Thousands more expats to lose bank accounts after 'Brexit day' - Telegraph

[merchant_banker]

Thousands more expats to lose bank accounts after 'Brexit day'
Nationwide says 5,000 accounts belonging to overseas Britons will close, leaving them in financial limbo.

Thousands more British expats will be stripped of their UK bank accounts as a number of EU nations look to ban British brands from operating after Brexit.

Building society Nationwide has written to some 5,000 customers living in the Netherlands and Italy to tell them their accounts will close from Dec 31 – Brexit day.

The decision will leave expats without vital banking services unless they quickly make new arrangements. This could affect income from pensions and rental properties but also leave them failing to make vital payments and direct debits.

Nationwide is the latest of several providers to announce such measures. Barclays has said it planned to close an undisclosed number of accounts in Italy, Belgium, Slovakia and Estonia, after regulators there said it would be illegal for British banks to operate following the end of Britain's transition agreement with the EU.

The bank has refused to come clean on how many customers will be affected, saying the information was “commercially sensitive”.

Co-op Bank will close the accounts of 600 customers in Holland after the Dutch central bank said British banks would be banned from serving residents from 2021.

Nationwide has 93,000 expat customers in the EU. A spokesman said the bank had not decided whether its 88,000 other customers would also face closures, despite there only being three weeks left until the end of the year.

They added: "We want to avoid [closing accounts] at all costs if possible and will inform members as soon as we can to allow them enough time to make other arrangements."

News of widespread account closures first emerged in September, when this newspaper revealed Lloyds, which owns Halifax and Bank of Scotland, was closing 13,000 accounts in Italy, Ireland, Portugal, Germany, Holland and Slovakia.

The Queen’s private bank of choice Coutts, owned by NatWest, also said it would no longer serve any customer residing in mainland Europe.

After the transition agreement expires, “passporting” rules that allow financial institutions to provide services across the EU will no longer apply.

Banks will only be able to continue to serve customers if they obtain new legal permissions and set up separate entities in each jurisdiction. For many providers the extra cost and hassle is not viable so they will pull services instead.

There are around 800,000 British residents in the EU, excluding Ireland, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.

Some 21,000 live in Belgium, 730 in Estonia, 93,000 in Germany, 28,000 in Italy, 46,000 in the Netherlands, 22,000 in Portugal and 2,000 in Slovakia – all countries where account closures have happened or are expected to.

Spain is the most popular destination for expats, home to almost 300,000 Brits. There have been no bank account closure announcements there.

Other banks yet to make any announcements on the future of expats' accounts have said they are still reviewing the situation.

They have faced repeated calls from MPs and other sectors within the finance industry to inform customers as soon as possible if they could be affected.

[Kili01]

Not heard anything from NatWest about my accounts, so far...
Would NatWest International, with Channel Island branches be affected?

Wait and see....

Dee

[WHL]

Where's all those clever folk who were saying that, nothing will change for expats after Brexit, sure got that right

[Kili01]

Anyone with half a brain could foresee that a Brexit even if with a proper agreement would bring major changes. But the no deal slide out of the EU, at the last moment, was the thing that I most feared. Now we have the likelihood that this will happen.
Already the UK ports are jammed with lines of container vehicles as shops large and small are trying to get in last minute orders before the 31st Dec.
The only deal with the EU that was available was the one that was negotiated by Teresa May.
I never had much faith in Boris and his cohort Dominic C. And unfortunately, I was proved to be right. Which gives me no joy.
It will likely be a worse scenario for British expats living in the various EU countries.

Why oh why did David Cameron give permission to hold a referendum?

Dee

[Chaddy]

Anyone with half a brain could foresee that a Brexit even if with a proper agreement would bring major changes. But the no deal slide out of the EU, at the last moment, was the thing that I most feared. Now we have the likelihood that this will happen.
Already the UK ports are jammed with lines of container vehicles as shops large and small are trying to get in last minute orders before the 31st Dec.
The only deal with the EU that was available was the one that was negotiated by Teresa May.
I never had much faith in Boris and his cohort Dominic C. And unfortunately, I was proved to be right. Which gives me no joy.
It will likely be a worse scenario for British expats living in the various EU countries.

Why oh why did David Cameron give permission to hold a referendum?

Dee

Kilio1,you could have not got it more right.Now us ex pats out here will one way or the other a pay a price

[JimX]

Have to agree not being a ''remoaner'' as some here said, it is a disaster even this mornings news brings no change, no deal and we have a bungling buffoon in charge, god help us all.

Also tell the idiot to get his haircut!!

