Euro Accounts in UK and Italy

Puzzle123

My relative, a UK citizen has worked in the Far East and is moving to a job in Milan, where she will live and work under a UK contract. She is being paid in € into a UK bank account, but will need access to cash in Milan for living expenses; She has a HSBC account in UK which will make a charge for accepting Euros, and then not getting a very competitive exchange rate.
Any suggestions how to manage this and get best value for the €euro/£stlg rate
Are there any €uro accounts in UK that don't make huge charges?
Is it difficult to open a bank account in Italy?

benjus

She could look at the TransferWise Borderless account as an interim measure ( https://transferwise.com/gb/borderless ) - at least she'll be able to get the money to her HSBC account at a decent exchange rate. But ultimately she'll probably want to open an Italian account for convenience.

flavione74

Fineco Bank would be the best solution for her, as they offer a multicurrency account, with a Visa debit card.
To open a bank account in Italy, I think you need to apply for the residency (which is not a difficult process), and then you'll be able to go a branch, with your ID and a personal number which is given you by the equivalent of HMRC (it is also needed to do lots of things, from registering for your GP or when you buy a SIM card).
Fineco is an online bank, but I think they have few small branches in major cities.

Puzzle123

Thanks for the suggestion. we'll look in detail and see if this is appropriate.

jonny2spoons

I second Fineco Bank, have used them before and they are good to work with.

zerog

Why would you want to be paid into a UK bank account if you are living and working in Milan??

It would be best to ask this question in the Italy section of Britishexpats.com or a similar site!