I was informed today that within the next 4 weeks my current Revolut Bank account will transform into a fully fledged UK bank account. This was totally unexpected when they informed us a couple of months ago due to having my 30 plus year old HSBC account closed due to not residing in the UK. This is kind of crazy here I am having another UK based bank account and just hope I do not have to offer up proof like utility bills etc. I do not want to fly in to arrange that type of proof and my UK salary may be enough.
The aim has always been to have an external bank account outside of South Africa for obvious reasons. Having another currency like GBP, Euro or USD is a must have considering how quickly the local Rand has depreciated over the last 20 years. Any funds outside the borders of SA has to remain there and would never be crazy enough to consider bringing it here.
One of the biggest reasons having an off shore bank account besides the depreciating Rand is the all important crypto off ramp. I have already worked out a planned route which does not include SA banking and would also not include the Revolut bank account due to taxes which would now be whatever the UK taxes are on crypto. SA has a 18% - 40% tax rate on crypto and with the majority of my crypto having been earned could actually be as high as 45% which is utter madness.
The Dubai off ramp crypto route will work with either a Dubai Bank account or a Jersey Bank account and have been looking more closely at the APR being offered. A bank account in Jersey would offer in the region of 1% (100K GBP minimum) up to 3.6% if you had 3 million GBP or more. For some reason I did not check this APR out properly before and just presumed it was in the region of 3%. The bank I have lined up in Dubai offers an APR of 1.6% without the hassle of worrying if you have 100K GBP and is far far less that it is not even a concern.
The Dubai bank account will be finally sorted this year and will wait and see when it is best to travel. The good thing about the off ramp is it would work for both Dubai and Jersey. I did find another bank being Nat West International offering a minimum deposit of 25K GBP and had I known this I would have opted for this last year instead of Revolut. I can also see the rationale for having both the Dubai and Jersey bank accounts and not just the one.
With the SA government clamping down on foreign pensions and tried to implement this from March this year, but withdrew due to opposition. Still the idea to even consider this as an option should have raised alarm bells and they can never be trusted. Having multiple off shore bank accounts does give you options and the crypto off ramp in Dubai does keep you in the shadows knowing they cannot reveal your personal data due to Dubai's banking laws.