Very interesting on all points. The Swiss scam of keeping your money safe but also keeping all the interest they earn on it is ok I suppose if you're dealing with the proceeds of crime, but no good for hard earned savings accumulated honestly.

BS is right to mention the £15k protection ceiling on the IOM, that is quite a drawback.

AB2006 is also right about this whole "know your client" thing. Trouble is, it seems that if whoever you are dealing with has any business at all in the UK, then your accounts are an open book as far any legislative "interest" is concerned.

It does all boil down to what the individual is looking for. If it is to avoid paying UK tax on interest earned, then the odds against being able to do so are slim. However, a corporate body established overseas with local nationals as nominee directors, operating a bank account in a reputable bank, would still seem to be off the radar as far as UK legislation is concerned. Balanced against that you have operational costs (probably around $1300 a year to maintain the company/structure/registered office) and you are still left with the problem of getting your hands on the money back in the UK

Having said that, the money is still accessible, and it could help pay for property overseas, holidays and foreign expenditure.

Think I'll probably not take you up on that kind offer, AB2006, never really needed a credit card with no name on it

I would point out that I do not do tax avoidance ... I do tax minimising!!

My scenario is slightly different anyway, as I'm already offshore and outside the EU. As a result, the vast majority [if not all] UK depositors won't accept my money! So I'm basically stuck with what's on offer in the CI and IoM, unless I make life really complicated ... and as a result lie largely outside the FSCS compensation schemes.

I'm getting reasonable rates on deposits [6.5% +] but have the faint feeling some gold bars in the safe might be a good idea.

Originally Posted by labrat

Cheers BP - my kids are over on Alderney, so I was thinking of Portman as a possible, will have a chat with them when I go over at half term.

I apologise if I have the wrong end of the stick (again), but, if you mean Portman Building Society, it was taken over by the Nationwide (last year?).

Originally Posted by pyrogenica

Most foreign banks will be happy to open an account in a foreign country if you are legally resident in that country (have an address and a work permit/insurance card - which you can get over the counter in Spain) or are doing business in that country. Nothing to stop a person from using a business centre address or a PO box as a residential address.

All my deposit holders in CI and IoM are adamant that I have a proper residential address [no PO Box numbers allowed]. Rules within the EU are a closed book to me, I'm afraid.

Originally Posted by pyrogenica

Very interesting on all points. The Swiss scam of keeping your money safe but also keeping all the interest they earn on it is ok I suppose if you're dealing with the proceeds of crime, but no good for hard earned savings accumulated honestly.

Bear in mind that sterling is being destroyed by inflation - unless the BoE raise interest rates then it will keep tanking. As we are probably in recession now (even the cretinous Darling acknowledges this) then I predict interest rates will drop causing the pound to drop even further. Therefore you will gain by holding Francs even though they pay no interest. Gold and silver will also rise relative to the dollar and sterling.

I'm not an expert but have been buying gold and silver for a few years now. You can hold silver via the PHAG.L etf (I bought £3k's worth this week) and gold via PHAU.L etf. These are backed by physical bullion and can be held in an ISA. The Merrill Lynch Gold and General fund is another favourite of mine. For the real risk takers out there trade the Canadian Mining Juniors - my favourites are Great Panther and First Majestic - both silver miners.

I suspect the real pain is yet to come and would suggest any of you old sweats coming to the end of your 22 extend while you can :D Either that or get into something recession proof.

The link below is for the Financial Sense Radio Show broadcast every week - it's from the States but gives a good take on the whole financial mess the West is descending into:

http://www.financialsense.com/fsn/main.html

Originally Posted by putteesinmyhands

While you're waiting, a bit of musing.

With the ability to use a UK debit card in a foreign ATM, is there that much need for a foreign account unless you have to resort to cheques?

If you set up a standing order from your bank to pay into your credit card account at a level that keeps it in the black (unforeseen topping up can be done by a cheque in the post), then you have cash and credit both sorted.

I've worked abroad for months on end and this has worked for me. Moving abroad permanently is just a bit longer (hopefully).

I presume you're considering moving to a place that has ATMs and not somewhere that barters in beads that can only be bought by cheque?

yeah right. my last withdrawal of £229 cost me £261. £22 - that's almost 10% in charges / exchange rates on top of the withdrawal.

Originally Posted by blue-sophist

I would point out that I do not do tax avoidance ... I do tax minimising!!

