Malta - British Expat Forum

Hi, I'm buying a holiday home in Malta and am currently trying to open a bank account over there to pay the regular bills etc. I've asked my bank in the UK for the required Bank reference, but they are wanting to charge me £100 for the pleasure.

Having read the threads on opening accounts many of you seem to have successfully opened accounts - I just wondered if anyone else had to pay a fee like this in order to get the much needed reference?

Thanks

Hi and welcome to the forum

my case - no charge 6 years ago asking Alliance & Leicester for a reference to open an account with HSBC Malta

I opened an account last year with HSBC Malta ready for our property purchase. They sent an enquiry to my bank in the UK asking for a bank reference, which they returned directly to HSBC.

I wasn't charged anything by my bank in the UK for this service. Maybe it depends on which bank you are with.

Apart from having to send over all my documents HSBC needed via DHL, the whole process of opening our current account in Malta was alot easier than I have found in the UK.

We opened an account with HSBC back in November, they asked for a reference from LloydsTSB in the UK and they did not charge anything for it.

Mine didn't charge me, but they are the same bank. A scan on the web showed GBP 10 as typical. Unless you have a very exccentric bank, there must be soemthig wrong here. Maybe it i the type of reference that you requested, or they are just trying it on.

They should have issued you with a scale of charges and/or may publish this themselves on their own web site. If not then ask them for confirmation and their approval to post a copy of their quotation on the internet and see what they say

Thanks everyone for your comments - Thanks for the welcome also Mark.

I am with HSBC in the UK and trying to open an account with HSBC Malta so I do find the quoted £100 crazy. They've said that its £100 even if all they need to send to Malta are 2 lines to confirm that I have had an account in the UK for x years. They've said that I can avoid the charge by opening a Premier Plus account in the UK, but that requires a minimum deposit of £50,000!! Now I know that this isn't a 'common' charge I am going to challenge them further . Thanks again to everyone for confirming what I thought.

Den

thats bonkers - do you have another account in the UK (or offshore) ?

if not, maybe you should think about opening accont with a different local bank in Malta (BOV, APS) ??

Paid £10 for 2 references. Cooperative bank in the UK.

Denlin

I experienced initial delays opening an account with HSBC Malta, even though I have been with HSBC UK for many years.

Contact this guy at HSBC Malta H/O, he was very helpful and sorted the problem out very quickly:

vincentfenech@hsbc.com

Still on theme of banks and references - can anyone tell me if they have succeeded in opening an account in Malta without a UK or any reference? Is it an absolute prerequisite? I have a friend coming to Malta who banks outside the EU I but I should have thought that would do .... but then again, perhaps not.

PJ

PJR,

the anti money laundering (AML) regs, and especially the Know your customer (KYC) part of these would seem to dictate that some references would be required. I don't think this would necessarily be bank references unless your friends are seeking credit, but employers' references, "persons of standing" from their country of current residence should be expected. Have you tried asking your own bank, just to see what they would say?

Thanks GM, I'm going to do just that, the problem only came up this weekend.

PJ

Quote:

Thanks GM

Was that revenge for my Swieqi post?

nah, its that mainlanders can't tell us Gozitans apart

Sorry Kriss,

put it down to old age - thanks anyway!

PJ