What's this I hear about Lloyds bank.

Just read this article in the New York Times titled, "As the Poles Get Richer, Fewer Seek British Jobs"

Towards the end of the article the writer says this:  "Lloyds bank not only began translating brochures into Polish and hiring Polish-speaking staff members, but stopped asking for proof of address to open an account after realizing that most Polish immigrants cannot provide it because they are in temporary quarters or informal sublets."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/19/business/worldbusiness/19migration.html?pagewanted=2

Is there any truth behind this?

Just curious,  Tyler

I am recruiting for a major mobile phone provider at the moment and we are dealing with a role for Polish Speaking Customer Service Advisor. And we have gotten a good number of applications. So it is true. People are opening bank accounts but are oblivious to things like hidden charges etc...so they need documents in Polish.

I have no comment on whether its good or bad or what, but its surely happening.

Lots of businesses are doing this now and quite a few regional newspapers are putting out Polish language editions. I don't know about dropping the requirement for proof of address though. Maybe that's for a particular kind of account? can't see them getting a current account.  Some banks also offer special accounts for Muslims, as they have particular rules about money lending.

I don't think that makes any sense at all - you HAVE to have proof of address, it's required by the Financial Services Authority.  I think that's incorrect reporting.

That may be true. When we moved here from the U.S. one of the reasons we choose Lloyds was because they made it easy for us to sign up, and the reason it was so easy was due to knew policies to attract recent Polish immigrants (which of course applied to anyone, not just the Polish).

We just used my husband's work address to set up the account because we didn't have a permanent address yet. And to prove his work address we had a letter from his employer offering the job, I think. So I guess they did need proof of address, but that was a lesser proof of address than anyone would accept for anything else (like even going to an NHS doc).

It makes sense for the banks to find ways to attract all the Polish workers coming in, that's business they could miss out on.