I have also found that British banks are notoriously bad at dealing with anything outside of Britain. My French bank sucks in many ways, but all I need to do to transfer money anywhere in Europe is send a fax and forty-eight hours and a few Euros later, the money is there. The Germans are even better - most SWIFT/IBAN transfers are free.
The Belgians are about the same as the French in that respect, although they'll do it over the phone or Internet (with *real* two-factor authentication!) at a vastly reduced charge and faster.
People always talk about how insular the Americans are but the British aren't great in that respect :S
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People always talk about how insular the Americans are but the British aren't great in that respect :S