In message , at 09:49:41 on Sun, 28
May 2006, Graeme Wall remarked:
I had no problem getting Euro and dollar accounts for a limited
company, something which you can set up very cheaply in the UK. No
obligation to be registered for VAT, but of course the company name
has to be registered.

As I'm not operating as a sole trader, I can't say what applies to one
(but can ask).

AFAIK (and I haven't checked for years) you can get a personal account
'trading as...'

Yes. But my own efforts to open a "Business" foreign currency account
from that starting point have been met with polite refusal. The
remaining, personal, foreign currency accounts seem to be aimed at
people with lots of cash, who want to partake in various "offshore"
activities (far be it from me to suggest tax avoidance) or to buy/sell
property overseas; and who want to make a very few, very large,
transactions.

There's nothing I can find that seems suitable for someone wanting to do
a few hundred/thousand pounds worth of "normal" business each month,
with customers or suppliers who just happens to be overseas (rather than
equally far away in, say, Scotland...)

ObRail: for example, buying an E* ticket in Brussels, in Euro, with a
Euro debit card; then getting the EU Commission to refund the "expenses"
in Euros. [Saves two lots of currency conversion charges].
--
Roland Perry