How secure is offshore banking - Lloyds TSB International

ask0

My mother is transferring her pension money (which is in Euros) to a UK bank. Because she is not resident in the UK she has to open an offshore account,


My question is how safe is an offshore account and in particular Lloyds TSB,

They are not covered by the FSA. It may be the Gibraltar scheme. I am happy with the amounts they cover (as the funds are below £50 000)

How secure are they to handle to EU crises Since this is my moms only pension -the security is of the utmost concern rather then the interest.

Any input would be very much appreciated, Thank you in advance.

RetiredInThailand

ask0 wrote: »

Because she is not resident in the UK she has to open an offshore account,

This is not so. There are several onshore UK banks that will open accounts for non-residents, both in GBP and EUR. You just have to do some searching to find them. She could also look at some onshore banks which are also available to non-residents in places like Belgium and Germany.

My personal opinion of the offshore deposit protection schemes is that they would be largely worthless in case of any large scale failure. With that in mind I am inclined to favour offshore banks that are backed by their onshore parent. Most of them are not but one or two are. Again, all the information is readily available on their websites so you only need to look. I have very little money now with offshore banks that are not guaranteed by their onshore parents, and I will not be adding to it.

On top of that I have been moving money back onshore over the last few years and I will continue to do so wherever possible until the economic situation is completely settled. Higher interest rates are another benefit of being onshore.

innovate

Check this thread - there are definitely banks with FSCS protection that accept non-UK residents. Whether they let you hold currency other than UKP I don't know -- but perhaps you can let us know when you have found out?

RetiredInThailand

innovate wrote: »

Whether they let you hold currency other than UKP I don't know --

Most of the ones that are subsidiaries of foreign banks do so.

soulsaver

Most UK major banks, if not all, 100% guarantee their off shore facilities; so your redress to local guarantees should only be necessary if the UK parent goes bust.


Ask Lloyds how their off shore facility is protected in the first instance.