British citizen, resident in France, wants joint UK bank a/c with French wife.

Not_in_use

I am a retired UK citizen living in France.
I still have a UK bank account and some savings in the UK.
Having reached an age where I need to think about these things, I want a joint account so that my wife can have access to my UK  savings if I should predecease her.
My bank says that they are unable to change my account to a joint account with someone who does not have a UK address, even though we are married and live at the same address.
So I am now needing to find a bank that will allow a joint account for overseas residents.
An important requirement is that the account should be acceptable to NS&I who insist on savers having a UK bank account.
Would one of the Online Banks answer the problem? At least some of them seem to have accounts that are country specific and it is not clear if I could open a UK joint account from overseas.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Or should I just cash it all in and bring it to France where we already have a joint account?

(This is partly to do with French inheritance law, which is so complex I didn't want to introduce it in this post. But if you are a UK citizen living in France, you really should find out about it as a matter of urgency!)

Brie

Would your bank allow your wife to have 3rd party access on your account?  That would mean that if you were incapacitated she could legally do your banking for you.  I had this with my MiL to save her having to actually go to the bank or try to use an ATM.  Also meant I could manage her DDs etc online.   It's a bit like having power of attorney but easier and free to set up.

xylophone

3rd party access on your account?  

OP's main concern appears to be access to the UK account should he predecease his wife - in the event of his death, third party access would cease?

Brie

xylophone said:

3rd party access on your account?  

OP's main concern appears to be access to the UK account should he predecease his wife - in the event of his death, third party access would cease?

Yes it should.  But it would mean she can deal with things in the days/weeks leading up to that point.

xylophone

My bank says that they are unable to change my account to a joint account with someone who does not have a UK address, even though we are married and live at the same address.

Do you yourself have a UK address?

If not, the bank's stance  seems illogical?

friolento

Have you tried HSBC?

retiredbanker1

High street banks will be a no no.
I have no experience with digital banks so cannot comment.

One option you may want to consider is offshore banking - Jersey based accounts but with a sort code and account number which works with our British banking system. I won't suggest a bank, not all of them will be free either.
Have look.

Not_in_use

xylophone said:

My bank says that they are unable to change my account to a joint account with someone who does not have a UK address, even though we are married and live at the same address.

Do you yourself have a UK address?

If not, the bank's stance  seems illogical?

I no longer have a UK address, but there was no queation of closing the account when I moved to France.

I agree that it seems illogical, but as that ruls seems to be applied by other banks I wonder if some money laundering regulation applies.
I als wonder iif we had had a joint a/c before leaving the UK, whether that would still have been allowed when we moved to France?

retiredbanker1

Not_in_use said:

xylophone said:

My bank says that they are unable to change my account to a joint account with someone who does not have a UK address, even though we are married and live at the same address.

Do you yourself have a UK address?

If not, the bank's stance  seems illogical?

I no longer have a UK address, but there was no queation of closing the account when I moved to France.

I agree that it seems illogical, but as that ruls seems to be applied by other banks I wonder if some money laundering regulation applies.
I als wonder iif we had had a joint a/c before leaving the UK, whether that would still have been allowed when we moved to France?

It is not so much money laundering as such but EU law.
Any bank wanting to do business in the EU  have to licensed which a lot have decided it is not worth it.

It is probable that if the account was joint when you left the UK you would be fine now.

Just one last thing - I mentioned offshore banking to you in a previous posting - should you have funds in a Jersey account upon your demise your next of kin/executors would have to apply for probate in Jersey (in addition to any other countries).

friolento

retiredbanker1 said:

Just one last thing - I mentioned offshore banking to you in a previous posting - should you have funds in a Jersey account upon your demise your next of kin/executors would have to apply for probate in Jersey (in addition to any other countries).

I think the idea is to avoid probate and other inheritance issues by having a joint account.

retiredbanker1 said:

It is not so much money laundering as such but EU law.
Any bank wanting to do business in the EU  have to licensed which a lot have decided it is not worth it.

Most UK banks have decided it's not worth their while but it seems HSBC might still accept applications from EU residents for a GBP account. This is in addition to their Expat accounts, which might also be a viable alternative.