How to open a bank account in the UK? 

The banking sector in the UK is very large as compared to the other sectors. Banks in the United Kingdom provide different types of services. Here is an overview of some of the most popular banks in the UK. 

How to open a bank account in the UK? 

• The banking system in the UK has different dedicated branches for different purposes. These banks provide different services like personal and business services. So, choose the services required according to your needs.
• The most important thing which you’ll need to have a bank account is identity proof and address proof. There are several documents that you can use as a local address such as a commodity bill which will be helpful. But, there are several documents that count as proof of address.
• After getting a bank account you need to fund that account for that, and you may need to use a money transfer platform. 

Key points to know about the British banking system

Banks in the UK offer a variety of services to their customers. The banks offer services for both business purposes and personal purposes. There are different banks that specialize in some of the particular services only. These are the basic classification of the banks in the UK.

• High Street Banks: these banks are those which generally offer services to the public. Or we can say that these banks specialize in public services.
• Business Banking: these banks do provide services as of High Street Banks. But, these banks do include some of the extra or extra services to their customers. These banks do charge some of the extra fees for these extended services.
• Investment Banking: these are financial institutions or financial companies. These institutions usually invest the money in the market (stock and bond market).
• Central Banks: these banks are the central or reserve banks that set the Monetary policy. Central Banks primary operation is to ensure the money flow and adequate liquidity. The central bank in the UK is the Bank of England.

The banking sector is a very crucial sector to support the economy of the country. Banks do ensure a certain amount of money flow and they ensure a certain amount of stability in the market. The banking sector alone contributes around 11% to their national GDP.

The big five top UK banks

So, coming to the best banks in the UK, there are a lot of small and large banks in the UK between which we need to compare. The banks have been comparing on a different basis, their total income, assets, branch, etc. :

• HSBC
• Barclays
• Royal Bank of Scotland
• Lloyds Banking Group
• NatWest

There are some other banks also which provide outstanding services. Other banks like Tesco Bank, Standard Chartered, Halifax, etc, these banks may be a good choice for you. These banks may offer you very well services, offers, and deals which suit you best.

Opening a bank account without a UK Address

If you are new to the country, then the need for a bank account also rises. Opening a bank account with UK address is much simpler. Although the process for an opening an account without a UK address proof may be quite difficult. Luckily, some banks offer services to the people who are new to the country. Banks like HSBC provide a basic account that is useful for new citizens. You may have an account with these banks with the basic documents like a passport(the most important one). You may also try to these documents as well as a proof for the address in banks:

• recent utility bill (less than three months old)
• council tax bills
• recent bank statements (issued from the bank)
• tenancy agreement or mortgage statement
• UK medical card or UK driving license
• motor or home insurance certificates.

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Sources InterNations 

The cover image is somewhere in London, UK. Photo by abdullah ali on Unsplash