UK banks in OZ

[SeEiNgIsBeLiEvInG]

Are there any branches of mainstream UK banks in Australia?

i.e. - Lloyds, Barcays, Nat West, HSBC, Abbey, Halifax, etc.

Would be looking at doing regular BACS or CHAPS money payment transfers to and from the UK, and obviously helps a lot if its from a UK bank to UK bank (or subsidiary) in Australia, or vice versa.

Thanks.

[Cal2]

hope someone has an idea, will check the internet later if I get chance

[SeEiNgIsBeLiEvInG]

hope someone has an idea, will check the internet later if I get chance

Thanks, have had a comprehensive look online myself but it seems very vague. Certain banks have 'finance arms', or 'commercial operations' - but I'm not sure these are for the use of joe public.

[_shel]

HSBC is there but on speaking to my branch they tell me they are separate although they can refer you there for an account etc. So transfers would cost the same as transferring to any international bank.

You should try something like hifix or moneycorp to transfer money. Much cheaper than banks.

[rammygirl]

TBH it doesn't always help with transfers as there is still a currency difference etc. And even the "same" bank isn't really. For example I have an account with bank of Cyprus in Crete (Bank of cyprus GR) and with Bank of Cyprus UK. They are not interchangeable different websites, systems, guarantees etc etc.

It is possible to set up regular transfers between any banks but it is the charges you will need to look at as well as the currency fluctuations.

If possible it can often be better to send larger amounts less frequently- as you can get a better rate etc.

Some of the forex companies can do this and can save money over a high street bank, eg Moneycorp and OZFOREX.

Certainly use one of these companies to change one off large sums as they usually give you a much better rate than your bank/building society can.

[leemg]

HSBC is out there and there is an RBS building in Sydney but I never saw any branches when I was living there. I would look at setting up an account with a currency broker, I got stung by both ANZ and Nationwide when moving my money back to the UK (plus a poor exchange rate)

[mcginlm72]

I know it's not the same as a money transfer but maybe you would just be better off using your card here and just withdrawing the money when you need it. I know that they charge you something like 1.50GBP everytime but to be honest that is a lot cheaper than an international transfer charge! When I first came here I had my savings in my UK bank and as they didn't have any branches over here in Oz at first I did transfers but the charges were ridiculous and in the end found that I was better off just going to an ATM and withdrawing my money that way and keeping tabs on my account balance online as you can't see your available balance on the ATM machines here. It is just something to keep in mind.

[hels]

I opened an ANZ account from the UK then used Halo to trans my money, it was brill, 2 days my money was in my oz account, i arrived in oz went to the bank 5 days later i had my cards, Halo didnt charge a trans fee, it was all very easy and simple and i put my house money in a savings account paying out 6.3%

[heyyu]

In 1987, NAB bought Clydesdale Bank (Scotland) and Northern Bank (Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland) from Midland Bank. It rebranded Northern Bank branches in the Republic of Ireland to National Irish Bank and changed both banks' logos from that of the Midland Bank. In 1990, NAB bought Yorkshire Bank (England and Wales). don't know if this helps

[gemfromoz]

Hiya,

Not sure if it helps at all, but I am doing the opposite.

I bank with HSBC in the UK and St George in Oz. Although HSBC UK have said, that if I setup an account in Aus, I can link it to my current account in the UK, and it will show up on online banking. My transfers are approx £9 each but as I only do it once a month its ok. If I had the two accounts it would be as simple as doing a normal transfer. they provide an 'overseas' view in their online banking, which shows all of your accounts internationally.

this may have something to do with me having an advance account, I'm not sure. but they do have these sorts of things setup as everyone is in the same boat at the end of the day.

Thanks,
Gem