Joint account with foreigners. Advice needed.

jsantos

Hi guys,

My first post (of many to come)...

I'm an IT professional from the south of Europe and I've just recently moved to the UK (a year and half ago, maybe).
As I'm sure you all know, it's chaos down there, not to mention the whole Cyprus mess, so I want to move most of my money to UK banks and get pounds instead of euros.

The problem is that I need some assurance that if something was to happen to me, my relatives or someone else would be able to whitdraw/manage the money.

I bank with HSBC (their Passport account is wonderful for immigrants) and I've also asked Barclays and they both say I only have 2 options:
1) My relatives would have to become UK residents and then open a joint account (this is not possible nor desirable).
or
2) Write a will as a safeguard (the problem being that I will need 2 witnesses).

My question is:

Are these really the only two options? Isn't there a way/bank account that can be managed by two or more individuals living in different countries, either in England or Switzerland perhaps?

Many thanks,
js

innovate

You could try one of the Indian banks with UK subsidiaries. They offer FSCS protection.

If FSCS protection is not important to you, all the offshore banks would be an option.

jsantos

Thanks for answering, innovate.
Can you list some banks (either Indian or offshore) that could potentially suit me?

FSCS would be nice but, for now, I'm just interested in the quickest way to open an account with multiple account holders on a "reliable" bank.

innovate

You could try and search the forum (use google advanced search), and/or google.

CLAPTON

why is getting two witnesses a problem?

any two random people you work with will do
they are only witnessing your signature

The_pc_tech

I'd have thought HSBC would be your best bet in this regard on the basis of them offering the passport service you have used.

There are quite tight anti money laundering regulations in the UK which is probably the reason for what you have been told.

As innovate says the offshore option might be your only option to run the account as you wish to.

macman

If you have your will written by a solicitor, they will happily supply the witnesses (two members of staff) for you.

innovate

Not easy to find a UK solicitor who can draw up a will for a non-british national, particularly if non-UK assets are involved and the heirs are abroad. But you can still do a DIY will and have your signature to it witnessed by two random adults.