Chris Blunt wrote:

On Thu, 30 Mar 2006 02:47:13 +0000 (UTC), echo wrote:
Thanks to Jim and all those who replied. I notice no one had any bank
recommendations. I have pretty much concluded that they all suck, so
probably there is no good one.

I have had accounts with HSBC in several countries for many years, and
have been happy with their service in both the Philippines and
Thailand.

My main source of income is credited to another account I have with
them offshore in the Channel Islands, and any transfers they do for me
from there to my other HSBC accounts elsewhere in the world are free
of charge. Also, it normally only takes a couple of hours for the
money to arrive in my overseas account.

I have an HSBC account in the UK, and was very disappointed (but not
entirely surprised) to discover they were useless for accessing money
overseas except through standard cash machines. That was even the
case when they have HSBC in New York; banks other than HSBC were more
convenient for getting at HSBC money. To get more cash than could be
got through a cash machine would take days and cost a bundle. What kind
of 'world-wide' bank it is, is a bit of a mystery; but that's probably
just a facet of the US banking industry. In other countries HSBC-to-
HSBC transactions are probably more feasible. [This was pre-11/09, so
no anti-terrorist-funding constraints are involved, just crap banking]


--
Ken Tough