Hello,Please can someone explain to me (simply) the benefits,if any of opening a sterling account, my wife and i hope to retire to Spain next year and at the moment bank with La Caixa, any help will be very gratefull. thank you. allgram.

I believe part of it is a personal preference to keep some money in sterling - perhaps you might have UK expenses or want to give the family money even if you are living in Spain. To date the interest rate has been higher on sterling but now that is not so much the case. Perhaps you dont want to change all of your sterling to euros at the current rate another reason for keeping some in sterling. I suggest you retain your UK accounts by the way. The reasons are common sense in the main and not some complicated financial issue.