Opening a bank account in the United Kingdom can substantially extend your financial horizons and give you access to a wide range of banking services. This holds both for personal accounts and for corporate ones.
If you live in another country but you have business interest in the UK or if you are planning to relocate there soon, you can open an account with an English bank. This will greatly facilitate your financial operations in the UK, optimize the commissions on foreign transactions, and make it comfortable for you to do business in Great Britain.
It is not impossible to set up a non-resident bank account in the UK but consultations with an experienced lawyer are going to be required. Below we discuss some specifics of opening a bank account in Great Britain.
The procedure of setting up a bank account in the UK
First of all, you will have to supply the required application documents when opening a bank account in the UK. The bank manager will want to be sure that you are the person that you claim to be. The key documents include the following ones:
- A legal confirmation of your residential address;
- A valid passport, an ID card, or a driving license.
Everybody has a personal ID and this document is seldom questioned. Things are not so simple with the confirmation of a residential address in Great Britain, however. According to statistics, this document causes the largest number of problems especially for those who have not been staying in the UK for a long time.
Documents to serve as legal confirmation of residential address in Great Britain
It’s very good if you can supply a document that carries your name and your residential address simultaneously. This can be a utility bill, for example, or a receipt for municipal tax payment.
If you cannot supply such a document, the banks in the country will also accept some other documents confirming your residential address. This could be one of the following documents:
- A lease agreement on letterhead paper if you have just rented an apartment in England and you have not covered any utility bills so far.
- A letter from your employer in England confirming your residential address in the country.
- A letter from the job center with your social security number.
- Students living in university hostels can bring letters from the campus administration.
- If you already have a bank account in England and you are opening another one, you can supply an account statement from the first bank.
Please note, however, that each British bank is going to have its own requirements. Therefore, you have to find out what sort of residential address confirmation is going to be satisfactory for the bank before you apply for account opening.
Additional requirements to customers that British banks have
British banks are highly sensitive about incoming transactions: you have to prove that the money has been obtained in a legal way. An accounting statement of your company’s profits, a real property sale agreement, a certificate from your employer stating the amount of your monthly income, or some other similar papers will serve this purpose.
Another thing that you have to realize is that your personal presence is going to be required as well as an interview with a bank officer. Please also note that document originals (not copies) need to be supplied.
How much does it cost to open a bank account in Great Britain?
The answer to this question will depend on whether you are opening a private bank account in the UK or a corporate one. It will also depend on whether you are setting an account with a retail bank or a private bank. Opening a personal bank account normally costs nothing in the UK and standard bonuses include a contactless Visa debit card and a chequebook.
If you are opening a corporate bank account, you can choose one of the banking products that the bank offers. Most of such products are free for the first 18 months of their use. They give access to helpful business instruments that include the software, discounted legal assistance, consultations with a personal bank manager, and so on.
How to choose the most suitable British bank
The choice of bank will depend on your prevalent goals. Competition is tough in the British banking sector and many banks offer special products targeted at certain groups of customers. No matter if you are a student, a salaried employee, or a business person, you will be able to find a bank in the UK that will satisfy your needs.
You may be interested in a British bank of one of the following two types:
- A large retail bank such as Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC, RBS, Metro, etc.; or
- A private bank such as EFG, Coutts, etc.
Private banks in Great Britain seldom service corporate clients. They can do so but they will open a corporate account for a wealthy business person who already has a personal account with them. Most corporations bank at retail banks in England.
How to open a bank account in Great Britain
Different British banks will apply different criteria when assessing applications for services. It may well happen that the application documents required by law (the personal ID and the proof of address) are not going to be sufficient for opening a bank account in the UK.
Besides, the procedures of setting up a personal bank account and a corporate one are also different. You should consult a specialist who can tell you exactly what application documents should be submitted to a particular bank. You do need an intermediary if you would like to improve your chances of setting up an account with a British bank.
If you would like to open a personal bank account in Great Britain, you can choose from the following two options:
- For simple banking operation, open an account with a large retain bank;
- To gain access to a wide range of banking products and VIP service, open an account with a private British bank.
The second group of banks may prove more suitable for foreigners, as they are often less formal about the residence requirements and they offer a wider spectrum of services.
If you would like to set up a corporate bank account in Great Britain, you should probably opt for one of the large retail banks. They have various attractive offers for corporations such as free services for a limited time as well as online banking opportunities, for example. You have to bear in mind, however, that their formal requirements are strict. They often deny services to foreign nationals but you can overcome this problem if you seek professional advice on the matter.
To conclude, opening a bank account in Great Britain may be a challenging procedure but it is worth it. When the EuroZone was created, the UK refused to join it. Why? Because the British banking system is one of the strongest banking systems in the world.