Cyprus-Forum.com

[bengun]

hi all,

im moving to cyprus next week as i have a job to go to.i asume i will be paid in cash in cypriot pounds,my question is ,how do i go about paying my wages into my uk bank account?
i want to do this to pay standing orders etc,do i have to set up a local bank account and then somehow change the currency to uk pounds and transfer it to my uk bank account or what?
im with barclays and i see they have a branch or 2 in cyprus but dont deal in cypriot pounds??



any help much appreciated

[Svetlana]

You set up two Bank accounts, one in Cypriot Pounds, one in Sterling; pay the cash into your Cypriot account and transfer it to your Sterling account and then CHAPS transfer the cash - or alternatively (and better) engage the services of a currency exchange company.

You pay them with an electronic transfer from your account and they pay it into your UK account.

Lana

[devil]

If you have a CYP a/c with, say, the Hellenic bank (the best with electronic banking), from the comfort of your home you can make a GBP transfer debiting CYP. I do international transfers in both directions like that and you don't need a GBP a/c in this country (unless you specifically want one and you pay only one set of transfer fees.

[TheCabbie]

If you have a CYP a/c with, say, the Hellenic bank (the best with electronic banking)...

Devil, in what way is the Hellenic better than the rest?

[devil]

Of the ones I've tried, it works most efficently. I've been with Laiki for 2 years, as well, and I've never once manage to get on line with them and they admit they have big problems. I haven't tried Alpha or BoC but friends have complained about their electronic services. Not even the Hellenic is up to e.g., Swiss standards for user-friendliness or security, but neither are UK banks. The best one I know is the UBS, which is very user-friendly with the widest range of electronic services and, by far, the highest level of security, but they don't operate personal banking in Cyprus. I demonstrated the UBS log-on procedure to the NetBanking Security guy here once and his eyes widened in amazement.

[Leonidas]

I have Laiki and being in the US I use their on line banking.
The problems I had was not having enough security on my pc.
Once I allowed Laikis 128 bit security I had no problems accesing the on line.
Mind you I don t do much with it because I set my payments automatically for utilities and such

[bengun]

thanks everyone,i think i will open a local bank account when i get there and transfer it to my uk account that way,complicated stuff...

[coredump]

I agree that Hellenic Bank is the best in electronic banking here (I used BoC, Laiki and Hellenic). Though it's far from perfect too.
BTW Laiki Bank completely remade their online banking last year or earlier. But I did not use it for about two years and can't tell if it's better than Hellenic's one now.
BoC's directbanking is a joke but useable. (ridiculously they got this award: http://www.bankofcyprus.com/main.asp?id=4197 . Did they give it to them by themselves? )