International banking - Australia to Finland?

Cloudberry · Post by **Cloudberry** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 8:52 am

Im wondering if there is an international banking institution that has branches in both Australia (pref Brisbane) and also in Helsinki? It would be great to transfer all our accounts to such a bank now so that when we move to Finland it makes life easier. Am I asking the impossible?

**Sponsor:**

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 10:54 am

LisaV wrote: Am I asking the impossible?

naah, you could ask where you can go pet koalas... I think theres a Citibank, but they don't "do" private people really...

Rick1 · Post by **Rick1** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 7:03 pm

They sell loans though, especially to private persons.

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 7:09 pm

as does GE Money... but they and Citibank's not got a so-called "street presence"... as in paying your monthly rent and having a bank card etc...

the Dundernews says that the best connection is with "National" and "Nordea"

Rick1 · Post by **Rick1** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 7:19 pm

Yes correct. The bar is not open yet I can see

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 9:00 pm

oh and for LisaV - the thing is then if you send/bring/have over 10K in euros you'll be subject to scrutiny due to the "anti-money-laundering directive" of the EU which Finland of course follows by the book. so like I go put in money into my own account the first thing to do is flip out the Finnish ID card (in this case my DL)

raamv · Post by **raamv** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:17 am

If there are no banks connected to AUS; you can check if any of the AUS banks have an office in European Monetary Area. Transfer between EU states are generally free.
So contact the AUS banks to see who has an account registered in the EU area. Citibank might be another option.
Another way is to use paypal, but I ve found their exchange rates to be really bad.

fitzcarraldo · Post by **fitzcarraldo** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 8:45 am

Lisa,

we were with westpac in Sydney and sent money back here to a finnish account via electronic transfer and it was very straighforward.

We were waiting for exchange rates to change in our favour because of the euro being very strong in the last 12 months so we sent small amounts (under 5000 AUD each) and it cost 20 AUD a pop. We just needed our finnish bank account swift code.

So if you have a finnish bank account and you arent selling a house in OZ then...

that could be a way to go!

Cloudberry · Post by **Cloudberry** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:55 pm

Okay, so there doesn't seem to be a "global" bank as such. It would have been nice to just have one global bank that we could walk into a branch in Australia and Finland. We probably won't have more than 10k euros though

I guess we should just open a Finnish bank account once we get there and transfer the money from our ANZ account - I have it set up for international banking now. It is just annoying that if I keep that account open back here I will still have to continue paying the bank fees to run the account ($5 a month) even though I won't be using it that often.

What will I need to open a bank account in Finland? Will my Finnish passport and Australian drivers licence be enough ID?

mmac · Post by **mmac** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 3:13 pm

Biggest stubling block I've found to getting an account that's actually useful - i.e. one with a bank card, is getting a social security number, least all the banks i asked at wanted it. Of Course if you've got work you'll get one right away - after all how else will you pay tax

ad · Post by ad » Mon Aug 11, 2008 4:22 pm

You could try HSBC, they have offices in Australia and in EU (but not Finland), and I pay no charges for my account there. But probably easier to open your account here then transfer the money. Banks here have a service when you change bank that you sign with the new bank and they transfer your money from your old bank and close the account for you, but I don't know if that works for overseas accounts. Try emailing some of the banks here for info.

Cloudberry · Post by **Cloudberry** » Tue Aug 12, 2008 10:26 am

Yeah, we thought of HSBC since we already have a credit card with them. I wonder if they have plans for a Finnish branch anytime soon. ARe they in UK?

So what's a social security number

OMG there is so much I need to know!

That's different than my Identity Code isn't it?

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Tue Aug 12, 2008 11:09 am

Its the same birthday-4 code... it *used* to be called social security or actually pension number...

moosehead · Post by **moosehead** » Tue Aug 12, 2008 4:14 pm

I'm not sure if this is the same thing but if you have a Finnish passport it should be on that. My fiancee (Australian w/ Finnish mother) was wondering how to find hers out until someone told her to look on her passport

Oh wait maybe that's identity code nevermind me!

Cloudberry · Post by **Cloudberry** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 7:43 am

moosehead wrote:I'm not sure if this is the same thing but if you have a Finnish passport it should be on that. My fiancee (Australian w/ Finnish mother) was wondering how to find hers out until someone told her to look on her passport Oh wait maybe that's identity code nevermind me!

Hmmm I'm thinking they are one and the same...

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