Sorry Sue, I don’t have a subscription either but have a look at this additional reference:
Great, Graham, thanks. In fact I’d fogotten OH has a subscription and he’s just cut and pasted it to me. I’ll do the same here.
Just a couple of extracts:
Lloyds said: “If customers have regular deposits into, or payments out of, their account, they will need to make other arrangements before their account is closed.”
Coutts … confirmed it would no longer serve customers based in the EU. (I think someone here mentioned they are with Coutts and thought all would be well)
Coutts said that the company boss would have to make “alternative banking arrangements” after December 31.
“We expect banks to treat their customers fairly and provide timely communications to enable them to make appropriate decisions,” the Treasury said. “However, the provision of banking services is a commercial decision for firms based on a variety of factors, including the local law and regulation of specific EEA countries.”
I think the issue has gone beyond communicating with individual banks and has to be with the regulators. How do these institutions think we are going to “make other arrangements” if they are all taking the same commercial decision, FFS!
I feel letters to the Financial Ombudsman, the FCA and Treasury are needed.
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Today’s Sunday Times Article…
Brexit strips expats of UK bank accounts
Lloyds and Barclays say without a deal they cannot afford to keep EU-based customers
Tens of thousands of Britons who live in Europe are to be stripped of their UK bank accounts and credit cards within weeks, because the government has failed to negotiate post-Brexit rules.
A number of the biggest British banks, including Lloyds, Barclays and the Queen’s bank, Coutts, have started writing to expatriates to say they will stop serving them when the withdrawal agreement ends at 11pm on December 31.
Without a continuation of crucial pan-European banking rules, known as passporting, it will become illegal for UK banks to provide for British customers in the EU without applying for new banking licences.
As each of the 27 member states has a hotchpotch of different rules, it is a bureaucratic nightmare for institutions, and some are deciding simply to ditch certain countries.
A source at one leading British bank said: “In some cases, continuing to serve customers would be incredibly complex, extremely expensive and very time-consuming, and simply would not make economic sense. This is passporting — this is the reality of Brexit.”
In the past few weeks, banks have begun contacting customers who live in countries where the regulatory demands are considered too costly to tell them their accounts are being cancelled. Banks are making different decisions about where to apply for permission to continue operating — and which countries to abandon.
Lloyds, which is Britain’s biggest banking group and includes Halifax and Bank of Scotland, started writing to customers in August, telling them that their bank accounts would be shut on December 31.
So far, the bank has confirmed this applies to 13,000 customers, including those with current accounts in Holland, Slovakia, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Portugal. The bank would not reveal whether more countries will follow.
Lloyds said: “If customers have regular deposits into, or payments out of, their account, they will need to make other arrangements before their account is closed.”
Barclays said its banking and Barclaycard credit-card customers had started receiving letters, but would not say where or how many. Customers living in Spain, France and Belgium have told us their Barclaycards are to be cancelled.
Kristine Hendrickson, who lives in Brittany and has had her Barclaycard for more than 40 years, has received a letter telling her it will be terminated on November 16. “I’m absolutely furious about it — I have been a customer since 1974,” she said.
Barclays said: “In light of the UK leaving the EU at the end of 2020, we continue to review the services we offer to customers within the European Economic Area (EEA), and any impacted customers will be contacted directly. The timings for account closure will depend on the type of product that a customer holds, but we will always give notice to customers.”
Coutts, which counts some of the UK’s richest and most high-profile people among its customers, confirmed it would no longer serve customers based in the EU.
One company boss, who did not wish to be identified, said he faced a serious headache after the termination of his account, which he said contained “a considerable sum”, because he mostly lives in his Portuguese villa. In the UK, he receives a state pension, annuities and dividend income and pays all the usual bills, from insurance to utilities.
“How am I going to receive and pay these UK items without a UK bank account?” he asked. He said a number of expat friends were giving British banks the addresses of family members in the UK to keep their accounts.
Coutts said that the company boss would have to make “alternative banking arrangements” after December 31.
“In the event that no alternative to the European Economic Area passporting regime for financial services is agreed between the UK and EU, we have taken the difficult decision to withdraw from offering our services to clients who reside in the EEA,” the bank said.
