Let’s start by using banks less, (helpful banking)

First, what do I know? well a couple of examples.

I was an accredited financial advisor in the 1980, during the period of the 1987 stock market crash and the begining of the Financial services authority. I have obtained a refund from my bank, not for payment protection insurance, but for the monthly fee, for an account with extras such as car breakdown cover, which I didn’t want, need, or ask for.

I was in Geneva last week, and while I was there, I changed some out of date swiss banknotes into current notes at the Bank of the Canton. This was my first experience of a Swiss bank, and I found them efficient and helpful. That is to say they took the old notes, gave me new ones, and sent the old ones off in a cannister in a vacuum tube.

Two months ago I changed some Jersey banknotes in an English bank, around the same value as in Switzerland, about £200’s worth.

They were polite and in the end helpful. That is to say they asked for my passport, and several ID questions, and did I have an account with them, because they had to pay the money into the account. As I already had more than 200 pounds in my account, they kindly let me draw it out again.