Very blurry indeed in many cases. They also do neat stuff like taking deposit protection up into the hundreds of thousands in some cases.
These are full on current accounts too i.e. with debit card, checkbook, direct debit, direct deposit and even overdrafts.
You even get to choose the design for your checks.
Copying what I wrote on the HSBC chat, as it relates to this topic too:
Checked the HSBC International Services page and the countries that allow online applications from the UK are Australia, China, Expat/Jersey, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, UAE, and the USA.
A few other countries allow overseas account opening but needs to be done with a call.
There are also some EMI and banks around Latin America that allow foreigners to open accounts online, although it’s not always straightforward. Second passports come in quite handy!
We should make a takeover bid for the HSBC thread 
Any good Jersey or Luxembourg banks you can recommend that offer these services?
In the Channel Islands and IOM you can get an account with Santander, Barclays, HSBC and Lloyds.
For Luxembourg, you will need to have an economic tie to the country. They are unlikely to open an account for simply wanting one. BGL BNP Paribas and ING are two options.
Santander: 75k min ( Expat Current Account | International Banking (santanderinternational.co.uk))
Barclays: unclear if this is the correct one but 100k saved/invested ( International Bank Account | Barclays International Bank)
HSBC: 75k min income or 50k invested ( Open an overseas bank account | Here’s what we found - HSBC International Premier Bank Account | Premier Debit Card – HSBC UK)
Lloyds: 50k min income or 25k to save ( International Current Account | Lloyds Bank International)
tbh i may be dumb as many of these are jersey not iom.
International Bank Accounts - Apply Now | Standard Bank
seem to offer IoM account with £5000 balence
I don’t understand why all these banks can’t make their card designs nice and clear so that we can choose most effectively between them.
Yes, but there’s a £60/quarter fee.
There’s also Swissquote: Trade, Invest and Bank with the Swiss Leader in Online Banking which is a Swiss broker offering banking services. It accepts UK clients.
Looks like you’d need to get some documents notarised so more complicated than Schwab.
Only if you don’t keep atleast 5k in there
AIB Bank of Ireland Permanent TSB now PTSB in Ireland all do euro usable in all euro zone countries without hassles I just used passport bank statement and now have loads more than I do in uk and full current accounts no basic account like some uk banks offer me
Did you use a UK address to open them? Don’t they charge some tax on transactions?
Have AIB and a credit union account in IE aswell, pretty useful. Revolut defeats the point for me though
This sounds good. Maybe apply for an account and give us an update on it.
Aib charge for most transactions and quarterly fees but bank of Ireland and ptsb charge €6 for unlimited use of account free from everyday charges oh and my accounts qualify for no tax of savings as I live as non resident under Irish tax law as address is in Scotland but only things I don’t get is credit products such as loans credit cards or an overdraft on current account and as I have curve card no fees for paying outside of euros but loose out on the PTSB cashback offer if use curve card
Most banks outside of the uk charge a fee for current accounts we in the uk too reliant on free banking as a given right
What a strange opinion.
My view is more that elsewhere people just put up with bank charges. At least until some (usually) new place comes along that doesn’t have them. Same here with foreign usage fees which were once everywhere until Monzo, Starling and Revolut came along and now they are slowly disappearing.
Just to point out that some of the big banks offered no foreign usage fees years before Monzo, Starling and Revolut came along.
For instance:
Even Aqua offered f/x free transactions on their Reward Card
Did those accounts convert at the Mastercard/Visa rate, or the bank’s own rate, because British banks have been disguising “zero fees” behind a terrible FX rate (exactly like NatWest’s new product) since forever?