bank account if I choose the Euro option and have checked with my current UK Bank, LloydsTSB, and they will only open a Euro a/c if I initially deposit 2,500 Euros. I am reluctant to transfer savings from Sterling to Euros to start this a/c off. I will not need to convert the Euro pension funds to Sterling on a regular basis and intend to do so as and when I can benefit from favourable exchange rates. I appreciate that I will have to pay charges to exchange the funds into sterling at some stage but has anyone any idea of the best way forward, ie a UK bank that won't charge me the earth to open a Euro account.

chanz4

avoid bank of cyprus, they are naff had an account and couldnt wait to close

Mikhail

theslades wrote: »

I am soon to start getting paid a pension from previous employment in Belgium and have the option of having it paid in Sterling or in Euros.

If you have the option to be paid in £, what's the point of your post?

If you are interested to be paid in Euro, open a CitiBank International deposit a/c in Euro and they will even pay some interest to you. More here: http://www.citibank.co.uk/personal/banking/international/currency.htm?merchant=citi

Regards,
M

RetiredInThailand

KeyTrade bank in Belgium will open a non-resident account for you and they pay about 2% interest, gross. They dont have any stupid rules about minimum deposits or charges.

But it does all rather depend on whether you will be wanting to save the money or spend it as it comes in, or do something else with it.

theslades

Thanks for the responses. The main point of the post is that although I will have the option of being paid in Sterling, I will be at the mercy of the exchange rate at the time of payment. If I get paid in Euros at least I will be in more control over when and how much to exchange into Sterling.

Thanks Mikhail for the link to Citibank, I'll have a good look at it.

missile

If like most of us you spend time in euro land?, it could make sense to maintain a euro account and use that for your euro spending.

I have an account with Barclays.es. They provide euro debit credit cards. No restrictions, fees, minimus monthly pay in etc.

RetiredInThailand

theslades wrote: »

..... Citibank, I'll have a good look at it.

KeyTrade seems far more interesting than Citibank to me. The interest paid by Citibank is a bad joke.

Other costs will probably be about the same.