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Issue 776
29 AUG - 4 SEPT 2014
Banks take a bashing by Jack Troughton
Rainbow of colour
A rain of umbrellas By Jack Troughton STREETS IN Gandia were decorated with a rainbow of colour when they were decorated with umbrellas for recent fiestas. The rafts of brollies provided welcome shade from the August sun but would have been teasingly out of reach had there been a cloud burst!
BRITAIN’S HIGH street banks are facing a wave of criticism over their treatment of customers who are UK citizens but living abroad. It is alleged they are putting a “squeeze” on expats and trying to divorce themselves from the five to six million expats worldwide – with more than two million living within the EU and around 800,000 in Spain. And while different banks take a different view on customers living offshore, it is claimed they hide behind ‘terms and conditions’ to justify their varying attitude to expats. However, according to the Financial Conduct Authority, the Treasury’s anti money-laundering regulations are clear. Expats can maintain a UK account as long as ‘know your customer’ required due diligence by banks is fulfilled. The EU is already examining the situation and is understood to be drafting a directive that anyone should be able to open and maintain a bank account if they have a need for it because discrimination based solely on living aboard would be illegal. Meanwhile, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority is investigating the way in which high street banks operate personal current accounts and expats are being urged to submit their views before a 17th September deadline. Campaign group Votes For Expat Brits – which increasingly has to defend the rights of those
UK citizens living abroad – hopes everyone with any concerns will complain to the CMA. IMPOSSIBLE Expats find it difficult “or even impossible” to open an account without a UK address, switch accounts to gain advertised advantages, or get a credit or debit card. Yet many still have banking links back home. They repatriate money, keep UK savings, need to make payments to UK companies, and use the account when visiting the UK. Some occupational pensions can only be paid into a UK account. “This is another kick in the teeth – by our own country – to us Brits who have legitimately come to live elsewhere within the European Union,” said Margaret Hales MBE, a Costa Blanca-based campaign activist. She said that personally she had experienced little trouble with NatWest until the bank’s own adviser suggested switching a small investment into another account – but found when filling in the paperwork it was “banned” because there was no UK address. “For us this is annoying – for others this kind of discrimination could be very difficult. Of course we still need a bank account in the UK. Our occupational pensions are paid directly into it, we go to see the family and we need a British account to spend money in the UK,” said Margaret. Continued on page 4