So just to confirm that is only Lloyds that have fee free transfers to UK (Via the Isle of Man) or do any other bank have no transfer fees ?

HSBC gives 2 free transfers to any account per month.

Twin Aisle not strictly true. I am an HSBC Premier customer in the UK. When i opened my account in Dubai with HSBC a recommendation was sent from my premier Account Manager in the UK and i got a Premier Account over here straight away. No problems at all. The great advantage with the Premier Account is Global Banking. It means you can go online to do your banking, and both your UK account and UAE account will appear side by side. You can transfer as little, or as much as you want between the accounts. It costs you nothing for all transactions, and it happens immediately.
HSBC have been nothing but helpful, and the product is perfect for an ex-pat.
Works for me anyhow

Thanks, Avrodamo - this place is nothing if not inconsistent....

I was told by HSBC Jebel Ali that they would read anything sent to them by my UK Premier Manager, but this could only be requested by me, not by them. Also, they would not be able to access any information of a personal or account related nature, unless the UK wanted to share it (my UK manager said they would really rather not!)

It sounds like what you are getting is exactly what I get between my UK and Singapore accounts - but I was told that this was impossible for my UAE account, by both the UK end and the UAE end. Hey ho. Account opening was easy, they wanted my money - but I gave up when my employer refused to pay me into HSBC.... So I went to ENBD, who are ok. Ish. On a good day :)

TA

Whats the best way to bring a big amount of money into Dubai as a new joiner? I came down to the conclusion to just bring a cashiers check from a US bank. Any idea how long it usually takes?