With regards to the U.K. resident bit, the term can be a bit vague as it's possible to live and work in the UK for quite a number of years without legally being a UK resident. My Aussie friend has been married to one of my best mates for 12yrs, but has only has a resident permit for the last 5yrs.
Looks like the consensus is Nat West. I have an RBS account that they allowed me to continue to operate from Switzerland.
UK residence is based on the no of days at midnight you are in the UK & if you have connections in the UK.
The law is very clear if you in the UK 186 days you are UK resident regardless of anything else. I can spend 90 days or less in the UK as my wife has a home in the UK & is still UK resident. If I stay for 91-120 days I would be limited to 45 days next year.
More details can be found here.
This thread has been ongoing and the situation may have changed. My recent attempt to open a simple current account failed at several banks, including NatWest.
It's virtually impossible now.
HSBC in Jersey will open premier accounts after about 3 months of due diligence, however it's not a UK account & transfers to the UK are expensive telegraphic transfers, not free BACS payments.
The NatWest account I mentioned was opened there by my spouse when resident there and later moved to CH. Many years later I was added to the account, although we both resided in CH then, as a joint holder.
That situation has not changed - We still have the account, ATM cards, get quarterly statements. But they will NOT communicate with us by phone or email as our registered address is outside the UK. We can call them but they will NOT call us.
The thread is about opening a UK bank account, whilst resident here in CH, hence my experience. You are continuing to use an existing UK account.
Having been a NatWest customer for for over 40 years, half of that time outside the UK. They do call me on a UK no (3 mobile PAYG) even through I have a foreign address, before I only got a letter 10 days after they blocked my cards.
Like most posters I've been able to continue using accounts that already existed pre-move to CH. annoyingly it's not been possible to alter things like credit card conditions, so I'm stuck with a Lloyds credit card that charges 27%....
However, I have been able to open a new current account with the Halifax, and obtain another credit card from them; they did ask that I use a UK address for the initial paperwork, then I just informed them in writing of my 'change of address' a few weeks later.
OH has also been able to open a new saving account with Lloyds, using a swiss postal address, but that might have been accepted as we're established clients.
STOP PRESS
From Monday this should be possible, it's a legal requirement for Banks not to refuse a basic account for EU residents.
But Switzerland isn't in the EU.
Is Switzerland treated like an EU country in this case as it is for other things I wonder?
If you open the link and click on "EU Country" in the first sentence it says 'in this case the 28 EU Member States'
This is not automatically applicable to Switzerland. It may be, in the future, if Switzerland decides to amend it's domestic regulation to apply here as well. Can't see the banking lobby wanting this obligation on them.