Recommendations regarding Cypriot banks

My advice would be to keep your existing sterling account and take either a starling or revolut card for exchanges with the very best exchange rate better than the usual transfer companies  and easy cash withdrawal use it it just like any other credit or debit card for shop and online purchases ... Pay bills via JCC smart web portal

Thanks very much. Would I not be expected to have a Cypriot bank account when applying for residency?

As far as I am aware you have to have a Cyprus bank account with a Cyprus bank so a UK bank in Cyprus wouldn't count.

Thanks.

IF THAT IS THE CASE GO FOR HELLENIC BANK... BETTER AND CHEAPER THAN BOC AND HAS A MUCH BETTER WEB AND MOBILE BANKING SERVICE IN MY OPINION ..

I would still.opt for Starling first then Revolut for quick exchanges and transfers to your Cyprus bank at a top rate ... I use revolut Hellenic for mine with no real everyday issues .Had I had an UK address I would have opted for Starling as they have a better daily cash withdrawal rate

Can you use your Revolut card for larger purchases such as house deposit/payment, and if so what charges did it incur or is the same as any other bank transfers? Thanks

Not sure but Revolut is a bank based in Lithuania but have your own  sterling account linked to it and a revolut sterling account as well as a revolut Euro account and you own euro account  and deposits are protected ... Not sure about house purchase  transfers but as far as I know it acts like any other account as all their accounts have iban's and swift etc  too... But again be aware that due diligence will need to be observed banks here will ask for it

Further to this we recently bought here and any transfer to a client account with value above €14k will be subject to due diligence ie proving funds etc.. we kinda avoided that for both the deposit an staged payments via direct payments to vendor with full authority and signed  contractual protections in place..  so nothing really hit the lawyers client accounts

Bank of Cyprus

There is banks in the UK of the bank of Cyprus.

I immediately thought of HSBC .. then I found this

https://www.expat.hsbc.com/accounts/pro … k-account/

I have no idea if it suits your needs but it may be worth a read

It's okay thanks I'm a British man and I live in Cyprus now as I sorted my Yellow slip out and I'm in Nicosia and I have the bank of Cyprus which works good for me and it's cheap too send money too UK and Cyprus bank very easy and cheaper.

Thanks

Wayne

We still have a major UK bank account but it's only really used for payments in to it each month and it's then moved to sterling revolut where we hold it until the Revolut exchange rate suits us ... Then it's exchanged within revolut to euros and its kept there until we need to move it to our Hellenic bank ... However as it's a euro based account and we have a card we can use it just like any other debit card and it's been accepted everywhere .. so it works for us really well.

Just bear in mind that as and when you decide to get permanent residency after 5 years you wil be asked to prove living here by way of daily weekly spending with at least 5 years of local statements making them very helpful....

My husband and I use bank of Cyprus and Hellenic bank...we prefer bank of cyprus....Its cheaper, the staff we know really well in Coral bay, and I personally just trust them more than Hellenic

Just for balance been with Hellenic for 8 years and their service to us has been exemplary and efficient ... Can't say the same for the 8 months I was with BoC.

Am sure everyone has different experiences

Thanks Toon

If you are moving permanently to Cyprus, you will be tax-resident there. You can then have the whole of your income, dividends and pension taxed in Cyprus instead of the UK. The advantage is that you can opt to lump your pension in with your income etc. but have a tax threshold of almost 20,000 euros, or you can have your pension taxed at a separate rate of 5%, with a tax threshold of about 6,000 euros. In general you should pay quite a lot less tax than in the UK.

You can have your UK old-age pension paid into your Cyprus bank account - I do.

I bank with both the Bank of Cyprus and with Hellenic and find the BOC's online banking slightly better than that of Hellenic. I also find BOC staff more pleasant, but that could be because some live in my village and one of them is the wife of my gardener.

I use Currency Solutions to exchange money, either online or by phoning Fiona in their Paphos office. They take a percentage (via their excnge rate) that works out at about £15 per £1,000 transferred. They are very efficient and the money is usually in my bank account the next working day. In the past I used Sterling Exchange to send large amounts to cover the purchase of our villa, but this company no longer exists.

I have a Euro and Sterling account with the BOC, but to move money between my UK bank and my Sterling account cannot be done online and is, to be frank, a pain.

That's where revolut scores big time better rates on exchange and you can hold sterling and euros and transfer easily with UK bank and Cypriot bank and is very very quick usually same day and within 8 hrs in my experience

Thaks. A friend of mine told me about Revolut a few year ago, but I was put off by the number of people complaining about the company on social media, having accounts blocked and money taken out but not being transferred, that I decided to stick with the system I had that had never let me down.

Wayne can you please tell me how you sorted out the yellow slip?

REVOLUT is fine once you know it's quirks and foibles and don't keep major money in it but in practice it's very good for everyday transactions