# Depositing in Foreign Owned Banks.



## Sam (28 Jan 2010)

Is it possible to deposit in a foreign owned bank here in Ireland so that your savings would locked in to a hard currency(Euro, dollar, sterling) in the (admittedly, unlikely) event that Ireland pulls out of the Euro and our savings are devalued overnight?


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## colm5 (28 Jan 2010)

Rabobank is Dutch owned.


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## jpd (28 Jan 2010)

In the event of Ireland leaving the eurozone, I suspect that all deposits in Ireland (not withstanding the ownership of the bank or institution) would be converted to new punts.

This would be a mirror image of what happened when we joined the euro. 

Obviously, the new punt would then devalue so the only way to get around this would be to deposit the monies abroad, in another eurozone country eg Germany which will not leave the eurozone.

If even a smidgen of doubt arose about Ireland leaving the euro, all deposits would vanish from the country overnight ...


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## elcato (28 Jan 2010)

> If even a smidgen of doubt arose about Ireland leaving the euro, all deposits would vanish from the country overnight ...


Or all all cash would disappear from banks as people will just hold onto hard currency


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## jpd (28 Jan 2010)

There wouldn't be enough hard cash to supply everybody!


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## Sam (28 Jan 2010)

jpd said:


> In the event of Ireland leaving the eurozone, I suspect that all deposits in Ireland (not withstanding the ownership of the bank or institution) would be converted to new punts.
> 
> This would be a mirror image of what happened when we joined the euro.
> 
> ...





elcato said:


> Or all all cash would disappear from banks as people will just hold onto hard currency





jpd said:


> There wouldn't be enough hard cash to supply everybody!



Yes this was the scenario I was thinking about. If we were to pull out of the eurozone then the decision would have to be taken overnight so as to prevent a run on the banks.

I don't even know if this is logistically possible given that the new currency would have to be printed and placed in banks and ATMs without the general public finding out.



colm5 said:


> Rabobank is Dutch owned.



So if I was to transfer my savings to Rabobank does that mean that it would always be held in Euro denomination even if the above scenario actually occurred?


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## roker (29 Jan 2010)

What about if, it was put in to possibly the Halifax? this is UK owned, or I transfered it to my Sterling account here?


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## Lightning (29 Jan 2010)

The answer is nobody knows what would happen if Ireland left the euro. 

One would guess that GBP savings or off shore savings would be safest should the highly unlikely occur. 

It is extremely unlikely that Ireland will leave the Euro and you can't change currency overnight. It would be a long process.


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## milic (30 Jan 2010)

To widen the debate a little, does anyone know what situation would be with capital invested in say Quinn Life freeway funds. 

I assume funds invested in USA, China etc would not be affected by Ireland leaving euro. What about their Euro equity fund.


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## Sam (30 Jan 2010)

milic said:


> To widen the debate a little, does anyone know what situation would be with capital invested in say Quinn Life freeway funds.
> 
> I assume funds invested in USA, China etc would not be affected by Ireland leaving euro. What about their Euro equity fund.



This is where I have a large part of my savings and I would assume that they would not be affected directly since you own the units themselves not the euro equivalent.


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## foinse (21 Feb 2010)

I would really like an answer to Sam's question "So if I was to transfer my savings to Rabobank does that mean that it would always be held in Euro denomination even if the above scenario actually occurred?"  Who could answer it, if no one on the forum can't. Would  RaboDirect themeselves be able to provide a truthful answer.


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## georged3rd (21 Feb 2010)

To tweak the op's original question a little bit, and this might be a silly question, but does anybody know if it is possible for an Irish (non-US) citizen to open a US dollar (USD) deposit account in an American financial institution over here in Ireland (i.e. *not *with an Irish financial institution that merely offers their own USD accounts)? 

If not, are there any American financial institutions operating in Ireland that offer USD accounts to Irish citizens and whose accounts would not be affected if Ireland left the Euro? (hope this makes sense....looking at worst-case scenarios safety-wise).


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## txirimiri (22 Feb 2010)

foinse said:


> I would really like an answer to Sam's question "So if I was to transfer my savings to Rabobank does that mean that it would always be held in Euro denomination even if the above scenario actually occurred?" Who could answer it, if no one on the forum can't. Would RaboDirect themeselves be able to provide a truthful answer.


 
I can't see why accounts held in foreign owned banks are any different from those in Irish held banks in this scenario. You are the holder of a bank account in Ireland in Irish currency (currently the Euro). If our currency changed, I assume all deposits held in all bank accounts in Ireland would also change automatically into the new currency. Unless you assume that deposits in, say BOS would change into sterling, why would deposits in Rabobank change into (new) Euros? Otherwise the banks would be in danger of loosing enormous sums of money, as inevitably the new Irish currency would immediately devalue significantly in relation to the Euro. Or am I missing something?


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## txirimiri (22 Feb 2010)

Plus, it is a matter of the legal status of the bank and where they legally incorporated/domiciled - if it is in Ireland, then their deposit accounts are automatically in the currency of Ireland


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## Lightning (22 Feb 2010)

georged3rd said:


> If not, are there any American financial institutions operating in Ireland that offer USD accounts to Irish citizens and whose accounts would not be affected if Ireland left the Euro? (hope this makes sense....looking at worst-case scenarios safety-wise).



Plently of Irish banks offer USD accounts. 

TD Ameritrade allow brokerage and USD cash accounts to be opened by irish residents. The accounts are based in the USA.


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## JoeB (22 Feb 2010)

I've recently put money into gold.. real, yellow gold... in case of armageddon!

BullionVault has pretty low fees, and seems good to me.The US are a little overborrowed, it's concievable they could default on their debt, which would have an effect on your savings if held in US $.

Here's a link to BullionVault... (note, i'm a referrer)

http://www.bullionvault.com

I'm not sure if gold is a good buy, it certainly has gone up a lot lately, from 11K a kilo in May, 2005, to over 26K a kilo today. But it's inflation adjusted all-time high is about double todays price.

disclaimer: I'm a recent client of BullionVault so am a little biased.


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## Savvy Row (17 Jun 2010)

The question keeps arising as to what would happen to savings held with Irish branches of foreign banks (such as Rabo) if Ireland left the Euro. And nobody really seems to know! I have been in contact with the Financial Regulators Office - they don't know either! Or at least that's what they're saying!
To open a German bank account, it seems to be necessary to actually have an address in Germany.
Does anyone have any definitive information on exactly how to open a German bank account while living in Ireland?


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