British expats in Portugal face losing UK bank accounts

British citizens living in Portugal could lose access to their bank accounts in the event of a no-deal Brexit the UK government has warned.

The Brexit secretary Dominic Raab insisted that he is still “confident that a good deal is in our sights” as he launched 24 “technical notices” in Westminster on Thursday telling businesses and the public how to prepare if a no deal is reached.

Barclays Bank PLC has already withdrawn the use of its Barclaycard visa credit card for UK citizens living in Portugal who do not have a registered address in the United Kingdom.

With UK banks likely to lose access to EU payment systems, customers, including businesses using these providers  to process euro payments could face increased costs and slower processing times for euro transactions.

The Government has also warned that the cost of card payments between the UK and EU will likely increase.

“Customers of UK banks living in the EU (and therefore Portugal) “may lose the ability to access lending and deposit services and insurance contracts.”

“Asked directly about the risks to British citizens living abroad, Dominic Raab said he hoped cooler heads would prevail” and allow “practical cooperation” over issues such as access to pensions.

In other words, it was hardly in the interests of the Portuguese government to do harm to British pensioners living in the Algarve.