British Expats Bank Accounts – Must Read Guide
There are many advantages to moving overseas. Unfortunately, bank accounts aren’t usually one of them.
Major high street banks in Britain typically require account holders to be UK resident. Worse still, over the last few years it has become even harder for all so called non residents due to know your customer requirements and anti money laundering legislation. But don’t worry, that doesn’t mean you don’t have options though because you do.
In fact, there are some excellent choices available right now.
Some of the bigger UK high street names provide offshore accounts and there are also a number of new fintech neobanks that provide pretty much everything you’d expect from a current account without actually being a bank.
Not to mention the fact that there are some great investment platforms open to expats that can take care of your savings requirements through bonds or money market funds.
Here’s a quick summary of the names we are looking at:
| Name of bank | Account Type | Pros | Cons | Perfect for somebody who |
HSBC | Expat | Recognized name Local branch No monthly fee | Strict requirements Limited currencies Poor customer service Higher fees | Earns £100K or equivalent Is paid in £,$ or € Lives in a region with a local branch Needs an offshore account Wants a name you know |
Lloyds  | Standard Premier | Recognized name Standard account offers an offshore account with lower requirements than HSBC | Strict requirements Not truly global Limited currencies Poor customer service Higher fees | Earns £50K or £100K (Premier) or equivalent Is paid in £,$ or € Wants everything in one account Needs an offshore account but doesn’t meet HSBC’s requirements Wants a name you know |
Barclays | Standard Relationship Manager | Recognized name No salary requirements | Strict requirements Not truly global Limited currencies Poor customer service Higher fees | Has £100K or £250K to invest/save Needs an offshore account but doesn’t meet HSBC’s requirements |
NatWest | Standard Premier | Recognized name Lower salary requirements than all the other UK high street offshore alternatives | Strict requirements Only available in 20 countries Limited currencies Poor customer service Higher fees | Has £40K salary or £25K to open account with Needs an offshore account but doesn’t meet other offshore bank requirements |
Monese | Standard Classic Premium | Offers everything a bank account should First neobank to enter UK market Excellent customer service Savings | Limited to Europe Phone app only Not a real bank | Lives in Europe Wants an excellent alternative to the UK high street offshore options Wants savings |
Suitsme | Standard Essential Premium | No credit check / proof of address needed Excellent customer service Excellent usability | Fees for everything Only offers basic banking services Not a real bank Need to pair with expat investment platform for savings & investments | Doesn’t have proof of address Is willing to pay attention to fees Is willing to pair with investment platform for savings & investments |
Wise  | Multicurrency | Lots of currencies Excellent customer service Excellent usability Low fees | Not a real bank Need to pair with expat investment platform for savings & investments | Prioritizes fees, usability and service Is willing to pair with investment platform for savings & investments |
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What I do
Whilst I’ve tried to be unbiased as I’ve talked through each option, I have to admit that I maybe a little biased towards Wise and against the offshore banks.
Previously I had an HSBC expat account. Now I use Wise, alongside my legacy UK account and an investment account for savings.
There was nothing wrong with the HSBC account per say, but I now get much higher savings rates (through Money Market Funds) and pay less on fees.
The bottom line from my perspective is this. Costs are more important to me than having everything under one roof.
I can appreciate that others would prefer the one stop shop option and would be willing to pay more to get that.
And just to be clear, I’m pretty sure HSBC fees are in the same ballpark with all the other UK high-street offshore options.
It’s just that none of them can compete with the neobanks on price or convenience. Neobanks are seriously low-cost and have slick apps that are very efficient and easy to use.
The downside of these new tech operations is the fact they are classed as Electric Money Institutions rather than banks.
I’ve gone into a bit more detail below about why I don’t have a problem with that, but again, I know some would prefer to pay the higher fees and get a lower quality service for a ‘real’ banking license.
It will come down to what you prioritize.
What is an offshore bank account?
Contrary to popular belief an offshore bank isn’t a tax avoidance mechanism. Perhaps, in the past that may have been the case in some situations for some people some of the time but I think that it is less the case today.
Instead an offshore account is simply a bank account located in a country a jurisdiction separate to where you live.
For British expats this usually describes a bank located in the Channel Islands.
Whereas the big UK high street banks need you to be UK resident, their offshore branches don’t.
This means a British expat can open an account with a name they know when living overseas.
We are going to cover four names that every Brit should recognize.
They all offer something similar.
I’ve gone into more depth on each below but if you want a quick summary here it is.
