Good international bank account?

ridethelightning

Hi, I have recently accepted a transfer with work to Romania and am looking into the best bank account options. I have done a fair bit of searching but am still a little confused and cant decide on the best account.

My situation will be a bit confusing as I will be using many different currencies. I will be based in Romania (so using RON while there), though will only have general living expenses (no rent/mortgage etc as accommodation is provided). I will be working in various European countries (most using EUR) but will be getting paid in USD. I will also occasionally visit the UK.

So far the best looking account for this is the Lloyds TSB international account which has free exchanges between USD, EUR, GBP. It does require a minimum balance of £25000, which I could just manage if I sell some shares, although the charge for not maintaining this is small. If I went for this account I imagine I would be charged for withdrawing RON.

I have also looked at citibank and HSBC.

If anyone has any other suggestions or advice it would be appreciated, I plan to arrange to speak with an adviser at TSB but would be good to hear any other views.

Thanks

System

I have Citibank GBP and EUR accounts. They do USD as well. Branches only in London, but you can pay in at any branch of Lloyds TSB. They require a minimum income (£20000 I think), but not a minimum balance. You get a debit card. This can be linked to either the GBP or the EUR account. You phone up to switch, and the switch is instantaneous. Currently, no monthly charge. No explicit charge to move between GBP and EUR accounts, but a spread of about 5%.
You might also consider an account with Citibank Romania (which I know nothing about):
http://www.citibank.ro/en/index.html
Citibank online banking is OK. In my experience, if I ask the call centre a question, they do not know the answer - which is fine, they're human. What isn't fine is that they answer a different question, or make up nonsense.

gt94sss2

HSBC have lots of international customers who hold GBP, EUR and USD accounts - transfers online between the various HSBC accounts are from free depending on the type of account you have with them.

For Romania, if you didn't want to open an account there, I would suggest applying for some of the debit/credit cards which don't charge f/x loading and use them to withdraw cash/buy things there.

Examples of such cards in the UK include:

Metro bank (debit and credit cards)
Post Office (credit card)
N&P (debit card)
Halifax Clarity (credit card)
Nationwide Select (credit card - requires Nationwide current account)

or consider pre-paid cards..

As well as Citibank, RBS operate in Romania.

Regards
Sunil