NatWest and Santander said they had no plans to close accounts but were considering their options.
“We expect banks to treat their customers fairly and provide timely communications to enable them to make appropriate decisions,” the Treasury said. “However, the provision of banking services is a commercial decision for firms based on a variety of factors, including the local law and regulation of specific EEA countries.”
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Just had an in-app chat with Revolut about this issue and they have assured me that my account will be transferred to their EEA partner in the event of a no deal Brexit and all that may be required is to resubmit the passport id if requested. So encouraging news there.
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I am a born optimist and believe that this current shitstorm will blow over.Turning the situation on its head, if you cannot have a uk bank account unless you are resident in the uk due to the lack of banking agreements if there is no deal Brexit then surely that means that a UK resident with a second home in the EU will not be able to have an EU linked account to pay running costs of a second home?
Quite.
The thought had occurred and it’s rather disquieting but I haven’t heard anything from Britline yet.
Credit Agricole would loose a lot of business! I do not think that CA is that foolish. Sorry to hear about the problems with the bank, but the Brexit people are the ones to blame.
The UK just wants to decouple from Europe! The dream about the trade agreement with the US will not work either and in the end the Boris gang will sit between all chairs!
Hopefully some people will stay strong and stop things, before it goes too far!!
They would but, for most banks, operating within the law is normally a pretty high priority.
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France is dependant on international trading!
It can be as dependent as it likes - but if there is no legal provision for French banks to offer services to UK residents CA will stop doing so, or will have to adapt somehow.
That said I’d expect them to at least let us know - which they haven’t - and I’m with John on the “it will probably be OK” front. There’s not a lot I can do about it anyway except that hope (if it comes to it) that I can use the Transferwise bank or similar to move forward.
Ultimately international transactions will still work - what will change (if anything) for Brits is the cost of dealing with transactions in euros.
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I think it is not enough to say there’s not a lot I can do. I don’t think bank regulators have realised the implications for thousands of people in the UK and Europe if this is just “allowed” to happen. Now is the time to shout very loudly that this is not alright.
In the name of “the commercial decisions of individual banks” a grave injustice is being perpetrated.
Write to the regulators - FCA, Financial ombudsman, the Treasury, The Bank of England and copy Downing Street.
This is an industry as a whole which is betraying its customers, who are being driven to the margins of legality in order to keep some sort of financial foothold, in the UK for those of us in the EU and in the EU for those in the UK.
I believe there is a possible solution - to have accounts frozen, not closed, whilst this is sorted out and deals are put in place. Once accounts are closed it is almost impossible to get one with another bank if it is not your country of residence. If accounts are merely frozen, then in a year, eighteen months time, they can be reactivated.
One of the reasons given for residency addresses - this is to prevent money laundering. Don’t make me laugh! Anyone see today’s press: HSBC (and others) …
"HSBC allowed fraudsters to transfer millions of dollars around the world even after it had learned of their scam, leaked secret files show.
Britain’s biggest bank moved the money through its US business to HSBC accounts in Hong Kong in 2013 and 2014.
Its role in the $80m (£62m) fraud is detailed in a leak of documents - banks’ “suspicious activity reports” - that have been called the FinCEN Files."
And these are the organisations that hold our money!
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Not just Barclays/Lloyds, applies to many banks and many EU27 states but not in equal measure.
Doesn’t affect EU27 citizens in the UK as the UK has already passed legislation. The EU/EU27 states haven’t and therefore UK citizens in EU 27 states are facing a lottery depending on their UK bank and their EU27 state of residency.
Our Lloyds accounts are not affected, so far!
Here is the link to today’s Guardian article.
Thousands of Britons living in EU told their UK bank accounts will be closed
The following is a report from The Local issued today:
How post-Brexit bank account changes could affect British people in France
As the end of the Brexit transition period looms, the UK has so far failed to negotiate access to the European passporting scheme for banks - here’s what that means if you are British and live in France.
