Community contribution: Global Survey of Expats 28/02/2008 00:00

12 reactions to this article

Mparkinson posted: 03-03-2008 | 6:57 PM

Maybe instead of surveying expats HSBC could look a little harder to find the five figured euro transfer I made to them on 1 Feb 2008 and am still waiting to have credited in my HSBC UK account

P. McGregor posted: 07-03-2008 | 11:20 AM

HSBC calls itself the "local bank". That may be, but it can be painfully slow. It took me nearly one full hour recently (mainly by being mis-directed, then having to wait for staff who know what to do in such cases!) to order £150-worth of Malaysian Ringgits at their new local flagship branch, and when I went in to collect them two days later, I was waiting nearly half an hour. I haven't got that sort of time to waste when preparing for an important business trip. And I'm one of their Premier customers-God help the rest!

S M Paris posted: 07-03-2008 | 1:05 PM

Ì agree with the above. It takes 10 days to transfer money from HSBC France to HSBC UK- what happens to electronic transfers. I am sure they use the money on t he markets to make extra cash!. Also I had the same problem trying to get Swiss France, it might as well have been money for Mars.

wesley-nl posted: 10-03-2008 | 10:53 AM

You'd think in todays times, sending money would be as easy/quick as sending email. The banks seem to be deliberately falling behind to make a quick extra buck.

Nick posted: 12-03-2008 | 5:29 PM

I agree with SM Paris money transfers take an age
The staff although individually very nice are always changing and they do NOT have a bilingual service as stated in the advertising.

Expat Latvia posted: 12-03-2008 | 6:38 PM

Why is it that comments are always so much off-topic? This is an announcement of an Expat survey, that happens to be funded by a bank. I totally agree with the comments on the seemingly fraudulant delays in money transfers - so I took the survey, and ADDED my comments to that effect where it says 'add comments'. It surves no real purpose to whine on a comment blog... notify the people that need to hear! I would rather read comments hear on what the real purpose of the survery is...

Blake Dobrowolski posted: 15-03-2008 | 8:12 AM

Most bank transfers of funds are not only by country conventions and protocols, but also by United Nations (UN) conventions on Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). The negotiations for these "rules" have been going on for some time. Whether they are now complete, I am not sure, but they are intended to address some of the issues addressed in the comments, above. The UN conventions (if that is, indeed, the correct noun to describe the rules could be referred to settle some of the issues, above. If anyone has more knowledge of this aspect, I invite your expertise. Blake Dobrowolski

Jim Volp posted: 21-03-2008 | 3:50 PM

Let me respond to Expat Latvia about what the real purpose of the survey is,

I am rather flabbergasted by the low target of responses this survey aims for!

"an ambitious project to conduct the largest ever survey of expats." sounds very stunning....

and then they say: "The project aims to give more than 2000 expats across four continents".....

a) I challenge that no other survey has ever collected more than 2000 expat responses

b) With the internet nowadays it is fairly easy to distribute the announcement of such a survey massively (HSBC should thank Expatica, and of course will do so financially. I wonder how much Expatica charged them.)

To compare:

I myself am preparing a survey to be distributed globally to ask what (young) people feel about the US shooting down their spy-satellite and how that is perceived to contribute to an arms race in space.

Important to mention: I am not a professional, I am just a volunteer with ZERO budget!

For starters I collected 25.000 email addresses of schools globally which was half an afternoons work btw.

If I get 2000 responses in the end, I do not think it will allow me to do enough statistics to make it really useful. We are aiming for an order of magnitude higher.

So if I were a big bank with big bucks to toss into a survey that helps shape my business directly and at the same time buys me attention amongst one of my prime target groups, globally..... 2000 responses? Ha! Or I would have been a bit more modest calling it the biggest thing ever.

On the other hand, making the survey appealing by portraying it in such a way they did will undoubtedly increase the response rate, so I can imagine their choice after all.

HBSC has in my view employed good (and cheap compared to other forms) internet marketing methods to support their expat business operations.

Like many marketing methods, they are not entirely truthful. So coming back to my point, I just doubt it is the truth to say: "largest ever survey of expats".

kind regards,

Jim Volp

Fran Dunham posted: 02-04-2008 | 7:10 PM

Hello,
I agree with Jim V. Also the survey could ask about circumstances that affect daily lives that don't just involve work related or financial issues.

I live in Europe and it's about time that people in Europe answer to what their govenrments do or have done that contribute to the worlds woes instead of just pointing the finger at America.

Do a poll with serious questions that allow people to look a little deeper into themselves rather than judge a continent or country by comparrison. Every country has it's positives and negatives. Europe while it is advanced in many technological ways and financially, lags far behind in true humanity.

Thoughtfully,
F.D.

David Mills posted: 02-04-2008 | 7:33 PM

Probably the worst bank in the world.
Malaysian staff with little or no concept of banking or the company.
Rude indiferent managers who answer everything with 'mantras' of the banking 'party' quotations.
Charge 20 pounds a month for doing the square root of fizz all.
It goes on and on.
If and when they every get good at banking, that will be the time to start on other peripheral things.
They are in short, a complete bunch of 'b'ankers!
David Mills
Altea,
Spain

F. D. posted: 03-04-2008 | 9:19 AM

David,
I see you haven't banked at ABM Amro (lol). I can't even do a money transfer because it seems no one at the banks knows how!

absolutmarie posted: 04-04-2008 | 12:46 PM

thank God I don't bank with HSBC! (although I had seriously considered it) I transfer money every month from Germany to the US and it takes max 3 days to get there... (Commerzbank's comdirect to Wells Fargo)