Opening a euro bank a/c in Rep of Ireland from UK?

Opening a euro bank a/c in Rep of Ireland from UK?

am 21.07.2006 00:27:47 von hanrahan398

Hi - I'm soon going to be selling my home in the UK and moving to the
republic of Ireland, where I'll be staying in temp accommodation (prob
a motor caravan!) for a while before buying a house there.

I'd like to open a euro-denominated account in Ireland while I'm still
at my UK address.

Would prefer one that doesn't have charges.

I only want to open it with a small sum, e.g. 10 euros. Then I'll
transfer the proceeds of the UK house sale to it, and I'll have the
funds available for use when I turn up.

Can someone advise as to what bank will do this? Preferably a biggie.
Preferably, although not necessarily, with a presence in the UK.

If it's of any relevance, I'm a UK citizen and not an Irish one, and
will not be seeking employment in Ireland, as I am retired.

Many thanks in advance.

Michael

Re: Opening a euro bank a/c in Rep of Ireland from UK?

am 21.07.2006 11:21:38 von Dino

said...

> Hi - I'm soon going to be selling my home in the UK and moving to the
> republic of Ireland, where I'll be staying in temp accommodation (prob
> a motor caravan!) for a while before buying a house there.
>
> I'd like to open a euro-denominated account in Ireland while I'm still
> at my UK address.
>
> Would prefer one that doesn't have charges.
>
> I only want to open it with a small sum, e.g. 10 euros. Then I'll
> transfer the proceeds of the UK house sale to it, and I'll have the
> funds available for use when I turn up.
>
> Can someone advise as to what bank will do this? Preferably a biggie.
> Preferably, although not necessarily, with a presence in the UK.
>
> If it's of any relevance, I'm a UK citizen and not an Irish one, and
> will not be seeking employment in Ireland, as I am retired.
>

Opening an account in Ireland requires ID etc and you need to sign
forms so you'll need to be there in person.

I'd recommend contacting one of the banks that has a UK branch near
you (AIB, Bank of Ireland, etc) and ask them how you can do what you
need to. I'm sure you're not the first in this situation.

--
Some gal would giggle and I'd get red
And some guy'd laugh and I'd bust his head,
I tell ya, life ain't easy for a boy named "Sue."

Re: Opening a euro bank a/c in Rep of Ireland from UK?

am 21.07.2006 11:48:59 von james

<> wrote
> Hi - I'm soon going to be selling my home in the UK and moving to the
> republic of Ireland, where I'll be staying in temp accommodation (prob
> a motor caravan!) for a while before buying a house there.
> I'd like to open a euro-denominated account in Ireland while I'm still
> at my UK address.
> Would prefer one that doesn't have charges.
> I only want to open it with a small sum, e.g. 10 euros. Then I'll
> transfer the proceeds of the UK house sale to it, and I'll have the
> funds available for use when I turn up.
> Can someone advise as to what bank will do this? Preferably a biggie.
> Preferably, although not necessarily, with a presence in the UK.
> If it's of any relevance, I'm a UK citizen and not an Irish one, and
> will not be seeking employment in Ireland, as I am retired.

Contact a few of the main banks operating in Ireland and ask them what you
need to do. The opening of 'offshore' accounts for offshore residents has
been quite common here, so common in fact that locals were opening them to
avoid tax on interest payments and it resulted in huge investigations by our
Revenue authorities! So expect particular attention to be paid to evidence
of where you are resident! (And don't forget to tell them when you become
an Irish resident).

www.boi.ie
www.aib.ie
www.ulsterbank.ie
www.bankofscotland.ie

The UK & Ireland have joint tax agreements and you may want to get some
independent financial advice to ensure that you don't fall victim of the tax
authorities in either country.

Here's a link on generally moving to Ireland that you might find useful:
www.oasis.gov.ie/moving_country/moving_to_ireland

Re: Opening a euro bank a/c in Rep of Ireland from UK?

am 21.07.2006 12:24:24 von Ulick Magee

James wrote:
>
> www.boi.ie
> www.aib.ie
> www.ulsterbank.ie
> www.bankofscotland.ie


Most of these will charge the arse off you for accounts with small
balances or little activity, and BoS only has 20-odd branches in the
whole country!
I've been banking with NIB www.nationalirishbank.ie for years. Their
online banking is the best around and they have no current account
charges, with no minimum balance required.


U

Re: Opening a euro bank a/c in Rep of Ireland from UK?

am 21.07.2006 12:43:28 von james

"Ulick Magee" <> wrote
> Most of these will charge the arse off you for accounts with small
> balances or little activity,

Not for a deposit/savings account.

Re: Opening a euro bank a/c in Rep of Ireland from UK?

am 21.07.2006 12:57:17 von Ulick Magee

James wrote:
>
> Not for a deposit/savings account.

They're sod all use unless you have a local current account to transfer
it into when you want to USE the money. I presume he will be wanting to
actually do something with this money instead of just leaving it sit
there at a pre-tax interest rate less than inflation.


