Jon Clarke (Publisher & Editor)
A NEW bank is giving a warm welcome to expats who own or rent a property in Spain.
Hola Bank is being launched with an initial 100 branches across Spain, initially in Málaga, Murcia, Alicante and the Canary and Balearic Islands.
Owned by Caíxa Bank, which has 375,000 international customers, it will concentrate on serving its customers in English and other international languages.
Its director general Juan Antonio Álcaraz told a press launch at Marbella’s Don Pepe Hotel that it was an ‘exciting time’ to be opening a new bank.
He said: “The bank will cater to a group of clients with very specific needs, providing an innovative, comprehensive and high quality range of products and services.”
He added: “We think the name will make clients feel comfortable… And it is easy to recognise.”
Some 16 branches are in Andalucía, while the bank hopes to get a 25% market share of the expat market within four years.
Eventually 16 branches will open in Málaga, to cater to 25,000 foreign clients.
The bank’s existing foreign clients create a business volume of €6 billion.
It uses the catchphrase ‘Making your life easier’ and has its own website www.holabank.es.
Hmmmm….
Wonder if this is a safe bet, thinking of the customs and excise’s increasing presence in Spain, not to mention the fact that the Met have also opened a regional office.
All seems a little bit cosy if you ask moi….
Not that I have anything to hide, mind you!
Just had a look at their website and I could not see any reason why I should be with them over my existing bank. Probably still charge high maintenance fees, my existing bank speak English, what is the benefit then. Not feeling it.
An interesting comment by Reap. We spend just short of six months in Spain each year and need a bank. Originally we were with the Halifax, then Lloyds and now Sabadell. Until Sabadell took over we had no bank charges but now we do and they are ridiculous. If this bank had none then I dare say
quite a large number of people would transfer o them.
What are the spanish banks like in general to the british. Are they easy or hard to deal with?
This bank is an offshoot of Caixa so don’t touch it with a bargepole! Our experience in Calpe began with the La Caixa takeover of Banco Valencia. The local branch of Caixa told us that our account had been blocked (though standing orders were still being paid out). We were advised to ‘unblock’ it at the office in Javea where the account was originally opened. So we travelled to Javea where they were totally unhelpful and to go back to Calpe. The excuse was that the ‘paper’ transactions by Banco Valencia had not been ‘computerised’ yet by Caixa. So the next excuse from Caixa, Calpe was that it was all to do withnew ‘money laundering’ regulations and we should go to a notary, pay up 200 euros and he would establish that we ‘fit and proper people’ to hold the account. The notary wouldn’t have known us from Bonny and Clyde so this seemed preposterous! Eventually a couple of screaming phone calls to Caixa from our representative in Calpe (who had handled dozens of similar cases) ‘unblocked’ our account. Needless to say, we made daily visits to the Calpe branch and took out our cash. Spanish banks? Avoid like the plague.