Great, thanks everyone.

By the way, I went to BNP's website and it looks like they own BancWest (?) in the US. I thought it was rather curious. The latter is based in Hawaii.

Since you're in NYC, you might have some luck by checking out whether any of the banks from Luxembourg do business there. If they don't have a retail bank, you still may be able to open an acount somehow...I don't know for sure.

The reason I suggest this as an alternative is I have friends (Brits) who lived in LUx. for 17 years. I think they still maintain an account in Lux, though they live in USA at present. They have described Lux. banking regs. as somewhat, umm, Swiss in nature.
Good luck!

Check out the Isle of Man. Lots of expats have their funds there. We maintain accounts in Austria and Switzerland. Austria is easier and much nicer...unless you have millions, then perhaps, the Swiss will be friendly.

No hassle with the Austrian acct, and we don't live in Austria. WE live in Slovenia. The only thing they were concerned about was the debit card. It is not real time, so they like you to maintain a 5,000 Euro balance. Without a debit card, then it shouldn't be a problem.
Cheers,
Jan

Somehow I think that I'll have arrived in life when I've a Swiss bank account.

And I'm sure that somehow, right after I manage to open an account denominated in Euros (I'll be spending hours trying to see how I can do this, I envision), the dollar will miraculously recover and I'll lose 15% on whatever I've managed to convert into Euros.

By the way, for what it's worth, I called BNP in NYC (841 3000). I got transferred to a very French-sounding woman, who said that all they offered was commercial banking and that they wouldn't be able to answer questions on retail banking.

I guess I can call a French branch directly, but the language would probably be a barrier.

I have a Swiss account out of Zurich and for what I THINK you are trying to accomplish I am not sure that route would be worth the effort.

To be honest, given all the charges and regulations, and uncertainty that people above have pointed out, I'd honestly like to know why you are even going ahead with this. Just curious, that's all.

Well, Intrepid, I believe in diversification, and holding some foreign currency is a good way to diversify. Of course, much of this is prompted by the fall of the dollar.

But apart from this, I think that it'll be convenient for me to have a foreign bank account denominated in Euros. I don't spend a lot of time there, but I've been going at least once a year. So setting aside some Euros is a low-cost way of hedging against the fall of the dollar in terms of travel expenses.

So, in short, I think of it as a way of investing my money. In reality, if I don't do much with it, it provides me a way of converting dollars to Euros at rates I believe may be more favorable, especially when it comes to travel expenses. I just want a little more flexibility than holding dollars and investing solely in the US, that's all.

111op:

Some of the replies are getting very confused. As far as the UK's concerned:

- of course you don't need to be a resident to have an account here. Many Central London bank branches wouod become unviable if they banned foreign residents. This is Britain, for crying out loud. Global financial centre. An economy incapable of making anything except money. They'll take sweaty socks as long as you've set the account up properly.
- BUT money laundering regulations mean you have to prove who you are to a degree of certainty few of us can manage. Which means proofs of address and all sorts of other things. BUT the address needs to be in the UK only for certain accounts
- And if you've got serious money invested, you'll probably find you don't want the money technically in a UK account. Fortunately, a thousand years of picking up odd possessions round the globe means Britain is rich - from Jersey to the Caymans - in places we, ultimately, govern but have the sense to let make less onerous tax laws than we impose on ourselves
- the main website of any major UK bank will, if you try hard enough, throw up the section for how to get an account if you don't live here. My own bank (which, given a choice, I'd choose last) offers what I think you're looking for at www.lloydstsb-offshore.com/brochures/OB537.pdf. Other variations are at www.lloydstsbiwm.com
- In addition to the main domestic banks (Lloyds, HBOS, Natwest/RBS, Barclays), HSBC is a UK-registered bank with retail operations both in the UK and the US

I understand the investing in foreign currency part completely, especially if the currency continues to rise against the dollar. And, assuming you aren't concerned about the tax issues much less the profit you might make which, technically, could be subject to US income taxes, then it certainly makes some sense as you have explained it.

However, I'm not sure I understand how you think having a foreign bank account will help you get a "better" exchange rate when you deposit money.

Well, ok, let me say this first -- I'm not that rich. Ok, I'm not rich. Otherwise I'd be calling a private banker.

Regarding taxes -- well, my US interest income is subject to taxes as well. Also, my capital gains on stocks, or my stock dividends, etc. So the fact that I need to pay taxes on interest in money in foreign bank accounts doesn't make this investment route less attractive. (But if I need to pay say, British, or French, taxes in addition to taxes I need to pay in the US, this route can be less attractive.)

Lastly, regarding what I said about a more favorable rate, so if I decide that the dollar would continue to fall, then I could convert to Euros now and hold the money in that bank account. I could, at a future time, convert my Euros into dollars if I think that the Euro has appreciated sufficiently.

Of course, this works if I'm right. I'm likely to be wrong, in which case I can spend the money in Euros when I travel, which isn't such a bad thing either.

Of course, I know that I'm very likely to be wrong. I just want flexibility regarding when I can choose to convert my money into Euros (and in larger amounts). I feel that a bank account will offer me this flexibility. I could be mistaken, of course. At present, I only think about these issues when I travel, but there's no reason why things need to stay this way. All I'm doing is looking into what I think are better and more flexible ways for me to invest my money. Though I live in the US, there's certainly no reason why I need to hold all my investments in dollar-denominated assets, especially given the ease of internet banking these days.