Yeah right! :D

Originally Posted by blue-sophist

My scenario is slightly different anyway, as I'm already offshore and outside the EU. As a result, the vast majority [if not all] UK depositors won't accept my money! So I'm basically stuck with what's on offer in the CI and IoM, unless I make life really complicated ... and as a result lie largely outside the FSCS compensation schemes.

I'm getting reasonable rates on deposits [6.5% +] but have the faint feeling some gold bars in the safe might be a good idea.

Agreed - although you will find there are legitimate ways around this scenario, irrespective of your location.

Completely agree with the "hold gold" comment - along with any other precious metals on offer. Mining stocks don't tend to show the same volatility as energy instruments, therefore more stable, and generally fluctuate less than oil / gas.

Originally Posted by bovvy

Originally Posted by labrat

Cheers BP - my kids are over on Alderney, so I was thinking of Portman as a possible, will have a chat with them when I go over at half term.

I apologise if I have the wrong end of the stick (again), but, if you mean Portman Building Society, it was taken over by the Nationwide (last year?).

This is really starting to throw the cat amongst the pigeons with the FSC’s in the offshore centres – UK FSA’s rules on disclosure become interesting at the point where a UK registered institution take over an offshore entity that has previously been able to afford its clients all of the usual discretion and invisibility to the HMRC boys.

The one that is really ironic, is Northern Wreck, who have a CI based, wholly owned subsidiary, which would no doubt have been happy to offer top rates, tax efficiency and invisibility, etc.

Of course when the UK Government stepped in to underwrite Northern Wreck, the UK tax payer immediately became a “share-holder” in an offshore entity, the purpose of which was to be invisible to HMRC. I am sure that the FSA and it’s offshore equivalents, have had many a fat lunch at La Fregate or similar, to discuss this.

Funny </irony> though, UK tax-payer now underwrites any losses for an organisation that they cannot control the activities of, that does not have to pay a penny in UK taxes.

At the same time, if Northern Wreck is as good with the clients off-shore data, as their previous business model suggests, the tales of who holds deposits will surely be adequate to show Messrs’ Brown and Darling as a pair of rank amateurs.

Tough on wealth, tough on the causes of wealth. You really could not make this scenario up, there again, what do we know?

A la perchoine. :D

1. NR [Guernsey] are offering 4.55% and 4.8% AER ... wow, I'm overwhemed!! I get that sort of figure from ERNIE tax free

2. Amusingly, it took the old NR 2 years to discover I'd left the UK, at which point they asked me to close my Internet a/c as I was now ineligible. A six-figure sum duly moved, and they crashed a couple of months later. They were THAT close to the wire?


3. Tangentially, on Credit Cards ... I have the BA Executive Club AMEX card, which is FREE and clocks up BA Miles with every purchase. This morning's new set of garden furniture should get me half-way across the Channel in one go! Seriously, whilst I have no great love for BA, I need to use them to USA, so it's a multiple winner. And, when in the USA, spending on the card is at a very acceptable exchange rate, unlike the usual 2.5% transaction fee most UK cards charge. Sadly I'm a bit short of AMEX outlets here, but you might do very well with that in UK or Yerp ...
CLICKY LINKY THING TO BA CLUB AMEX
If anyone's thinking of joining, send me a PM, because I get 2000 miles for signing up a friend!! OK, I'll bung something into the Help Them Out/Slingsby account as well ....

I can see Blue_Sophist's future best seller... "Northern Rock, my part in their downfall" - bound to be a best-seller!

Whilst 4.55% is a chronic - "wouldn't get out of bed for it" type rate - no invester with a view to "security" would (IMHO) touch them anyway. More the point, was the disclosure angles. The trade-off being for those with something (or a lot) to hide - you take what you can get. Or, so I am led to understand.

Had a similar experience of off and onshore accounts, which again only came to light two years after I moved.

There's a lurker here, who is now worried that I might start recounting anecdotes of MBT's being on the asset register of certain companies, that really should know better.

Don't bother listening to Financial Sense this week unless you want to be completely depressed. They describe the credit crunch as a "Financial Tsunami" that will explode before the end of the year. Interesting they quote Paul Volcker who headed the Fed before Greenspan in the '80's and conquered inflation with double digit interest rates - he states the US banking system is "broken".

Time for the pub :D