Personal Finance

Moving to UK - banking advice

  • Last Updated:
  • Aug 3rd, 2017 10:42 pm
Newbie
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Jan 15, 2014
91 posts
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Moving to UK - banking advice

Hi there,
A friend of mine is moving to the UK from Canada shortly to take up a new job. I’m trying to help him decide what the best way to do his banking is. Long term (2-4 years from now), he’ll move back to Canada. However, in the interim we will also have to be able to move some of his earnings from the UK back to Canada since he owns a house here (will rent it out).

I am looking for any suggestions or resources that anyone may have. I see that HSBC has some multi-national accounts; my understanding is he could open an account with them here in Canada, then go to an HSBC branch in the UK and have some access to it. Has anyone done something similar? I imagine the tax situation will be complex, but he’ll likely hire that out.

Thanks for any advice!
9 replies
Jr. Member
Aug 29, 2012
122 posts
122 upvotes
Toronto
HSBC would be the simplest option, as you said they could open an account here and also a HSBC UK account, link both to their global view platform and move funds instantly in either direction.
If your friend opted to open a Premier account here (i think there is a 3 or 6 month qualifying window so he could do so for free) then he can get his Canadian Relationship manager to pre-open the UK account and have the account details and cards sent over to him whilst still here. The opening of accounts in other regions is something that the HSBC relationship manager can organise and is one strong point in their favour. If your friend wanted to have a UK account opened from here and opted for a regular or advance account then HSBC Charge $100 to process the paperwork, so it does make sense to go premier and then downgrade after 3 months to advance or regular to avoid that $100 fee. HSBC are offering some cash incentive for opening an account at the moment too i think.

Alternately: There are also lots of online or phone based accounts that you can open in the UK such as fineco or revolut, but most app based banks are similar to the UK retail banks (except for HSBC) in that they will require proof of residence -in that proof of address via utility bill and govt id. I mentioned finecobank and revolut as both have multicurrency accounts and cheap transfer rates.

Also note HSBC'S global view exchange rates are not fantastic and your friend may well find it better to use transferwise, currencyfair or even revolut to move money from the UK to Canada and vice-a-versa.

So in a nutshell HSBC Canada may not be a great Canadian bank but when it comes to international mobility its a great approach to use, if not offering the best exchange rates, its the only bank on Canadian soil that offers this service to regular folks --- yes RBC Private Wealth does also have retail banking for high network folks based out of the UK but i think its geared for folks with $2m upward of money for them to manage so HSBC will work better as its not only for that market.
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Jan 15, 2014
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Thanks so much for such a fast and detailed response!

I agree with you about the pain of transferring GBP back to CAD via a traditional bank - when the time comes, I'll definitely be looking at those services (and accu-rate, per this link for anyone interested: http://forums.redflagdeals.com/cheapest ... a-1923877/).
Member
Oct 16, 2015
394 posts
233 upvotes
Quebec
If he has an American Express card he can use their global transfer option to get an equivalent card in the UK based on his Canadian credit profile - very useful if he has no credit history in the UK.
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Jan 15, 2014
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bertvl wrote: If he has an American Express card he can use their global transfer option to get an equivalent card in the UK based on his Canadian credit profile - very useful if he has no credit history in the UK.
I did not know that! Good piece of information - unfortunately he's leaving next week, so getting a card in that time frame may prove tricky. Do you know if AMEX is accepted as infrequently in the UK as it is in Canada?

Thanks!
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Feb 17, 2017
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blapt5 wrote: I did not know that! Good piece of information - unfortunately he's leaving next week, so getting a card in that time frame may prove tricky. Do you know if AMEX is accepted as infrequently in the UK as it is in Canada?

Thanks!
Amex is accepted at pretty much all major retailers in the UK and many smaller merchants (It's often bundled in with a merchant agreement like Visa and MasterCard in the UK as of last year). Although Amex acceptance isn't as bad as its made out to be in Canada. 99% of the places I go to accept Amex, many of them small businesses. Because of the EU credit card cap on Visa/MasterCard, Amex is pretty much the only credit card company in the UK that provides decent rewards.

Honestly I'd avoid HSBC and the exchange rate they provide is subpar. They aren't great in Canada and are pretty poor when it comes to account offerings in the UK, even though they are a major bank there. To be honest, he should just open up an account with a regular UK Bank (Lloyds Bank provide a £500 limit credit card to new immigrants). If he wishes to transfer money back to Canada, he should use transferwise.com (The exchange rate is the spot rate + 0.5%) , it only takes a day or so to transfer money from the UK to Canada. Lloyds Bank and Santander generally have the most competitive offerings in the UK, although Halifax is ok as well (They even pay you £5 a month just for banking with them, a bit of a revelation for a Canadian who is used to paying fees to the bank). I'd avoid RBS/Natwest or Barclays and HSBC.

This is my experience anyway as a British/Canadian Citizen who has lived in both countries.
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May 11, 2014
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Rankin Inlet, NU
If using a transfer service such as Transferwise or CanadianForex, where your friend banks shouldnt matter. He/She should use a bank in UK with the best rates and fees. I used Canadian Forex to transfer money from Canada to Japan on numerous occassions and was pretty good fee wise. The best rate though a bit complicated was using Bitcoin via Quadringa in Canada and Bitflyer in Japan. You get pretty much spot rate, but you gotta know what you are doing.

One thing that you might want to consider is Barclays Cards can be used at Scotiabank surcharge free.

Finally, Which is a good site to help bank account picks
http://www.which.co.uk/money/banking/ba ... -in-credit
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Jan 15, 2014
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Thank you all for your excellent advice!
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Dec 8, 2010
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I'd recommend Nationwide, assuming OP's friend doesn't go with HSBC. They are the last true building society, not for profit, owned by their members.

IIRC you only pay 1% foreign exchange when using their debit card.

Amex is def. the way to go in terms of kickstarting credit.

Note that, unlike here, you can use any debit card in any bank's ATM to get cash with no extra fee. The only places you pay a fee are the ones in petrol stations, pubs, and so on. Any high street bank ATM will be free.

Get an account with CurrencyFair to transfer money back and forth.

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