Trustee Bank Account in the UK

[x5x3]

Does anyone have any advice please - I need to open a UK Trustee Bank Account where one of the beneficiaries is not a UK resident.

I tried Metro and Cater Allen and they clearly state UK residents only.

[hooters123]

To clarify, the Trustee is a UK individual or a UK corporate?

Location of the beneficiary shouldn't necessarily matter (unless they're in a high risk jurisdiction) as the account is in the name of the Trustee but of course beneficial ownership is different.

You may find you need to go to the corporate/business banking teams to get someone who understands trusts. I doubt any of the "challenger" banks would take this on as it sits outside the norm so won't allow their automated systems to deal with it and hence cost them too much to onboard.

[x5x3]

hooters123 said:

To clarify, the Trustee is a UK individual or a UK corporate?

thanks, the Trustee is a UK individual but resident in the US.

[darreni]

x5x3 said:

thanks, the Trustee is a UK individual but resident in the US.

That's yer issue.
UK banks & financial services are very reluctant to be involved with US residents. Add Trustee into the mix & you'll really struggle. Is it possible to replace the individual with a UK resident Trustee?

[x5x3]

darreni said:

Is it possible to replace the individual with a UK resident Trustee?

yes this should be quite easy to do - however if I am reading the T&Cs correctly (for Metro and Cater Allen) then the beneficiary also needs to be UK resident.

[darreni]

All parties would need to be non US.
There has been a real tightening of criteria with UK financial services.

Who provides the current banking for the Trust?
Was the Trust set up by a corporate?

[hooters123]

As previously mentioned, the US connection will be your downfall. Lots of extra compliance requirements dealing with US people which are a royal PITA.

What you're asking for though more generally shouldn't be too difficult (it's one part of my day job), you just need to try a couple of different banks. I've found NatWest to actually be half decent in recent months, though you do need to navigate to the right people first.

[x5x3]

the Trust was "created" by a will, and has two trustees (one UK and one US), the same two individuals are also the only beneficiaries.

[Mankers]

Assuming no high risk factors, such as source of wealth industry or country, there are private banks that will look at cash banking (if that is what you want, not discretionary investments?) but balance in cash usually £100k + min balance.