By the way, flanner, I think that you're right the HSBC does do retail banking in the US (at least in NYC). I've not dealt with them directly, but when Citibank told me that they won't be able to allow me to open a Euro-denominated account in the US, I asked them if they know of some other banks that will let me do so. They mentioned that HSBC doesn't allow it either (I've not called them to find out).

So I've basically assumed that if I really want to do this, I must open the account in Europe. So that's why I'm asking these questions here.

I find this pretty strange, actually, that in this day and age, I can't open an account in the US but keep a balance in a foreign currency.

My husband and I have an account with Barclays in France. It required an introduction (by letter) by a current bank account holder to the bank, an appointment to meet with a banker to set up the account, a lot of US documents that had to be copied and stamped by our French banker, a strange fill-in-the-blanks sort of letter that our American bank had to sign and send saying we were good clients, and an 8,000 Euro minimum balance. It took at least a month for everything to be set up, it seems. There are no monthly fees unless you drop below the minimum balance. We are property owners in France, but weren't at the time we set up the account. In fact, we needed the account to help with the purchase of our property. The people we have worked with at Barclays are all bilingual, and very nice as well.

I think what boils down to is the stark commercial reality that notwithstanding anti money-laundering laws, it just doesn't make sense for banks to operate a euro account for use by tourists. Here in UK, and possibly elsewhere too, a current (checking) account is almost a loss-leader to enable them to spam account holder with offers of insurance, investment and loans that are the real money-spinners. As people with no financial ties to the country (e.g property, job) are unlikely to be interested, they feel no need to extend account facilities even if there's nothing illegal about it.

I've had accounts in three European countries, and still maintain one. The other two accounts became redundant.

If you weren't such an anti-Bush jerk I would give you some advice. Bush was not my choice for President but just what does President Bush have to do with your question? Take your politics to the ballot box, not here.

I made a mistake. Before I respond to anything on this forum again I will see how long ago the OP posted and check other postings from the OP. Robo has only only posted twice on Fodors, and those over a year ago. He never replied to anything and seems to have visited just to vent his politics and his penny squinshing attitude.

Whoever Robo was, 111op's now asking a perfectly reasonable question.

To which there's a simple answer. All major UK banks happily offer non-residents the facility to open an account, in any major currency, while no US bank allows consumers foreign currency accounts in the US.

Whether the costs the UK banks charge make it worthwhile for 111op, only he can judge. And I suspect the reason he can't get the facility in the US is that it hasn't, so far, been worth the banks' while. In any day or age, developing new products costs money, and is worth doing only if businesses think there's a demand.

There's clearly no more demand for funny foreign money in the US than there is for pointlessly overchilled drinks in Europe

I didn't realize that some earlier posts in this thread had political overtones. I just did a search and topped a thread I thought was reasonable (and I didn't read the first couple of posts that carefully).

Anyway, I called Citibank in France this morning. As BT said, they'll require an opening balance, which is now 30,000 Euros. But supposedly Citibank in the US can open the account for me by sending the forms to France, and there's no need for me to be in France at all. It's a large sum of money (for me) to be committing. So I need to think about it.

The account will require a minimum balance of 10,000 Euros to avoid a service charge of, I think, 30 Euros a month. Found this a little confusing -- 30,000 to open, but does that mean that I can take 20,000 right away? Anyway, I didn't ask. I also forgot to ask about the tax implications.

The forms can all be downloaded off citibank.fr (I think), and the number to call is 33 1 49 05 49 05, for those who want to.

In the meantime let me know if there's something else I should look into.

Thanks!

Rewiss bank accts
My DH had an acct with UBS until very recently. He got a very politely written letter that said the bank wanted to "provide the best service to their acct holders... but if you do not have 50k in your acct... go away!" We had a real chuckle about that one... and then closed the acct!!!

HE still does have an acct in Germany and it is no hassle at all. Can't relate specific fees he pays for deposits and withdrawals. It comes in handy though, when doing business there. And, yes, it makes it easier to get euros at a good rate.

Dear 111op,

May I respectfully suggest that you forget about opening a foreign ank account?

You are hoping to engage in arbitrage, a game that is even more risky than playing commodity markets.

You are going to invest in GBP or euro at a time when the exchange rate is near the highest, if not the highest, it has been in decades with the hope that it will continue to go against the dollar.

You will be given a poorer exchange rate than you could have gotten from an ATM machine,which means that the dollar has to fall even farther for you to just break even.

You will have to declare your foreign account every time you do your taxes, which means that the IRS computer will flag you every year.

I suggest that you invest in a market index fund instead.

Well, ira, if I were truly, truly speculative, I'd be setting up a margin account with the CME (or is that the CBOT?) and trade currency futures instead.

The analogy is a bit like buying stock futures vs. buying an index fund. For the case of futures, all you need is to satisfy a daily margin requirement.

Anyway, I'm still thinking about it. I'm not so confident about the dollar. Actually historically, if you look over a long period, the dollar has basically declined in value (since Bretton Woods, since the Plaza Accord, etc.). Of course, about ten years ago, the dollar reached an all-time low against the Japanese Yen at about 80, but it's since recovered. I should do some research at that period and see what led to that decline. Supposedly the dollar bounced back by more than 10% in a day after it reached the low -- or so I was told.

I do believe that the Chinese Renminbi will become a much more important currency in the future. At the present it's pegged to the dollar, but that can very well change. Ideally maybe that's what I should look into, but I don't think that it's that easy to hold Renminbi. Maybe I can try holding Yen instead.

It'll be interesting to look at this thread five years later to see what happened to the dollar.