Thousands of UK expats living in Europe face having to revamp their finances in the aftermath of Brexit as British banks close their current accounts and European ones hike the cost of sending money overseas.
Customers of some of Britain s biggest banks including Barclays, Lloyds and Nationwide Building Society living in Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal have either already had their bank accounts closed or will see them shuttered in the next few weeks.
Meanwhile This is Money understands that European banks appear to be flying in the face of EU payment rules designed to limit the cost of sending money overseas, despite them still applying to the UK.
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Regulatory Developments
United Kingdom: HM Treasury consultation on new special administration regime for payment institutions and electronic money institutions
On 3 December 2020 HM Treasury (HMT) issued a consultation on proposed insolvency changes for payment institutions (PIs) and electronic money institutions (EMIs), including a bespoke special administration regime (SAR). HMT notes the shortcomings of the current insolvency regime and is making these proposals ahead of the conclusion of the Payments Landscape Review to protect consumers in the event of the insolvency of PIs and EMIs.
The proposed SAR is intended to have the following key features:
An explicit objective on the special administrator to return customer funds as soon as reasonably practicable.