UK banking services could be withdrawn from expat Brits

In a recent story published from Mortgage Solutions, banks are warning UK residents with overseas current and savings accounts that they may follow Barclays' lead and withdraw expatriate facilities.

British account holders living abroad are urged to look for alternative services from banks with cross-border operations, according to Nigel Green, president and founder of deVere Group.

Barclays announced it would terminate expat current and savings accounts six months in advance. Barclays global accounts are also available, but these require a minimum balance of £100,000 at all times to avoid a £40 monthly fee.

According to Green, banks are pulling away from international services because of increased compliance requirements, which he calls “expensive and onerous”.

He continued: “We have been warning expats since November 2020 that many Britons who live overseas face being stripped of their UK bank accounts and credit cards.

“While some banks have been offering some international services, it appears that some UK banks are now pushing to remove even these and focus exclusively on home markets instead, or offer alternatives such as holding extremely large deposits with them in order to maintain basic services.

“We expect that other British high street banks will follow in Barclays’ footsteps and further modify expat banking services. We would be surprised if many more people were not affected.”

He said such closures will cause considerable disruption for many individuals, families, businesses and other organisations especially where there are deposits, standing orders, regular payments and credit facilities to another bank.”

Those who have been de-banked can choose from expat-designed banking alternatives, he said.

Mortgages Brokers warn of tightening expat rules

According to brokers, the expat mortgage market hasn't seen similar changes in recent months, but there has been a general tightening of expat lending rules.

Founder of Rose Capital Partners Richard Campo said: “I can’t think of any of the big six lenders that have a workable policy at the moment. We tend to use the smaller building societies for expat cases. Where they can’t compete on price with the big lenders, they can on policy as it is a very manual underwriting approach. Hence why the big lenders shy away from it.”

Barclays says it has been closing expat accounts for a number of years.

An official from Barclays said: “Our Barclays UK products are designed for customers within the UK. We will no longer be offering personal current or savings accounts to retail customers with addresses registered with us outside of the United Kingdom, subject to limited exceptions. We are contacting impacted customers to give them advance notice of this decision and explain the next steps they need to take.”