the safest nation?

gedio00

Sorry for my english, sorry if i'll be so naive and ignorant with my questions, but i'm facing for the first time the "problem" to have a little little capital and i'm worried about it; it cost me the last 10 years of my life. Before to give you others details about my situation i'd like to try to see if my question is enough to be a "topic" able to have straigh ansower.
What i can say is : I'm italian, my money are in italian bank account from wich i don't get anything.
I'm afraid that tomorrow there will be a crack and i'll find the door of my bank close or , considering i'm not gonna live in italy anymore, that the euro wil falldown.
I have the chance to take my money everywhere in the world. Where in the world would you save your money into a save account? Thanks and sorry again.

Ok.. anyway, i have to give more info , sorry. I left italy months a go to take a breck and give to my life a second chance to find a place in the world where "to work for live" and not "to live for work" as we use to say in italy. I'm free to decide where to live. Actually i'm in Malasya, few hours from SIngapore . Australia will be the place where i would like to try to live and probably will be my next step. But whatever can happen .
The metter of the topic is " why i have to take my saving hardly earned in a bank where they don't give me nothing plus living with the worries something can happen(and whatever they can say they will do once something will happen i know i will pay in someway on my skin) plus i have the choice to find a place wherever in the world to have some benefit and no worries? Actually someone (just people met during my trip) suggest me Singapore as a good place and some one HSBC " Multi Currency Savings Account" because they have branch all over the world and it would be easy wherever i will be to open a bank account and transfert money. But this is just a bar conversation i had with "friends". And before to take a decision i want to listen more opinion possibly from some one with knowledge about it. If in the end the best solution will be to fly in alaska why not? I'll take the chance to visit alaska. :-)
PS im not rich, i'm just an easy persone able to do sacrifice, fleible and with low standards (low... everithing is relative). What i saved it can be ridicolous for some one but is all that i have and all that is left now.

Gentoo365

I don't think anyone on this forum would want to speculate as to the health of the Italian banking system, or the individual banks.

However as far as I know the 'depositor protections schemes' in the EU are applicable to deposits in all countries and the guarantees given are equivalent (100k EUR I think, you will need to check).

http://ec.europa.eu/finance/bank/guarantee/index_en.htm

EDIT - just saw this:

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-15-6253_en.htm

I don't know if Italy has tried to avoid implementing the protections, or whether they now apply the same protection as other EU countries, you probably need to look at Italian finance websites to see if they have any details

grumbler

gedio00 wrote: »

I have the chance to take my money everywhere in the world.

What does this mean?

Where in the world would you save your money into a save account? Thanks and sorry again.

Safe account or safe currency? There are no safe currencies. Buy gold.

Gentoo365 wrote: »

....as far as I know the 'depositor protections schemes' in the EU are applicable to deposits in all countries and the guarantees given are equivalent ...

These protection schemes are good only if the currency holds value.

pmduk

I believe the OP is asking which country they should put their money for safety. Personally I'd say the UK is as good as any. But no more that £75k per Bank.

gedio00

Ok.. anyway, i have to give more info , sorry. I left italy months a go to take a breck and give to my life a second chance to find a place in the world where "to work for live" and not "to live for work" as we use to say in italy. I'm free to decide where to live. Actually i'm in Malasya, few hours from SIngapore . Australia will be the place where i would like to try to live and probably will be my next step. But whatever can happen .
The metter of the topic is " why i have to take my saving hardly earned in a bank where they don't give me nothing plus living with the worries something can happen(and whatever they can say they will do once something will happen i know i will pay in someway on my skin) plus i have the choice to find a place wherever in the world to have some benefit and no worries? Actually someone (just people met during my trip) suggest me Singapore as a good place and some one HSBC " Multi Currency Savings Account" because they have branch all over the world and it would be easy wherever i will be to open a bank account and transfert money. But this is just a bar conversation i had with "friends". And before to take a decision i want to listen more opinion possibly from some one with knowledge about it. If in the end the best solution will be to fly in alaska why not? I'll take the chance to visit alaska. :-)
PS im not rich, i'm just an easy persone able to do sacrifice, fleible and with low standards (low... everithing is relative). What i saved it can be ridicolous for some one but is all that i have and all that is left now.

grumbler wrote: »

Safe account or safe currency?

both.

Paul_1977

Yep HSBC would be a good choice, and its seen as a "safe" bank.

colsten

HSBC doesn't have a deposit protection scheme. They, like other banks, have to comply with the laws of the countries they operate in, and part of their licence will be that they participate in the country's statutory scheme. Most developed countries have got depositor compensation schemes similar to the FSCS.

callum9999

HSBC also isn't one bank. You can't do anything with a normal UK account in a US branch for example. Though with the amount of online services available now I'm not sure there is a need to have a local branch anyway.

While Italy does have a protection scheme, that doesn't mean the money is safe. I don't know if other Eurozone countries share the guarantee liability? Not to mention that's not the only risk - look at Greece. No one lost money, but they also couldn't access much of it.

Not that there's any imminent risk. If you're about to move to Australia I'd just wait and open an account there.

gingercordial

Even if you could find "the safest country" you might not be able to open a bank account there. For example, if you decided the UK is the best option you would probably have serious problems trying to open a UK bank account because you don't live here. A lot of bank accounts will only be available to UK-residents, and even if you found one available to overseas residents you would find it difficult to prove your identity to satisfy our banking regulations - they would want to see original documents or might accept certified copies but are just as likely to decide you are too much trouble so not a customer they want unless you are extremely wealthy.

So you would be much better off choosing somewhere that you actually live, have ties to or can get easy access to.

Then you would need to think about tax. If you earn any interest in a bank account in a country you will probably need to pay tax on it there. Often there is a tax treaty which works out how much of the tax you need to pay in that country or the country you live in, but it can be complicated and can mean that you have to file tax returns in the country where your money is kept. Some countries also have a "wealth tax" which takes a small percentage every year of your assets in that country.

So again, best to stick with a country where you already have to pay tax unless you are so wealthy you can afford fees for advisers to sort all this out for you. It doesn't sound like this is the case for you.

And of course none of us can predict what might happen in any particular country. You just never know where might suffer an economic crash, or introduce currency controls which mean you can't get your money out of the country.

If I were you I would wait until I started a life in Australia.

gedio00

Post edited clearer.
Sorry another probably naive question but just think you have to explane things to a kid who needs and want to learn.
Suppose i open a bank account in a country "A" on a bank belonging to a country B . Wich are the implications if something get wrong? What is bound with who?

callum9999

gedio00 wrote: »

Sorry another probably naive question but just think you have to explane things to a kid who needs and want to learn.
Suppose, on the off chance i open an bank account on singapore or australia in an italian bank (more realistic would be a chinese bank like HCBC but it is less realistic a crack , or maybe not :-) ) . Wich are the implications? What is bound with who?

From what I understand of your question, if you want to get away from the Italian system then you shouldn't open an account in Singapore or Australia with an Italian bank (if that's even possible?). Though Italian brands aren't necessarily Italian banks - HSBC in America is an American bank, not a British bank (HSBC is British not Chinese).

While I don't know much about their financial systems, I'd guess Singapore and Australia are both more stable than Italy. You'd need to look into what protection you have though, and depending on how much you have, it might be safer to keep some in Italy and some in Singapore/Australia/wherever you move to.