[Uncle D]

It's a standard basin cut for special people

[WHL]

Should of left bozo Boris dangling on that zip line, whoever got him down has alot to answer for.

https://youtu.be/oxDwxNcURTU

[Diocletian]

Anyone with half a brain could foresee that a Brexit even if with a proper agreement would bring major changes. But the no deal slide out of the EU, at the last moment, was the thing that I most feared. Now we have the likelihood that this will happen.
Already the UK ports are jammed with lines of container vehicles as shops large and small are trying to get in last minute orders before the 31st Dec.
The only deal with the EU that was available was the one that was negotiated by Teresa May.
I never had much faith in Boris and his cohort Dominic C. And unfortunately, I was proved to be right. Which gives me no joy.
It will likely be a worse scenario for British expats living in the various EU countries.

Why oh why did David Cameron give permission to hold a referendum?

Dee

Because there are lots of members of the Conservative Party that despise the EU and, more importantly, a huge slice of the electorate as well.

[Jim B]

Anyone with half a brain could foresee that a Brexit even if with a proper agreement would bring major changes. But the no deal slide out of the EU, at the last moment, was the thing that I most feared. Now we have the likelihood that this will happen.
Already the UK ports are jammed with lines of container vehicles as shops large and small are trying to get in last minute orders before the 31st Dec.
The only deal with the EU that was available was the one that was negotiated by Teresa May.
I never had much faith in Boris and his cohort Dominic C. And unfortunately, I was proved to be right. Which gives me no joy.
It will likely be a worse scenario for British expats living in the various EU countries.

Why oh why did David Cameron give permission to hold a referendum?

Dee

Because there are lots of members of the Conservative Party that despise the EU and, more importantly, a huge slice of the electorate as well.

I wouldn't say a third of the vote is a huge slice of the electorate.

Jim

[trevnhil]

To get back to the subject of Bank Accounts.. If you get notice that your UK bank is terminating your account then where can you safely move your money too.. I was thinking of other bank accounts, not these 'banking cards like revolute'

[WHL]

To get back to the subject of Bank Accounts.. If you get notice that your UK bank is terminating your account then where can you safely move your money too.. I was thinking of other bank accounts, not these 'banking cards like revolute'

Why not move it to Cyprus, the cash is guaranteed, and if you have a large sum ,put it in various banks

[trevnhil]

There are some private pension companies that will only pay into a UK Bank

[galexinda]

To get back to the subject of Bank Accounts.. If you get notice that your UK bank is terminating your account then where can you safely move your money too.. I was thinking of other bank accounts, not these 'banking cards like revolute'

HSBC https://www.hsbc.co.uk/current-accounts ... k-account/

You can apply for an HSBC Bank Account if you:
are 18 or older and a UK or EU resident
are happy for us to do a credit check against your name (if you live in the UK)
can provide ID and proof of address if needed

Apply online
If you live in the UK or EU and don't already hold a current account with us, you can apply online. It just takes a few minutes.

[boycott]

Good info thanks Galexinda.

[Taurus]

Have a look at Standard Bank in the Isle of Man - www.standardbank.com

[boycott]

Have any of the holders of UK Lloyds Bank and holders of UK Halifax received any notification that they are going to close those accounts for members living in Cyprus?

Reading various newspapers that are writing about it they mention some EU countries but oddly NOT Cyprus! Anyone know why this is?

[Jb1960]

Yes I have from Cynergy Bank as have a number of others on the island. Cynergy Bank accounts are being closed on the 29th December because of Brexit, another wonderful Brexit dividend. They gave me 60 days notice but it took 30 days for the letter to arrive, though they did contact me by phone in the interim. Deja vu really as Barclays closed my account because of my Cypriot address a few years ago. The UK papers have been full of this for the last few months i have managed to open a HSBC UK account, but I doubt I will get the details, Debit Card and PIN and be able to set up online banking in time for the 29th. Because of the UK Christmas Bank Holidays and weekend, effectively the last day to transfer my money out of them will be Christmas Eve. i will have to park my money in my CurrencyFair/Transferwise account for a time whilst waiting to sort out my new HSBC account.


Jason

[Lazydaze52]

Similar experience as Jb1960. As we had not heard from Cynergy by the 60 day notice period we (naively) assumed our account must be ok. You would think in the current climate even if banking rules state notification has to be by letter, they would email it as well. Trying to set up a new bank account with just 4-5 weeks notice, less when you take the bank holidays into account, with postal services the way they are has got to be almost impossible. Even sending ID documents by courier you are still waiting for new bank details being sent back by post.

Fortunately we had not closed our old Santander account so have been able to switch everything over. They are only servicing existing accounts though, you can’t open a new account. I just hope they don’t withdraw that account, they have said they don’t plan to but are keeping the situation ‘under review’.

[Varky]

It would be interesting to know if anyone in CYPRUS has had a letter from the bank, stating that they were closing the accounts, due to Brexit.

I have received such a letter from Cynergy but it took 3 weeks to get here. I know of one other person who has received the same letter.