yep, we have an HSBC account with UK adress, but when we sell that I wonder how they will react to it being replaced by our French one…ditto Barclays and now Nationwide…lest you think I’m wealthy they are all small accounts and kept so hopefully one at least can be left open !!
I trust you are declaring all these accounts to the French fisc with your tax return - form 3916 
Absolutely…very carefull to do that, and I use a very good english but French domiciled accountant to do my first years return, for a very acceptable fee.
Nationwide has been very good so far. If they are still managing to support accounts for French residents at the moment, I don’t see why that is likely to stop - surely any agreement (if there is one) regarding financial serives is not going to be actually WORSE than the current situation? 
Organisations have to think now that financial “passporting” is no
longer in force …do we meet the new requirements, and if yes, are the increased EU reporting/admin’EU requirements economically worth it, if requiments are not met does the business case make it worthwhile to set up new arrangements for a few thousand customers… probably not.
It all revolves round the fact that UK financial services no longer have an automatic right to service customers based in the EU from a UK registered and domiciled entity. The "current situation changed dramatically 31st Dec
Could this impact French UK Account holders?
When Barclaycard announced they would be closing certain non uk holder accounts last September/October which started the rumours and in some cases fact that various UK banks would do the same l decided to look into opening an account with the only uk bank that advertised they would open accounts with non residents this being HSBC the worlds bank as they like to see themselves.
Thankfully my current bank has not closed my facilities (yet?) And I hope that situation continues but just in case I decided to open an account with HSBC as it could all be done on line and the process was simple.
I started the application in October last year and it has taken almost 6 months of letters, phonecalls and complaints as the goal posts took up a new position at each twist and turn.
Yesterday I recieved yet another email from my complaints case manager advising that they had learnt much from the situation and although a monetary reward does not replace good service they were pleased to announce that an account has now been opened in my wife and myself name and in it is £300 to say sorry for the stress caused.
We now await documents arriving in the post and we are told by their welcome blurb that they are so confident that we will receive it within 7 days that if not we can claim £10!!!
I really dont have the enthusiasm to bother anymore even if it doesn’t arrive in time.
well done John 
I certainly admire your stamina! Six months… good grief… 
Well done John, so glad you’ve managed to make it happen. And thanks for keeping us up to date.
Good to know it’s possible but I’m not sure I could face all that 
you won’t have to Angela, now that @JohnBoy has been through it! As HSBC say, they have learnt a lot.
Read somewhere this morning (can’t now find it) that France and UK have now got a financial agreement in principle. So hopefully from now onwards things will begin to be sorted out.
That’s good Sue! One agreement down, only another few thousand to go… 
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There was a short news item in The Times page 51 last Saturday…“UK and EU agree deal on financial services” …not actually a deal yet but agreement to establish a forum and start talks about equivalence. So at least a first step towards a more comprehensive agreement.
Friends of ours banking with Barclays…no UK address got the notification letter in Nov’ re possible account closures but as of last week heard no more.
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We also bark with bankleys (difficult to call them a bank tbh) but our account of some 40 odd years seems to remain intact although we no longer really use it.
I’m sorry you had such hassle with HSBC John. I’ve been a customer of their’s for nigh on 25 years in the M/E, UK and France. I still have the latter two accounts. While the UK account is only for convenience I do have investments with them here and when my wife died suddenly in 2013, they way they had structured our accounts (which had all gone straight over my head) saved my daughter and I significant tax issues.
I’m not a fan of banks in general and I’ve had my fair share of run-ins with them over the years but I have to say I’ve always found HSBC service, here and in the UK, to be excellent.
I’m glad they finally sorted you out and from here on in I hope you find them as helpful as I have.
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It’ll be a long road. Frost’s arrogance will not sit well with Mairead McGuinness.
if you think the problems are only UK based then read this concerning the US
Really interesting experience with Barclaycard. I posted some months back that I wasn’t sure what would happen when my new card was due to be sent to me. Well now I know!
I phoned their helpline and told them that I was staying in our French property and this would coincide with when they would be sending my new card to my UK address. I asked if, by any chance, they would be prepared to send it to France. The guy I spoke to said he could do this for me. He said I would then have to get back to them promptly with a UK address. Spelling my French address over the phone was fun!
I’ve just received the card (despite incorrect spelling of address) and it’s only taken a week. Along with it came a separate letter stating “Your Barclaycard will stop working if you don’t get back to us by 08/11/2021 with a valid UK address”
I will phone them Monday and reinstate the UK address I gave them at the beginning. 
It wouldn’t have been a disaster if they refused to do this. I would just have cancelled my card. But it’s useful to have a UK line of credit from time to time. Nice that they are being flexible about this.
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This thread has been a fascinating read - I want to thank all concerned for their input and also reminding me that I opened a Transferwise (now Wise) account three years ago - and put €150 in it which I had forgotten about!
So thanks to you I am €150 richer this morning! 
Also, on the subject of Barclays / Barclaycard, they have always been all about the profit and not the customer service, it’s not just post-Brexit.
I had banked with them for many years, but when I decided to quit my business partnership in order to move to the Turks & Caicos Islands to work with my brother who had a photography business over there, Barclays decided that I was now persona non grata and unilaterally closed my personal account (which was in credit!)
And when I arrived in Turks & Caicos and (perhaps foolishly) went into Barclays out there to open an account, they said no - “we are a separate company so your UK banking history does not count”.
All that aside, I’m hoping that when I do move to France in a few years that Nationwide will still be supporting ex-pat account holders - if not then my sleeping Wise account will have to leap into life!
They certainly are at the moment! Fingers crossed on that one. I have a Nationwide and a Coop account (Coop let you keep an account when you move abroad but not to open a new one once you are there) and I use Transferwise extensively, partly for moving my pensions across to my French bank accounts, but also to pay any significant artisan bills as it’s instant and my French bank can take best part of a week 
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