admin, Author at Isle of Man Bank Failure

admin

Been directed offshore when attempting to open a bank account? Why not try this?

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Nov 052011

Many thanks indeed; your website has just proved very useful. After long and careful consideration I have finally decided to transfer my remaining savings from the IoM to UK onshore. I am based in Dubai so I visited the Lloyds TSB branch over here in Jumeirah but initially they gave me the usual spiel of not being able to offer UK based bank accounts to non resident UK Expats and offered me their IoM based offshore alternative. I immediately emailed their branch manager in Dubai and countered their position by stating that the IoM was an unsafe home for my hard earned savings; I gave your website link as a reference and cited the Select Committee’s admission that the DCS would be unable to support any more systematic or major bank failures.

After reading your website, the branch manager called me back and is now providing me with every assistance to get an onshore account opened up. She accepted that Lloyds TSB IoM is an offshore limited company entity and would not be fully protected in the event of the bank going bust or the IoM branch being sold off; as was the case with the Derbyshire sale to KSF IoM.

Apparently there are no legal issues with an Expat holding an onshore account; it’s merely a matter of verifying my identity and source of funds which the branch can do from Dubai. My advice to Expats when looking to open up an onshore account with a UK based bank is don’t take “No” for an answer.

Letter Sent by a Concerned Depositor to Their Bank.

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Nov 052011

Dear Nxxxxxxxxx,

Many thanks for taking the time this morning to discuss my concerns regarding the Isle of Man (IoM) and my desire to place my savings within the United Kingdom. As mentioned I have first-hand experience with a bank collapse on the IoM and it’s so called Depositors Compensation Scheme (DCS). In my case I had nearly £XXX,XXX on deposit with the Derbyshire Building Society IoM, which failed on October 6th 2008 (then known as KSF IoM Ltd). It took nearly a year for the DCS to pay out its £50k compensation and the rest of the money will be returned to me through a liquidation process which won’t be concluded until 2017 nearly 10 years after the collapse of the bank. In real terms, taking into account depreciation and lost interest, I would estimate that up 50% of my original deposit will have been lost.

Therefore, I am surprised that a reputable bank such as Lloyds TSB is still promoting offshore banking in the IoM without making its customers aware of the significant risks involved, which for me were all too real. I would invite you to look at the following website regarding the IoM: –

http://www.iombankfailure.com

In July of this year the IoM Government’s (Tynwald) Select Committee said the following about its DCS scheme:

“In the event there was another bank failure while KSF (IoM) is still ‘live’ or in the future any systemic or major bank in default, it is highly unlikely that there would be sufficient funds to compensate depositors to the full value of the threshold limits.”

What an incredible admission!!

Therefore, I am not keen to place any further funds on the IoM (neither should anybody else for that matter) and would appreciate your support in opening an equivalent savings account in the United Kingdom. It has taken me 15 years of hard work in the UAE to save this money so security and a reliable compensation scheme are of the utmost importance.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Website Revamp

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Oct 232011

I’m please to announce that this website has been revamped moving to it to WordPress. The content is largely unchanged but the website is easier to maintain and adding new features will be much easier.

The big change is that comments can now be attached to most pages, and the videos page now uses a youtube feed of rather than just providing link to a google search for ‘don’t bank on the iom’