‘Over the weekend it was reported that, with just three months to go until the Brexit transition period ends, the UK has so far not managed to negotiate a continuation of EU banking rules - known as passporting.
This means that all UK banks will need to apply for new banking licences to provide certain services in each of the 27 different EU countries.
And some banks have apparently decided that this is not worth the hassle in certain EU countries and have begun writing to their British customers registered as living abroad to inform them that they will be closing their accounts or cancelling their credit cards.
Here we take a closer look at the situation for British people living in France.
Is it all banks?
No, it’s important to be clear that there is no blanket closure of accounts for all Brits living abroad, it depends on who you bank with and the type of account you have.
Essentially, applying for new licences will create a lot more admin for banks.
Banks already have to do this for many non-EU countries so clearly it is possible to do. But it seems that some banks are deciding that it’s not worth the hassle of doing this for all 27 countries in the EU separately, especially ones where they only have a few customers.
As a country that has a large number of British people living here (estimates vary from 150,000 to 300,000) there is a good chance that banks will decided that it is worth their while to obtain a licence for France.
Is it all account types?
No. Again, this depends on the type of account you have, with straightforward current/checking accounts less likely to be closed.
It could also be the case that certain products become unavailable - for example many Barclaycard customers in France report being told that they will no longer be able to use their credit card.
Is it only if I use my French address?
Many British people living in France use a ‘care of’ address in the UK for their banking, for example the address of a family member who will forward on all correspondence they receive.
At this stage it seems that only people who have officially changed their address to a French one are receiving letters from their bank.
Can I challenge my bank’s decision?
Banks are free to decide what products they offer and to who, but their decisions can be challenged via the Financial Ombudsman Service - find out more about the procedure to file a complaint here.
The UK government told British newspaper The Times that “the provision of banking services is a commercial decision for firms based on a number of factors” so Brits in France probably shouldn’t hold their breath for any help from that direction.
Which banks?
We have asked all the major names in UK banking what their policy is for customers in France, here are the responses we have received so far. We will update this page as soon as we receive more responses.
Santander - the Spanish banking giant said it was keeping the situation under constant review but told The Local: "We have no current plans to close any of our retail [personal banking] or corporate accounts.”
Lloyds - the bank is understood to be closing business accounts - not personal accounts - of customers living in the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Portugal. However the bank said it had no current plans to discontinue any services for customers in France.
A spokesman said: "We have written to a small number of customers living in affected EU countries to let them know that due to the UK’s exit from the EU, regrettably we will no longer be able to provide them with some UK-based banking services. We want to keep customers informed and offer advice on next steps.”
HSBC - A spokesman for HSBC confirmed on Twitter that current accounts for customers in France would not be affected, provided they were used at least once every 12 months.
Barclaycard - numerous readers of The Local France have been in touch to say that they had received letters from Barclaycard telling them that their account would be closed. Barclaycard is separate to Barclays bank and it is understood that Barclays current accounts are not affected, although the company has not commented on the record so far.
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This is down to the EU/EU27 states not getting their act together and protecting us UK citizens resident in EU27 states.
The EU/EU27 have had months to protect us and they have failed to do so. Seems very much like they have been using us a negotiating chips.
The UK government has enacted legislation to protect EU27 citizens in an equivalent situation in the UK.
Will the French government actually start to allow us to register our right to a CdS on 1st October, will the French government allow ALL of us with UK bank accounts to continue to us them post transition?
So… yah boo sucks to the notion that it’s all the fault of the EU27 then 
Why wouldn’t they?
It is not to do with the French government. It is the passporting rights which have been given up if there is no financial agreement before the end of the year.
Nat West are hoping to transfer our accounts to subsidiaries they have set up in certain countries.
Beware! The press is not always reporting correctly - this is the wrong way round. It’s personal accounts that are being closed by Lloyds. In the current situation nobody can afford to be complacent.
No, it’s down to the UK not negotiating the passporting rights for the whole of the EU - it goes much deeper than just a few expat bank accounts.
And the fact that the UK has passed legislation (assuming that it has) will be more about the fact that it would be utterly, utterly bonkers for it not to do so, I expect any benefit for individuals is almost a by product.
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