U

Re: Opening a euro bank a/c in Rep of Ireland from UK?

am 21.07.2006 13:48:35 von james

"Ulick Magee" <> wrote
> They're sod all use unless you have a local current account to transfer it
> into when you want to USE the money. I presume he will be wanting to
> actually do something with this money instead of just leaving it sit there
> at a pre-tax interest rate less than inflation.

I wouldn't agree. You seem to be saying that in order to do anything with
the money from his house sale he would have to transfer it from a deposit
account to a current account in order to get access to use it? When he
wants to move the money on he can do it just as easily from a
deposit/savings account as from a current account. AIUI he just wants a
mechanism to get the money to Ireland in Euros and have banking access to
it. He may of course need to open a current account when he moves to
Ireland with enough funds for his immediate needs but surely not his entire
house proceeds? IMHO for the bulk of his house sale money he would be very
foolish at that stage not to look at the various financial products
available in all financial institutions (such as high yield savings
accounts) until he makes a decision on eg buying a house in Ireland (rather
than put it all in a current account).

To the OP, you might want to have a look through the Consumer Information
section of the Irish Financial Regulator site www.ifsra.ie In particular
look through the 'current publications' section for various financial
information.

Re: Opening a euro bank a/c in Rep of Ireland from UK?

am 21.07.2006 16:08:57 von chris

dino wrote:

....
> Opening an account in Ireland requires ID etc and you need to sign
> forms so you'll need to be there in person.

I can't speak for Ireland (and obviously there are a couple of people here
who can!) but I opened a French bank account without going to France.

--
Chris

Re: Opening a euro bank a/c in Rep of Ireland from UK?

am 21.07.2006 19:07:51 von john boyle

In message <aq1wg.11709$>, James
<> writes
>
>Contact a few of the main banks operating in Ireland and ask them what you
>need to do. The opening of 'offshore' accounts for offshore residents has
>been quite common here, so common in fact that locals were opening them to
>avoid tax on interest payments and it resulted in huge investigations by our
>Revenue authorities!

Weren't the locals opening the accounts outside Eire at a subsidiary of
their main Irish Bank, say at the branch in Isle of Man for example?
> So expect particular attention to be paid to evidence
>of where you are resident! (And don't forget to tell them when you become
>an Irish resident).
>
>www.boi.ie
>www.aib.ie
>www.ulsterbank.ie
>www.bankofscotland.ie
>
>The UK & Ireland have joint tax agreements and you may want to get some
>independent financial advice to ensure that you don't fall victim of the tax
>authorities in either country.

Yes. The EU Savings Directive will require the Irish Bank to either
advise the UK HMR&C of all gross interest paid or alternatively deduct
at source a witholding tax, cunningly called 'retention tax' initially
at 15% then rising to 20% then 35%, threequarters of which is sent to UK
without attribution of the source. The deduction of the retention tax
does not relieve the UK resident of paying the rest of any tax due.

--
John Boyle

Re: Opening a euro bank a/c in Rep of Ireland from UK?

am 21.07.2006 19:27:13 von Julie

wrote:
> Hi - I'm soon going to be selling my home in the UK and moving to the
> republic of Ireland, where I'll be staying in temp accommodation (prob
> a motor caravan!) for a while before buying a house there.
>
> I'd like to open a euro-denominated account in Ireland while I'm still
> at my UK address.

When I lived in the UK I had an account with NatWest. On one of my
visits to Ireland, a few months before I moved, I opened an account with
Ulster Bank (also part of RBS Group) as I thought that would save any
complications! They were more than happy to do that before I had an
Irish address (think I had a recent statement with me too so that they
could see how I managed the account).

If, in your case, it's not quite that simple, the Irish bank which you
choose can always ask your UK bank for a reference (although your UK
bank will probably charge you for providing it).
>
> Would prefer one that doesn't have charges.

Ulster Bank do have a current account without charges
>
> I only want to open it with a small sum, e.g. 10 euros. Then I'll
> transfer the proceeds of the UK house sale to it, and I'll have the
> funds available for use when I turn up.

If you're wanting a cheque book and card, there will be government
charges for these - not sure what they are at the moment, so you may
need slightly more than €10 in the account to start with.
>
> Can someone advise as to what bank will do this? Preferably a biggie.
> Preferably, although not necessarily, with a presence in the UK.
>
> If it's of any relevance, I'm a UK citizen and not an Irish one, and
> will not be seeking employment in Ireland, as I am retired.
>
You'll almost certainly need to visit a branch to open an account -
something to do with Money Laundering regulations. You'll need to take
your passport with you, too, as proof of identity.

Hope this helps

Julie

Re: Opening a euro bank a/c in Rep of Ireland from UK?

am 21.07.2006 19:57:33 von james

"John Boyle" <> wrote
> Weren't the locals opening the accounts outside Eire at a subsidiary of
> their main Irish Bank, say at the branch in Isle of Man for example?
>> So expect particular attention to be paid to evidence
>>of where you are resident! (And don't forget to tell them when you become
>>an Irish resident).

Yes but even worse was that bank employees in Ireland were colluding with
local bank customers and opening non-resident accounts for them without any
need for them to travel further than their local branch! IIRC foreign
addresses were being invented for the paperwork.