News story: UK banks to shut thousands of British expats' accounts 1 October 2020 at 9:28AM in Budgeting & bank accounts 66 replies 5.5K views

Borisjake

NottinghamKnight said:

Surely HSBC and Santander are fairly safe options currently.

They do have international accounts for non residents, as does Barclays. Sizable deposit necessary though

MichaelDale

Nationwide now closing all accounts with Netherlands address.  I expect that other EU countries will also be affected.

Thrugelmir

MichaelDale said:

Nationwide now closing all accounts with Netherlands address.  I expect that other EU countries will also be affected.

Nationwide has no international presence. Therefore will not be applying for passporting permissions. 

retiredinfrance

Danske Bank NI told us today that our accounts will be closed. Daughter recommends keeping small balance in case the situation changes re passporting. We are in France. Any suggestions MSE or readers? An update from MSE would be helpful.

retiredinfrance

How useful would NSandI be for having pensions transferred into their income bonds and then using them to make an online payment to a moneytransfer firm for our euros. All help needed!

colsten

retiredinfrance said:

How useful would NSandI be for having pensions transferred into their income bonds and then using them to make an online payment to a moneytransfer firm for our euros. All help needed!

AFAIK, NS&I are also shutting down for EU residents. Your only safe bet at present would be Transferwise - and it is a bit of a bet, as they don't have any deposit protection (FSCS etc). However, for now, they are the best alternative for regular transfers of small / moderate amounts. Worth also keeping an eye on Starling Bank, as they would, IMO, be the ideal solution once they have an EU licence, which they are pursuing in the Republic of Ireland (progress hampered by Covid-19).

Depending on your personal circumstances, you may also be able to use a UK address for your banking needs.

retiredinfrance said:

Danske Bank NI told us today that our accounts will be closed. Daughter recommends keeping small balance in case the situation changes re passporting. We are in France. Any suggestions MSE or readers? An update from MSE would be helpful.

How does your daughter suggest you keep a small balance in a closed account?

Thrugelmir

retiredinfrance said:

Danske Bank NI told us today that our accounts will be closed. Daughter recommends keeping small balance in case the situation changes re passporting. We are in France. Any suggestions MSE or readers? An update from MSE would be helpful.

The situation won't change. As it's a commercial decision by the bank not to conduct business in France .  Danske itself is a Danish bank. 

retiredinfrance

Thanks Colsten and Thrugelmir. We my daughter - she thought that there might be a deal done with the EU. If that's right about NSandI I don't know what to do as we have savings with them. I am going to research other bankable how do I know if they will keep EU residents. 

Thrugelmir

If the bank has active operations in the country of residence then they will most likely have applied for passporting rights. HSBC as an example of a sizable international operation. Lloyds Group is primarily domestically focussed and has a far smaller overseas operation. 

colsten

HSBC seems to be good news: https://www.hsbc.co.uk/help/brexit/#current-accounts

EXCEPT: don't use them to transfer from GBP to Euro, as you will get a rotten deal. Use Transferwise for that.