As mentioned above, I’ve banked with HSBC previously. The reason I picked them over the other options was simple. There was a local branch near where I lived. Though I’ve never banked with their international operation, I have banked with Barclays previously. My feeling is, they offer something very similar to HSBC but without the global presence, especially in terms of banking.
And again, whereas I’ve never banked with either Lloyds or NatWest it seems to me that they offer something not quite as good but with lower opening requirements.
Let’s get into it.
HSBC – offshore banking with a truly global presence
We’ll start with one of the best known offshore banks in terms of global presence and recognition. It is provided by a UK high street bank that needs no introduction with a long international history.
HSBC Expat is definitely the best known of the options we are going to take a look at. In fact, if you are lucky you may even have a local branch.
They offer a current account, various savings options, investment products and even mortgages.
Current accounts are available in GBP, USD and EUR and you can save in 19 currencies depending on which savings products you choose.
To open an account you will need a salary of at least £100,000 or £50,000 in cash to keep in the bank at all times.
If you can meet those requirements and are paid in pounds, dollars or euros HSBC might be worth a look. You’ll be banking with a recognised name and in all likelihood a branch presence in your country as HSBC is a truly global operation.
On the other hand if you receive income in another currency or need to exchange currencies regularly it may be worth looking elsewhere. HSBC can’t compete with neobanks when it comes to price, usability and service.
Here’s a few of their fees:
- Exchange rate adjustment applied to non sterling transactions 2.75%
- Payments to other bank accounts £4
- Under-funding fee £35
HSBC receives 1.8/5 on Trustpilot (poor), but to be fair, the really bad reviews tend to be focused on online communication. I did actually have an account with them previously and the service I received was adequate but at the same time I also had a local branch so did everything more or less in person.
In other words, I think HSBC could be the right option for you if you have a local branch, meet their minimum requirements and aren’t focused on fees.
HSBC operates in over sixty jurisdictions but offers accounts to expats living in many more locations.
Lloyds international – the perfect HSBC alternative?
The next of our high street offshoots is Lloyds.
Lloyds International Premier account offers something similar to HSBC. The key difference being, you need to maintain a balance of £100,000 if your salary is less than £100,000.
If you don’t meet those requirements they also offer a standard account where the minimum funding requirements are lower. For this option you’ll need a salary of £50,000 or a minimum balance of £25,000 and there’s a monthly charge of £7.50 per month.
Like HSBC, the Lloyds current account will only suit you if you receive dollars, pounds or euros. Other currencies are going to need exchanging and that’s going to cost money. Lloyds aren’t cheapest either. Here’s a couple of fees expats are likely to encounter:
- Cash withdrawal 2.99% currency conversion + £1.50 cash handling
- Sending money £12 – 25 depending on where and how you do it.
Lloyds have a couple of savings options. On a Sterling Instant Saver account you get AER 0-4.33% depending on how much you have in your account. Up to £10K gets you 0 and you need half a million to get 4.33%. With fixed term deposits you get somewhere between 3 and 4.8% depending on your deposit term and balance.
Whilst Lloyds do have a presence overseas, its nothing like HSBC. I’ve never used Lloyds International but I do know people who have. My feeling is, they aren’t quite as good as HSBC.
A Lloyds standard account could suit people who want the security of the name but can’t meet the minimum requirements of HSBC.
Trustpilot gives them an even worse score than HSBC, 1.6 out of 5 (bad). (I use Halifax in the UK which is part of Lloyds. It’s not that bad)!
Whilst Lloyds International doesn’t state how many countries they operate in, they do let you key in your country and tell you if it is OK. I keyed in a few of the more exotic countries that HSBC accepts. Lloyds didn’t do business in any of them. So whilst I can’t prove it, I’m pretty confident it doesn’t operate in nearly as many countries as HSBC.
Barclays International Bank Account – Where relationships matter
Barclays offers multi-currency, savings, investments, mortgages and currency exchange. And Unlike the previous two options, Barclays focuses on funding requirements rather than income. There are two options.
Either fund your account with £100K to get their standard international bank account or if you have £250K to put to work they’ll give you a relationship manager. In both cases you can use the money in both savings and investments.
An International Reserve Savings account gives you an Annual Equivalent Rate (AER) of 1.66% up to one million pounds and higher rates above that but if you don’t need access to your cash and can lock away over 100K in either dollars or euros you can get 5%+ (dollars) and 3%+ (euros). They don’t seem to have a Sterling option with this.
Here are a few of the more common fees expats may encounter:
- £40/month – If your balance drops below £100,000.
- £6 – Receiving money from outside the UK
- 2.99% – Using your debit card abroad or whenever you don’t pay using sterling
As with the other UK high street offerings Barclays doesn’t seem to do very well with customer service. It gets 1.4 from Trustpilot ie Bad.
