Sorry I thought you were applying for an account wit HSBC, must have misread. As an existing customer I haven’t experienced what you describe.
been with them for years. They must think I am a money launderer…really!
Confess I’m actively looking to move our UK personal account away from HSBC. Over the years we have suffered a whole string of obstructive, unhelpful, obsessively bureaucratic encounters that have made it difficult to conduct quite simple and entirely legitimate transactions. We almost failed to complete on the purchase of the house in France due to incompetence on their part. So our experience mirrors Barbara’s. In the past we have accepted bribes of crates of wine from HSBC as apologies and remained as customers. But their attitude and approach have not changed and our experience of trying to buy a car using money in our HSBC account was the last straw.
Our business accounts are with Santander and we have no problems there, though I understand lots of people complain about them too. Our experience is that they make receiving, storing and spending money very straightforward.
We’re with the Banque Populaire in France, but can’t use them in the UK.
Would be interested to know if there are any banks people would recommend for personal current account banking! And I’m sure there will be people who have a positive experience at HSBC.
As Simon says, the identification part of their enquiry would be for money laundering
prevention. I’m with them and it is useful for international transfers. However the questioning
about your wealth and income is probably in view of trying to persuade you to place
funds with them, and also to assess your risk level. In any case all banks in France have
quite severe rules concerning going overdrawn and you can be bankrupted for 1€. The worst bank I have dealt with is Crédit Agricole.
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Yes, the question of identification it is across the board, banking, buying and selling property…going to Court. Everything official.
Yes,…of course Sophie …but if HSBC just looked at my account they would see that I left
UK with a very happy bank balance having sold a restaurant which eventually became
financially successful. We also sold our west London home. So we wanted to be in France.
From there everything has been done correctly…Accountant found prior to residing in France.
And capitol gains tax paid,
I do know about banks and that they need to “check out” for laundering.
But at my age and in my situation I found it uncomfortably invasive and honestly if they
had examined my acoount just a little they would see the true position.
I find Credit Ag ok…by the way.