Banking and Finances in Malta

This photo is from the website www.moneymatterstome.co.uk

So far I'm impressed. I emailed the HSBC Bank in Valletta with a few questions, and I actually heard back from the manager of international banking three times--very quickly.

Well, now it's two weeks later. I don't know about the HSBC Bank in Valletta, but I'm not so impressed with the HSBC in America. I talked to a guy on the phone, we set up my account and I was supposed to receive a packet within five business days. It's two weeks later, no one in customer service has heard of this guy (although they do have my account information on file) and they said that because of the July 4th holiday, everything is taking longer. July 4th? That's one day. What's taking so long? What is a business day, anyway?

Does a Sunday count? Because it does when the US government is bailing out Bear Stearns or Fannie Mae. But I guess it doesn't count for us peons.

While I'm waiting for my bank account to open, check out the currency counter below.

This is one of the best currency converters I've found. Try it out. This will come in handy when comparing the lousy USD (sorry, but it's true) to the Euro (which has been used in Malta since the beginning of this year). Please note: that if you want to get back to the blog after you see your conversion, press the back arrow at the top of your browser.

Amount:

From:

To:

Currency conversion powered by

coinmill.com.

ONE YEAR LATER

I’m writing this now in January, 2010. It took me about six months to set up my HSBC-Malta account. But after that, things have worked OK—thank G-d. Except for the terrible decline of the USD, the banking in Malta has been satisfactory.

For a while, the bank officer in Malta was my best email friend. We emailed back and forth and to the guys at HSBC until we got it set up.

My advice: If you want to open a bank account here in Malta—or anywhere abroad—start very, very early on in your relocating process.

Here is an excellent article I found on banking abroad and a link to the article:

How to Manage Your Online Bank Accounts from Abroad

By Sophie S.

Comments

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Hi Koko--Will be posting your question on THE FORUM so you can get a variety of answers. Thanks for the great compliment! Ilene

Posted by: Sennuwy (an ancient Egyptian name) | April 22, 2011 at 03:33 AM

Hi!

Love your blog! Lots of useful info about Malta.

Anyway, got a question that I'd like to ask:

What are the american banks operating in Malta?

I think I'll need to open an account with them, to be able to open up a paypal acc in Malta.

Thanks!

Koko

Posted by: Koko | April 16, 2011 at 02:12 PM

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