My personal anecdote is that whilst I’ve never had a Barclays International account, I have had a UK account with them. My parents and grandparents all had accounts with them. None of us do now, and whilst there was nothing in particular they did wrong, in all cases we changed for what we thought were better options. The Halifax & Nationwide in case you are wondering.
Barclays International is available to residents living in 70 countries.
NatWest – the budget option!
The final offering from the UK high street is NatWest. This one offers current accounts, international savings accounts and overseas mortgages available through two options:
The International Select account and the International Cash Management account.
You use the International Select account like a current account and the International Cash Management account to handle different currencies.
For general banking tasks use International Select account, and use your International Cash Management for holding and saving currencies other than sterling.
The select account comes in two flavours. Standard or Premier. Standard costs £8/month but has lower opening requirements. A salary of £40K or £25K to put to work. Premier is free but you must have a salary of £75K or £100K to keep in your account.
Here are a few common fees expats may encounter with this account: Debit card payments and cash withdrawals cost 2.75% and for international payments their charges range from £23 to £40.
Savings accounts currently offer the following rates:
- Instant saver – 2.43-2.48% (AER)
- Savings Builder Account – If you add £50/month continuously you get 5.38% (AER) up to £10K and then 2.4% on anything above that number.
- Premium Saver Account – 2.73 to 3.14% (AER) depending on how much you are saving and whether or not you make withdrawals.
You also don’t have to go to many review sites to see NatWest really doesn’t score well for customer service. In fact, the overall score from 3198 reviews on TrustPilot is 1.5 out of 5 or in a word “Bad.”
As I don’t have much experience with NatWest I did a little extra research with this one and tried out their customer service for my self via their online chat. As you might expect, it wasn’t very good.
NatWest isn’t quite so global either. It is currently available in just 20 countries.
New Neo Challengers
Without doubt some people won’t be happy banking with a company they are less familiar with.
However, tax law changes mean the advantages you used to get from going offshore aren’t what they once were.
And remember, you don’t usually pay UK tax on savings and investments once you become permanently resident overseas anyway.
Of course, you may be liable for taxes in the country you live in, but then again an offshore account may not shield your wealth in that case anyway.
The fact of the matter is the majority of British expats live in low tax destinations these days anyway.
That’s not to say offshore accounts aren’t suitable for some. It’s just that most people are probably going to get a better lower cost service with a neobank.
Typically, you can open an account within minutes, do everything on your phone and save money all at the same time.
Similarly, if you need savings you can just open an investment account. (We are coming to these shortly).
Here are your neobank options:
Monese – is the oldest the best?
Monese is really popular with foreigners who live in the UK but it could be perfect for UK expats living in Europe too. They operate in 31 European countries
In fact, its a mobile banking app aimed specifically at expats. Both Brits and others. According to the company themselves, their very purpose is to help people and businesses bank like locals, moving with them wherever they choose to be.
They were actually the first neobank to enter the UK market. And offer a wide selection of accounts, including instant savers, joint accounts, and savings.
They have three plans: Free, Classic £5.95/month & Premium £14.95/month.
All accounts come with contactless payment cards, multi-currency accounts and built in currency exchange.
As you might expect a lot of functionality is free with the Premium account, but you have to pay for it with the other plans. For example, international transfers are free with Premium but start at 0.5% otherwise.
Wordwide ATM withdrawals are free in the currency of your account up to an allowance in the paid plans but you pay £1.5 for the Free subscription option. FYI the allowances are £500 for Classic & £1500 for premium.
Monese is regulated by the FCA in the UK and by the equivalent in each country it operates in.
They get 4.3 on Trustpilot (Excellent).
In short, it is a great alternative for expats living in Europe.
Suits Me – suits you if you don’t have proof of address
Suits Me offers banking services to those who may have a hard time opening a regular bank account.
In other words, they could be perfect for expats.
The keys being no credit check or proof of address required.
There are three types of account: Standard, Premium and Premium Plus.
The Essential account has no monthly fee, Premium has a monthly management fee of £4.97, and Premium Plus is £9.97 per month.
All come with a free debit card and lots of cash back offers and promotions available for online and in-store shopping.
But, and it’s a big BUT, Suits Me does charge you for many services that are free with traditional bank accounts.
The good news is, a lot of these charges are low and many of them become free if you upgrade your account.
The key thing is knowing what they are because as long as you know what they are you can work around them.
