Opening a Swedish bank account

[e_drizzel]

Folks,

Given the concerns over the euro I'm considering opening a SEK account with a Swedish bank. I've got savings in €s in Ireland but I want to spread them over a couple of currencies and maybe another € account in Germany.

Do you think the Kronor is a decent currency to have savings in? I guess Norea would be a safe option?

Thanks

 

[marksa]

I presume you meant Nordea for opening the account. They are well rated, and if their share price is anything to go by, they have weathered the last 3 years of financial crisis relatively well. The SEK is a stable enough currency and not as commodity influenced as e.g. the NOK. I don't think its pegged to the EUR (ERM) like DKK. The big question is, if the EUR went pear-shaped would a relatively small economy like Sweden not be pulled down by the fall-out. Maybe not. but you are proably right to diversify cash across currencies at this stage, as well as domicile - obviously there would be CGT issues on any gains on the re-conversion to Euro.

At a local level, NIB offers SEK accounts, as well as DKK, and NOK.

 

[e_drizzel]

I presume you meant Nordea for opening the account. They are well rated, and if their share price is anything to go by, they have weathered the last 3 years of financial crisis relatively well. The SEK is a stable enough currency and not as commodity influenced as e.g. the NOK. I don't think its pegged to the EUR (ERM) like DKK. The big question is, if the EUR went pear-shaped would a relatively small economy like Sweden not be pulled down by the fall-out. Maybe not. but you are proably right to diversify cash across currencies at this stage, as well as domicile - obviously there would be CGT issues on any gains on the re-conversion to Euro.

At a local level, NIB offers SEK accounts, as well as DKK, and NOK.

Those NIB currency accounts are for business customers according to the T&Cs: "By opening your Account you acknowledge that you are doing so in the course of your trade, business of profession and that you are not acting as a consumer".

I wasn't considering CGT issues on re-conversion to Euro as the motivation for this is to alleviate the risk of my savings being devalued should Ireland leave the Euro. How would CGT be calculated when converting to a brand new currency?