Santander Bank Leaving the UK

[Whutwhy]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14302399/bank-quit-Britain-red-tape-santander.html

what does this mean for us customers?

Nothing. If they leave, another bank will take over the accounts and mortgages.

I don't think they will, it's just scare tactics as labour look like theyre finally going to do something about redistributing wealth

It won't even be something major 😅

No it's because the FSA have some shite rules. Like if you have a customer with a UK bank account but who lives in France, Spain, USA, south Korea, south Africa, Italy...where ever, you need a license to trade in that country...so everyone who lives abroad and pays tax abroad can't have a UK bank account! That's just one example

Yes but this is often crap for mortgage customers in the long run. Speaking as someone who had a northern rock mortgage that was taken over

They can move then.

Interesting that the Mail article makes no mention of Brexit…

Redistributing wealth? How?

Why would it, it's not Brexit related. It's to do with the ridiculous money laundering rules that affect normal people but not the billonaires and oligarchs who hide behind shell companies.

Northern Rock mortgage prisoners were mostly trapped by a specific set of circumstances though: after the 2008 financial crisis, lenders and regulators tightened borrowing rules to prevent another financial crash and many Northern Rock customers whose mortgage accounts were sold on were unable to meet the lending conditions set by their new lender, even if they would have paid less for a cheaper deal. That’s unlikely to be the case with many if any current Santander customers, and there are now also regulations around selling active mortgage accounts to inactive lenders.

Rules brought in in 2008?

Why would it? The rules relate to the issues in 2008 and where then tightened, Brexit vote was 2016.

it clearly says in the article why it relates to 2008

wow if ever there was a comment that signifies ‘Turkeys voting for Xmas’

With these kinds of attitudes, the country is doomed

Yeah, I can’t imagine why the Mail would want to push that angle…

Non-UK residents can open bank accounts as long as they fulfil the KYC criteria, and the U.K. bank is happy to go through the regulatory hurdles. Not all U.K. banks are able to do so, so they don’t offer to non-UK residents. The US is led by FACTA and the EU is due to the end of passporting. It isn’t an FSA regulation as far as I’m aware.

I emigrated to Canada 14 years ago. I still have a U.K. account.

I have a mortgage with Santander and now I'm really worried

What will this mean for me??

I would just remain calm. You obviously are not going to be left without a mortgage. The irresponsible press is going to create a mess putting this in the news media.

Good. No more Ant and Dec and their stupid ads.

As long as you are not sub-prime nothing will happen. The new provider will not scalp you.

Bank required to act ethically and protect consumer money throws toys out of pram and flounces.

Personally I'd not want to bank with a company with that kind of attitude anyway.

P.s. Tha FSA hasn't existed for a decade, it's the FCA now. And these rules are managed by the PRA.

I hope customers don't have to change anything. My mum is 85 and has been with them since they were Abbey National.

Non-UK residents can open bank accounts as long as they fulfil the KYC criteria, and the U.K. bank is happy to go through the regulatory hurdles. Not all U.K. banks are able to do so, so they don’t offer to non-UK residents.

@LondonPapa

Yep, pretty much.

Some banks (e.g. HSBC) have chosen to jump through the hoops that allow former Uk residents now living in places like the EU to continue to run their legacy UK based accounts - useful if you still have a UK source of income - e.g pension(s), and/ or also have Sterling outgoings (e.g. to pay tax to HMRC……).

Other banks (e.g.Barclays UK) decided doing so wasn’t worth the effort/wasn’t profitable enough and so closed accounts to those not resident in the UK.

They are citing regulatory burden as the reason for looking at exiting so they can focus on growth markets. The U.K. is not a growth market.

I am sure they would look for a buyer to take the retail business on. The U.K. banking sector isn’t that profitable, we don’t generally pay for bank accounts and so they have to make money via overdraft fees and lending which is subject to a lot of regulation (which is fair enough). There’s a huge amount of inertia because customers stay loyal to one bank their whole life so no amount of ant and dec ads can persuade people to move. The sector is stale and stagnant due to this combination of inertia and regulatory rules that prevent creativity of new products.

Successive government have layered regulation on the sector, some of it is pointless box ticking but makes everyone feel better than that the bankers can’t make money. This is the end result. The biggest problem is U.K. market has low financial literacy so the regulatory agenda is to protect everyone from any kind of loss or hardship and it’s just getting silly. People need to take some accountability.

I've had the same account since it was Girobank. My Dad worked at Giro in Bootle in the 1970's and it was him that opened the account for me in about 1979/1980. I've still kept the same account number through it being Giro, Alliance & Leicester and finally Santander, I wonder what will happen now...

Terrible bank, froze my accounts for no reason