An example being ATM withdrawals. These are £1.50 with the Essential account, so you wouldn’t want to be withdrawing small amounts of money three times a day. Instead, you’d withdraw a large amount say once a month or if you need more withdrawals you may be better with a Premium Plus account where you get 4 free a month.
And though they don’t offer savings or investment options, you could quite easily pair Suits Me with an investment platform. (We’ve looked at some suitable for expats here).
As long as you know what the fees are for the services you are going to use, you’ll more than likely have a great experience with Suits Me. They get 4.1 on Trustpilot (Great).
Wise – the lowest cost global option
Most people think of Wise as a money transfer app. And who can blame them. It used to be called Transfer Wise and their main service was transferring money!
However, what less people know is that Wise also offers a lot of the same banking services as the other neobanks. In fact, if you value costs and coverage, it is difficult to beat.
Wise is one of the UK’s original fintech unicorns and it really has advantages where expatriate banking is concerned. Most importantly, you can have multiple account details simultaneously.
This means you can have actual account details (including UK account number and sort code) in more than 30 countries, hold 50+ currencies and convert and send nearly every currency on the planet at very low prices and that’s without any monthly fees.
Independent comparison site Monito’s research suggests Wise is on average 83% cheaper than the big four UK banks (ie our offshore friends HSBC, Lloyds, Barclays & Natwest) on major currency “routes”, but can be up to 90% cheaper in some cases.
And according to independent research agency Alderson Consulting, Wise is 19x cheaper than receiving and sending money overseas through PayPal. They offer debit cards, dedicated business accounts, have a great app and online platform and offer really good customer service. Wise scores 4.3 on Trustpilot (excellent)
Like with Suits Me, Wise will probably work best with an expat investment platform to handle your savings and investments.
Safety and security
The first thing to say here is that non of these banks are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in the UK. That includes the four offshore banks. Remember, these are separate to their main banking and located offshore.
That said they all do have protections in place. HSBC opened its doors in 1865 and Lloyds origins date back to 1688. Though neither get the best reviews on Trustpilot, I don’t think anybody is complaining about their money going walk about. Though I’d never say never, I do think that if our money goes missing with either of them, we can think of ourselves as being very unlucky indeed.
Whilst the very meaning of ‘neo’ being new suggests we haven’t the reassuring history of the UK banks, we can take reasurance from the fact that both our neobanks are regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as Electric Money Institutions.
The key being whilst your money is not backed by FSCS it is protected through safeguarding instead.
Safeguarding involves segregating 100% of client funds from operations. In other words it is kept at another bank. This means that in the event any one of these companies ran into financial trouble your money would be safe because it is kept elsewhere.
This is good enough for me, though I appreciate, it might not be for you, particularly if you were planning on keeping large sums with a particular account, but if you were thinking about doing that, you’d probably be better looking at opening an investment account.
Expat savings and investments
What if you are interested in savings rather than current account style services? Or what if you need both?
Whilst the offshore banks and Monese do offer savings. The other two don’t, but that doesn’t need to be a showstopper.
Enter stage left investment accounts. Anybody who is looking to grow their wealth over the long term should really be using a brokerage account to invest in shares anyway.
No matter whether you are looking at US, UK or Global, the historic average has been 9-10%. And even in this higher rate environment, you’ll be unlikely to get that with a savings account.
But of course, many people use savings accounts for more near term goals. But that’s OK too. Here’s the thing. Brokerage accounts can provide an excellent alternative to savings accounts in this respect too.
Not only do many of them pay high rates of interest on uninvested cash, they all give you access to money market funds which are usually a really safe way of getting better interest rates than you would on a savings account.
As an example, sterling money market funds tend to follow the Bank of England base rate. That’s over 5% at the time of writing.
(We’ve covered money market funds in more detail here if you are interested)
And then there’s always the option to just let your cash sit in a brokerage account. Many of them are paying decent levels of interest right now, but Lightyear is probably the best at the time of writing.
They give you the following rates on uninvested cash:
USD 2.00%
GBP 3.00%
EUR 3.00%
They also have their own money market fund products called Vaults which pay even higher rates, currently:
USD 3.59%
GBP 5.11%
EUR 5.06%
And bear in mind, unlike other money market funds, Vaults don’t have fees (in Euros or Pounds, dollars still attract a small 0.15% fee).
The bottom line
If you prioritize a name you know over costs and service an offshore account probably makes sense for you. If pushed I’d have to say HSBC is hard to beat if you meat their minimum requirements, particularly if you have a local branch where you live. I chose them in the past.
Otherwise, neobanks make sense. I’m a Wise fan, but both Monese and Suits Me offer compelling alternatives depending on your current situation.
