UK banks with euro accounts

Anjistar

Hello, I am currently dealing with my dad's estate in Spain. I've managed to open a bank account there which offers free transfers and no monthly fee.
I haven't managed to find a list of UK banks that do the same - are  there any now? Or any with fairly low charges?

The latest discussion here seems to be from September last year and I'm not sure anything before Jan 31st 2020 applies, but correct me if I'm wrong.

I need this to occasionally top up the Spanish account to pay for needed repairs on his house and to eventually pay inheritance taxes, and it would be nice not to have to pay huge charges on top of that.

Many thanks.

IvanDP

Starling have a dedicated Euro account linked to your main account
Although not "technically" banks, other options might be:
Monese - Like Starling, dedicated Euro account linked to your UK account, with the advantage of a seperate card for the Euro account too.
Revolut - Probably one of the best known for holding foreign currency.

Hope this helps

xylophone

https://transferwise.com/gb/borderless/ might be worth a look.

colsten

IvanDP said:

Starling have a dedicated Euro account linked to your main account
Although not "technically" banks, other options might be:
Monese - Like Starling, dedicated Euro account linked to your UK account, with the advantage of a seperate card for the Euro account too.
Revolut - Probably one of the best known for holding foreign currency.

Hope this helps

xylophone said:

https://transferwise.com/gb/borderless/ might be worth a look.

Whilst they can play a useful role with Euro <---> GBP transfers, neither Monese nor Revolut nor Transferwise offer FSCS protection.

Starling Bank does.

I wish MSE Forumites would pay a bit more attention to the importance of FSCS.

IvanDP

colsten said:

I wish MSE Forumites would pay a bit more attention to the importance of FSCS.

I wasn't advocating sticking thousands in theses accounts, after all, I'm sure most on here are savvy enough to have their savings stashed somewhere that pays interest 

Revolut, Monese and Transferwise all offer reasonably priced FX, and I'm sure that any money the OP had in any of these accounts would be safe for the short time it would take to deposit GBP, transfer to EUR and then send to the EUR account in Spain.

colsten

IvanDP said:

Revolut, Monese and Transferwise all offer reasonably priced FX, and I'm sure that any money the OP had in any of these accounts would be safe for the short time it would take to deposit GBP, transfer to EUR and then send to the EUR account in Spain.

You are absolutely right, they would wait with going bust until the OP's money has all been safely passed through. How could I possibly think anyone would want to know whether there is FSCS protection. 

IvanDP

The above are all prepaid cards, exactly the same as the prepaid travel cards this very site recommends.
(In fact, Revolut tops the list)
Quoted from the MSE prepaid travel card site:

2. Your money's safe if the card issuer goes bust

All prepaid cards listed below deposit customers' cash in a bank or building society in a ring-fenced account, separate from the card provider's account. So, if the prepaid card company goes bust, the bank or building society where your money's resting will still retain your cash. 

The slight risk comes if the bank or building society goes bust, because your cash is NOT protected in this case. Therefore, think of your prepaid card as one that you'll keep cash on for immediate spending requirements, rather than as a place to store heaps of it. Also be aware that not all of the cards below are FCA regulated – so you may be reliant on another country's regulations to protect you. 

ALL of the options I mentioned are FCA regulated.

colsten

Precisely. None of them has anything like FSCS protection.

Perhaps you need to have lived through a couple of collapses of providers before you appreciate the value of FSCS.

IvanDP

colsten said:

Precisely. None of them has anything like FSCS protection.

Perhaps you need to have lived through a couple of collapses of providers before you appreciate the value of FSCS.

I wasn't suggesting using any of these as a mainstream bank account, just a vehicle for the OP to be able to get the required Euros into their Spanish account at the best value.
(Although personally, I do use Monese as my everyday spending account with no problems)

And as for living through collapses, I have.
Banks are businesses, and in my opinion should be left to stand or fall on their own merits.