General Information » Money » Banks

Every area of London has at least one of the big high-street banks; the names to look out for include Barclays, NatWest, Lloyds TSB, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland. The opening hours for most are Monday to Friday from 09:30 to 16:30, although some major branches are open until 17:00 during the week, as well as on Saturday mornings. Several of these banks have international status, or at least affiliation with equivalent banks abroad, and you can generally exchange travellers’ cheques and currencies for a fairly low commission.

Opening a bank account in the UK is fairly straightforward, and it can be done with a little patience and lots of paperwork. See p.66 for more information.