current least worst bank?

[shirt]

used to be a happy barclays customer, now an irate adib one after they bought barclays' retail banking arm. looking to move to A N other ASAP.

i bank with barclays in the uk but i am willing to change that if required. i was tempted to move to HSBC for global options but willing to hear alternatives.

[IanUAE]

I bank with NBAD and Citibank here and never had a problem.

[shirt]

who do you bank with in the uk/globally?

advantage of barclays used to be free money transfers to the uk at a decent exchange rate.

i could use an offshore, uae and uk account with the same bank so i can move money around easily. a credit card with decent perks would be handy as work are abolishing corporate cards.

[yorky500]

I have been with HSBC in the UAE for over 10 years and in all honesty I have never had a single problem (that i can think of). I also have HSBC accounts in UK, HK and Aus so the global transfer thing is awesome for for me.

I am however now looking for an Offshore Bank Account.

[Paracetamol]

HSBC are tw&t$. avoid them. Its a bank that is sinking more and more and continues to cut staff and service levels and also lending.its in a self perpetuating failure mode that will see it die as a consumer brand within 5 years..

[IanUAE]

I bank with RBS in the UK. Citibank credit card with skywards miles means I can go to the Bathurst 1000 on my skywards miles this year.

[James72911]

I would recommend HSBC. Yes they are still likely to have their issues, but they strong financially, they have the global reach, with internet banking that works and talks to each other.

[Grindout]

Paracetamol said:

HSBC are tw&t$. avoid them. Its a bank that is sinking more and more and continues to cut staff and service levels and also lending.its in a self perpetuating failure mode that will see it die as a consumer brand within 5 years..

I've heard some bad things, but didn't know they were going down the tubes that quickly.

[h_____]

They are all much of a muchness.....we use HSBC, with accounts in UAE and in Jersey. Works well for moving money offshore, Their FX is sometimes pretty good, otherwise we use an FX broker for anything serious. Their premier service isn't bad, we've had no issues. Money takes longer to clear here in the UAE than a local bank. But the global piece is pretty good.

[Fats25]

[quote=h_]They are all much of a muchness.....we use HSBC, with accounts in UAE and in Jersey. Works well for moving money offshore.

[/quote]

Silly question i'm sure. But why move to offshore? More attractive rates and options for savings I can see. Your future pension perhaps that you cannot contribute to here?

If you intend on heading back to UK at some point - will it not make it harder to bring back in one lump from Jersey, rather than moving it across now direct to UK. Just curious really in how this works for you - as I am sure you must have thought it through.

[TomV8]

For local stuff I've found Emirates NBD to be fine - the credit cards are alright as well, giving access to Marhaba lounges and the ability to rack up a decent amount of points to spend in loads of places. They do an skywards miles card too.