Bank & High Interest Accounts in North Cyprus ?

Tiggy


Joined: 25/07/2007
Posts: 1994

Message Posted:
20/02/2008 16:50

G/day all, I'm Looking for some info...



Will be visiting a HSBC branch in London to discuss the possibility of opening an account here and in NC. I was amazed at the % of interest paid by banks in NC and was maybe thinking about opening an interest one as well. (don't want to ask too many Questions so)





Do you have to be a resident of the country to do have an interest account?



What is the tax on the interest?



I would imagine it has to be left for a set amount of time with penalties if touched?



Any info would be well received. Also any bank recommendations.



Patrick.



Hope Erkan is reading.

ukturk



Joined: 01/09/2007
Posts: 1974

Message Posted:
20/02/2008 17:14

hi patrick

yes i am reading, not sure if you noticed but we just recently spoke about this on another thread i have included a link to all about banking below

http://www.cyprus44.com/forums/banking.asp



you dont have to be a resident to have a high interest account, you just need your passport

if you look at the thread fone accounts it will explain everything u need to know

you can choose on how long you want your money in for, like i have said i have my money in hsbc in a monthly liquid fone account that pays 20%

hope this helps

regards

erkan

ukturk



Joined: 01/09/2007
Posts: 1974

Message Posted:
20/02/2008 17:21

pat

i also forgot to mention, for hsbc u.k to open a hsbc cypriot account you have to a long standing customer on hsbc u.k, if you just walk in off the street and open one with them they wont entertain you and if your local brancj cant help you out, contact hsbc international department in canary wharf they will be able to help

regards

erkan

pollytat


Joined: 15/12/2007
Posts: 87

Message Posted:
20/02/2008 18:04

I bank with HSBC for my business They still wanted £100.00 to open an overseas A/C I now bank with the Turkish Bank in London also opened an A/C with their Bank in Girne at the same time.



Turkish Bank (UK) Ltd

84-86 Borough High Street

London SE1 1LN

020 74035656

Tiggy


Joined: 25/07/2007
Posts: 1994

Message Posted:
20/02/2008 19:12

Erkan as usual you are 4* Hopefully will meet up one day for a beer fest! and a great chat!



Thank you very much and also Derek.



Any further info is welcome.



Tiggo.

breezyboy


Joined: 14/05/2007
Posts: 1179

Message Posted:
21/02/2008 12:33

Hi Tiggy,

Just to answer the part of your queery outstanding. The tax deducted at source in TRNC is currently 8% of the interest you receive, it was 6% but went up early last year. Garanti Bankasi are paying 17.5% on YTL accounts.

Regards

Breezyboy

Shaddow


Joined: 26/03/2008
Posts: 2

Message Posted:
26/03/2008 15:23

Hi all. (Helpfull UK Turk)

re: High Interest accounts. I am thinking of investing an initial £6000 prior to moving out to TRNC and proceeds of house sale later.

I have read with interest recent postings but when talking to banks found out that that i can only get from Garanti 14.25% but with Sekerbank 17.25%. Where are you getting the 19-20% from?. Regarding HSBC how can i contact the Girne/Nicosia branch because UK contact for this subject seems to be impossable through their menue options this end.

orangekazzie



Joined: 31/07/2007
Posts: 1091

Message Posted:
26/03/2008 15:37

Yurt dışından +90 212 444 0 111'i arayarak ulaşabilirsiniz.

or http://www.hsbc.com.tr

Karen

TimothyCadman


Joined: 13/12/2007
Posts: 1040

Message Posted:
26/03/2008 15:49

Shaddow,



The rates of 19-20% are offered on accounts over £50,000. Your £6,000 will gain around 15-17%, pre tax which at the moment is 6% of the interest and is paid by the bank on your behalf.



So for you with £6,000, (15,000TL) you'll get £70 (175TL) a month in interest. The rates quoted above are for money in Turkish Lira and exact figures for monthly interest are dependant on the exchange rate of the day you convert your sterling into Turkish Lira.



But do remember that Infaltion here is around 20%, so you'll not totally be able to live off the interest.

Shaddow


Joined: 26/03/2008
Posts: 2

Message Posted:
26/03/2008 17:55

hi Timothy



yes understand your reply, but didnt mention i also had quotes for above 100k YTL at 15.5% (HSBC) 18% SSegerbank and 15.5 (Garanti) which they all say is the max. Expect £6000 (15000ytl) to be less ( about 1%less) Probably looking at 2nd transfer of about £150 k (375YTL) but not offered anything better.

My real questions are:

1 How much does one need to invest to get the quoted 19 - 21% as seen on other postings

2 are these higher rates historical and no longer available

3 some earlier postings suggested interest rates for larger amounts are negotiable

Any help greatly appreciated



To anyone else

From the above postings it seems there is a lot of confusion amongst us newies. Has any of the many helpfull people out there thought of compiling a list of creditable banks, different types of deposit accounts. rates of interest and contact details, of Branches in Girne, Just a hopefull thought , although it would obviously require considerable effort.

joandjelly


Joined: 24/02/2008
Posts: 2953

Message Posted:
26/03/2008 18:28

I would also be interested to know how you get such a good rate with HSBC Erkan. We were premier customers both here and in the UK and the maximum rate we got was 17.25% with a 60 day e-account (internet based) and that was the highest premier rate. This rate then went steadily down and down to about 15% (they have increased again recently however). When we decided to go elsewhere we tried to negotiate a higher rate with HSBC and the most they would give was about 0.4% above the standard rate and this was for an amount in excess of £150k.



CreditWest quoted us 19.5%, Turk Bank 14.5%, Iktisatbank 18%, Continental Bank 21%. All of these rates are for a monthly deposit account.



The English lady to speak to at HSBC is Julie Younger: juliedawnyounger@hsbc.com.tr 0392 815 9988 but she only works Monday-Wednesday. The other lady who also speaks very good English is Aylin.



Apparently you can open an account with Girne Branch via your branch in the UK but as mentioned previously Girne Branch will request a letter of introduction but I think they will fax your branch direct for that when you go in to open accounts. Also make sure you have plenty of time on your hands when you go in to open an account because it took us 4 hours!!!



Re Tiggy's original questions, if you open say a 30 day deposit account there is only one day in the month when you can access your funds (deposit or withdrawal) without affecting your interest. For example, if you make a withdrawal before the due date you will lose all your interest for that month. However at least with HSBC you can do everything online which is handy if you live in the UK.

TimothyCadman


Joined: 13/12/2007
Posts: 1040

Message Posted:
27/03/2008 14:46

Shaddow,



As stated above from joandjelly, Continental Bank offer 21% on deposits over £50,000.



There is a but though. Continental is a Turkish Cypriot Bank. It is not a big bank and is only supported by the TRNC Central Bank. They are the only people who can help if, and it's only an if, the bank gets into diffculties. The TRNC Central Bank is not a bottomless institution, nor can it rely on funding from anywhere except Turkey. In 2001/02 many banks went bust here and lots of people lost lots of money. Be careful. Be aware.



With other banks; Creditwest, Turk Bank, HSBC, there is an element age, experience and backing of many branches and the Turkish Central Bank that has access to better funds and reserves if things go wrong.



It would be better to "spread bet" your investments if you intend to use TRNC banks.