Expat HSBC

[eklia]

Hi all,

I'm planning to open a bank account with HSBC Expat.
I have few questions and I would be grateful if you can help me.

1) Is possibile to send EUR and USD via bank transfer to HSBC Expat bank account? Or to they accept only GBP?
2) SEPA is not supported and it's possible to operate only with SWIFT, is this right?
3) Is possibile to invest in ETF and stock with HSBC Expat bank account?
4) How much is difficult to open a bank account? What do they require? Video call? Only documents? Appointment in person?
5) Are there some hidden fees?

Thank you in advance

Last edited: Aug 17, 2023

 

[thomasparra]

1) Yes. Supports 16 currencies including the ones you mentioned.
2) Yes, I believe it only supports Swift. If you hold other HSBC accounts in other regions it goes through the HSBC internal system so irrelevant.
3) yes. But only on LSE
4) lots of documents. 1.5 to 2 months on average
5) somewhere around 30-50 GBP/month if your overall balance <50k GBP at any given time, or if your income <100k GBP, or if you are not Premier with HSBC in another country.

 

[eklia]

thomasparra said:
1) Yes. Supports 16 currencies including the ones you mentioned.
2) Yes, I believe it only supports Swift. If you hold other HSBC accounts in other regions it goes through the HSBC internal system so irrelevant.
3) yes. But only on LSE
4) lots of documents. 1.5 to 2 months on average
5) somewhere around 30-50 GBP/month if your overall balance <50k GBP at any given time, or if your income <100k GBP, or if you are not Premier with HSBC in another country.
Click to expand...

Thank you! And what about if balance >100k?

 

[Clank]

It supports sending SEPA through global money but only receiving via SWIFT.

 

[thomasparra]

eklia said:
Thank you! And what about if balance >100k?
Click to expand...

No maintenance fees or any other hidden costs. However and most importantly please note that the 50k GBP min requirement only accounts for current/saving/time deposit accounts as well as HSBC in house/white labeled financial products. The LSE investments you make (stocks/etfs) don't count towards that min balance.

 

[eklia]

Thank you both.
What about if you hold for example 80K EUR? Is it considered as >50K GPB? Or you need to hold in GBP currency?

 

[Asmodeus]

Trust me you don't want to go with HSBC Expat.
The account opening experience is horrible and the people are more incompetent as the usual bank monkeys.
Better go with Barclays IOM.

 

[Clank]

eklia said:
Thank you both.
What about if you hold for example 80K EUR? Is it considered as >50K GPB? Or you need to hold in GBP currency?
Click to expand...

You can hold the funds in any currency and it would count towards the minimum in GBP.

Asmodeus said:
Trust me you don't want to go with HSBC Expat.
The account opening experience is horrible and the people are more incompetent as the usual bank monkeys.
Better go with Barclays IOM.
Click to expand...

Barclays is indeed better, they also support SEPA if you are dealing with EU. I think min deposit for Barclays is higher (100K).

Apart from the lengthy account opening process I have never had any problems with HSBC expat my RM always solves everything super fast.

 

[eklia]

How to open with Barclays?
And I saw they don't accept all residence. That's why I was considering HSBC

 

[nobel]

eklia said:
How to open with Barclays?
And I saw they don't accept all residence. That's why I was considering HSBC
Click to expand...

Previously you could open an account with residence EU/EEA countries, now only non-EU/EEA. If you live in Malta it is not possible with Barclays IOM!

 

[eklia]

nobel said:
Previously you could open an account with residence EU/EEA countries, now only non-EU/EEA. If you live in Malta it is not possible with Barclays IOM!
Click to expand...

Can you tell about commissions a costs ?

 

[nobel]

eklia said:
Can you tell about commissions a costs ?
Click to expand...

You live in Malta right? Then you can not open an account.