Suggestions for non-UK bank account usable in UK

[1nvest]

The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA, Sections 335 to 336D under Part 7) prohibit the financial institution from carrying out a transaction until they have sought ‘Appropriate Consent’ from authorities. To do so without the appropriate consent the financial institution could be found guilty of a money laundering offence if it moves the ‘criminal property’ without requesting what is known as a Defence Against Money Laundering first. Financial institutions are also expected avoid alerting those being investigated.

Increasingly the bar of what banks interpret as being 'suspicious' is lowering, as 'suspicious' isn't defined in the Act and as such leaves financial institutes at risk of being found guilty as/when 'moving criminal property' may have occurred. Down to even small amounts, as money laundering for instance might involve lots of small transactions. Which leaves innocents more inclined to have their bank refusing to clear payments and being referred to the 'fraud team' and the plethora of questioning that can involve, and where their account may be frozen until either cleared or a set period of time having passed following reporting without a response having been received.

Has the pendulum for guilty until proven innocent, street camera's, tracking and financial activity monitoring .. swung just that too far?

What are the alternative options? If UK banks are increasingly becoming more constrained, where even small transactions are being blocked, can other countries banks/accounts that permit their debit cards to be used in the UK perhaps be a alternative option? Or is the push towards treating everyone like criminals - that is inclined to make individuals in return act more criminally, the new 'norm'. Street camera's, tracking, financial activities tracking ... and the entire UK has transitioned to being a Open Prison where everyone is assumed to be automatically guilty, unless and until proven otherwise.

[1nvest]

Know very little about bitcoin, but wondering if perhaps it could serve as a alternative to Pounds/card payments. Cash earns nothing, so simply shorting bitcoins to the number you hold negates its price volatility. If the Pound/UK banking system is to transition to being non-fungible then a fungible alternative is certain to rise to favour.

I'd imagine that a 'app' for that would be relatively simple. Spend 0.1 bitcoin and the app reduces your short bitcoin by 0.1 bitcoin worth of exposure. Receive 1 bitcoin and the app adds a further 1 bit of short bitcoin exposure.

[BullDog]

I know nothing about crypto currency. For a good reliable multi currency bank I recommend Wise. I successfully used them for both business and personal accounts. I suggest avoiding Revolut like the plague. I won't go into details beyond saying it's impossible to contact a human there when things go wrong. Wise doesn't suffer that problem in my experience.

[stevensfo]

I know nothing about crypto currency. For a good reliable multi currency bank I recommend Wise. I successfully used them for both business and personal accounts. I suggest avoiding Revolut like the plague. I won't go into details beyond saying it's impossible to contact a human there when things go wrong. Wise doesn't suffer that problem in my experience.

I was once locked out of my Revolut account after trying to transfer a small sum to our son at uni.

The online communications that we had were right out of Mr Bean! Not only did the person change, but their English was impossible to decipher.

I finally solved the problem by resending all documents that I'd already sent and threatening to report them to the Lithuanian police, the FCA, Interpol...etc. I got a huge apology and a promise that it would not happen again.

We will see!

Steve