Good bank for an expat in the Philippines?

[Barrie J Dent]

Good day everybody,

Just a short question to all you guys

What is a good bank for an expat,  I have   a current account and a dollar account in the EU!!! can I get the same  here as well in the Philippines???

 

Barrie J Dent

[GeoffH]

If you are on a tourist visa you will find it difficult, if not impossible to open a Philippines bank account.

[Mike J]

As @GeoffH says, it may not be possible to open an account using a tourist visa.  That being said, many of the banks provide both peso and dollar accounts.  Google "dollar accounts Philippines" and you will get a lenght list of banks.

Edited May 11, 2020 by Mike J

[Snowy79]

I have a UK HSBC account and opened a Philippines HSBC account on my tourist visa.  I can instantly send my Sterling from the UK to a Sterling account in the Philippines for free then watch the exchange rate.  When it is good I swap my Sterling here for Peso at a rate of about 0.2 Peso less than the day rate. Most currency exchangers are one or 2 Peso worse to the Pound Sterling and the bank has no fees.  You also get a debit card to use which is free to use in most bank ATM's. 

[Shady]

3 hours ago, Snowy79 said:

I have a UK HSBC account and opened a Philippines HSBC account

Was the Philippines HSBC able to access your UK account, transfer the info, and link the accounts?

Or are they entirely separate?

[Snowy79]

You can Globally link them online from the HSBC site and it takes seconds. Once you log onto say the UK you click on transfer money and all accounts appear, Filipino and UK. Select where the money is coming from and where it is going to and hit send.  Instantly it will appear in your other account.

[Freebie]

Yes have to say HSBC Premier really works excellently well with sending and transferring money to self and to exchanging money when forex rates are good from one location to another.. I have Jersey, HK and Manila and its very seamless.....except once a year they each  ask where your tax jurisdiction actually is.. then theres a bit of dancing to do.

[Shady]

3 hours ago, Snowy79 said:

You can Globally link them online from the HSBC site and it takes seconds. Once you log onto say the UK you click on transfer money and all accounts appear, Filipino and UK. Select where the money is coming from and where it is going to and hit send.  Instantly it will appear in your other account.

What about when opening the new account, was the UK account a (helpful) factor in any way?

 

 

[Snowy79]

6 hours ago, Shady said:

What about when opening the new account, was the UK account a (helpful) factor in any way?

 

 

It was the Uk account that sealed the deal for me.  Crazy as it sounds they wouldn't accept a years lease on a Manila condo as proof of address but they accepted my Uk address to open up the Philippines account as it showed up on the system.

 

[Joey G]

Never even heard of HSBC....  but doing minimal research... yeah, they are pretty big... also located in the USA... now wondering if opening accounts and doing transactions are easier with them in both places... thanks for lead Snowy79.