Inheritance question - Best bank account for moving money from Germany to the UK

Emily_Joy

pecunianonolet said:

Band7 said:

PRAISETHESUN said:

You definitely will want to receive the money into a EUR denominated account and then manage the conversion of EUR to GBP yourself. Wise is okay for a one off, but doesn't have any FSCS protection so I'd advise only using them for the conversion and don't use them to actually store the money.

I hear good things about the HSBC global money account from other posters on here, although I've never used them. Otherwise check out the MSE recommendations: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/foreign-currency-exchange/

You can't currently receive non-GBP deposits into the HSBC Global Money account. It's possible to funnel Euros through some other HSBC accounts into the Global Money account but frankly, it's much easier to use Starling Bank in the first instance, and the bottom line in terms of GBP will be more or less the same.

OP doesn't mention how much money is involved but it would be a sensible idea to keep transfer sums below £85k, even if this means several transfers would be required. It is also essential to have proof for the source of the money as large transfers are likely to automatically trigger AML investigation. Such investigations can't be avoided by giving the receiving bank prior notice of the impending large payment (as if they were, fraudsters would routinely give such notice).

With HSBC you can have a € currency account which is fee free. HSBC is charging fees for incoming and outgoing payments for other currencies they offer but everything in € is fee free. That currency account also allows to pay in € cash fee free in branch to the currency account. From the curreny account you can now move to Global Money and spend it or make transactions or indeed convert. Rates seem very good, almost identical to VISA rates if I recall correctly. 

I have HSBC Advance current account (in GBP) and also accounts in USD, CHF (Swiss franks) and SEK (Swedish krona). There doesn't appear to be any fees.