Standard Bank in Isle of Man

[rowena]

Correct, no one should bank but eventually, you need to use them. The important thing is you should never put all your eggs into the same basket. I personally recommend splitting liquid assets into 3-4 different A grade bank in different countries.

 

[rowena]

They told me this as well, but I've been receiving 3rd party payments from multiple sources for ages, and no problems with that.

My problem is with their crappy customer service, poor exchange rates and high fees for account maintenance and wire transfers. Really wish I could find an alternative cheap option!

How about Barclays or Llyods international accounts?

 

[Martin Everson]

Today that actually is not such a bad idea.

Fact!!!!

 

[Martin Everson]

Some people have misunderstood channel islands banking. The banks are historically fixed deposit taking units for onshore international banks. Many of these such banks have closed since CRS (i.e in Isle of Man) and now with negative interest rates their business model is becoming questionable. There market is now investing expats, UK resident non-domiciles and Trusts. If you are looking for a transnational account as a non-resident that is not what they are about unless you reside there. There is simply no money in wire activity for those banks. You need to be investing with them or parking money there so they can rob you to pay the light bills.

P.S I went years ago on a trip to Jersey to open accounts in person and walked on foot in the pooring rain between Barclays, Natwest, Lloyds, Santander, RBC, Standard Bank, HSBC, NedBank and BNP etc. Barclays, Ned etc I had already opened personal accounts online but wanted to see if I could do Trust accounts. Results where not impressive..wasted my time

 

[rowena]

Some people have misunderstood channel islands banking. The banks are historically fixed deposit taking units for onshore international banks. Many of these such banks have closed since CRS (i.e in Isle of Man) and now with negative interest rates their business model is becoming questionable. There market is now investing expats, UK resident non-domiciles and Trusts. If you are looking for a transnational account as a non-resident that is not what they are about unless you reside there. There is simply no money in wire activity for those banks. You need to be investing with them or parking money there so they can rob you to pay the light bills.

P.S I went years ago on a trip to Jersey to open accounts in person and walked on foot in the pooring rain between Barclays, Natwest, Lloyds, Santander, RBC, Standard Bank, HSBC, NedBank and BNP etc. Barclays, Ned etc I had already opened personal accounts online but wanted to see if I could do Trust accounts. Results where not impressive..wasted my time

I am looking another place to just park(fixed deposit etc..) my money(6-7 figur). What are the downsides Llyods, Natwest or Barclays international accounts for non-residents ? It looks like they're accepting non-residents and I didn't see any negative interest.

 

[Martin Everson]

What are the downsides Llyods, Natwest or Barclays international accounts for non-residents ?

The list of countries they accept gets smaller each year. Services are limited accept with Lloyds. No downsides I have seen with Barclays accept waiting for that inevitable email that my account will be closed due to change of compliance policy....blah blah blah.

It looks like they're accepting non-residents and I didn't see any negative interest.

Yes they all accept non-residents but the number of countries they accept literally reduces each year and your passport makes a BIG difference not just residence sadly. Barclays don't even accept clients from my country any more but are more than happy to accept clients from Nigeria even going as far as offering special services to those clients.

Sorry I meant negative interest rate environment i.e EUR and CHF central bank rates and if Trump gets his way USD soon .

P.S If you are opening at Barclays then you might as well do Natwest as the offices are literally opposite each other like 10 meters apart. Literally all the banks are close by each other so fly in open at as many as you can then fly out.

 

[rowena]

@Martin Everson Thanks. It looks like there is no disadvantage but account opening is not easy. I don't want to fly there I will try their online application option very soon. In case of rejection, do you have any other personal account solution for just parking 6-7 digit money ? CRS or FATCA is not important.

 

[Martin Everson]

In case of rejection, do you have any other personal account solution for just parking 6-7 digit money ?

Depends what currency and for how long? AA+ government bonds are always safer place than bank accounts.

 

[rowena]

Depends what currency and for how long? AA+ government bonds are always safer place than bank accounts.

USD or EUR and for 2-4 years. Do you have any AA+ gov bond recommendation ? thanks.

 

[Martin Everson]

USD or EUR and for 2-4 years. Do you have any AA+ gov bond recommendation ? thanks.

Around 2013 I bought German and Netherlands 30y bonds (AAA) and France 50y (AA) and later some ESM covered bonds. Unfortunately all yields have gone negative now. For 2-4y horizon your gonna have to accept you will lose money in Euro now to stay 100% safe. For USD buy the 3y note. Lock in the interest rate now. As Trump remember is calling for 100bp rate cut from fed. With a global slow down and trade conflict with China interest rates in USD can also turn negative like they have in Europe, Japan etc. You can just look at the yield curve for USD Treasuries and work out that any 100bp rate cut over time would drive the street rate on USD bank deposits to zero or worse negative as banks struggle to make margin. After all what some banks are doing is taking your USD and sticking it in treasury bills and notes and pocketing the interest rate difference between what they get from fed and what they give you.

 

[Osleak]

Around 2013 I bought German and Netherlands 30y bonds (AAA) and France 50y (AA) and later some ESM covered bonds. Unfortunately all yields have gone negative now. For 2-4y horizon your gonna have to accept you will lose money in Euro now to stay 100% safe. For USD buy the 3y note. Lock in the interest rate now. As Trump remember is calling for 100bp rate cut from fed. With a global slow down and trade conflict with China interest rates in USD can also turn negative like they have in Europe, Japan etc. You can just look at the yield curve for USD Treasuries and work out that any 100bp rate cut over time would drive the street rate on USD bank deposits to zero or worse negative as banks struggle to make margin. After all what some banks are doing is taking your USD and sticking it in treasury bills and notes and pocketing the interest rate difference between what they get from fed and what they give you.

Yes true but the value from 2013 to 2019 is go up i think! After the QE you’re bonds should be gone up a lot!!

 

[Martin Everson]

Yes true but the value from 2013 to 2019 is go up i think! After the QE you’re bonds should be gone up a lot!!

Yes price of bonds has gone up well above par values My UBS banker at the time thought I was nuts for not choosing their diversified equity portfolio strategy. He told me that I would only lose money to inflation and with such a concentration of risk in low yielding sovereign bonds. I said to him I just want my capital safe but if rates go I will consider a switch into an equity strategy.....guess what he never called back funnily enough till today.

 

[Osleak]

Yes price of bonds has gone up well above par values My UBS banker at the time thought I was nuts for not choosing their diversified equity portfolio strategy. He told me that I would only lose money to inflation and with such a concentration of risk in low yielding sovereign bonds. I said to him I just want my capital safe but if rates go I will consider a switch into an equity strategy.....guess what he never called back funnily enough till today.

You have done a great choose!!! ECB with QE had pump your bonds!! And your money are more safety than in banks products usually!!
Btw you offer offshore services do you have website or office could you pm me please?

 

[Martin Everson]

Btw you offer offshore services do you have website or office could you pm me please?

Used to have a company that did that but sold it.