> I would suggest they probably reached a last-minute deal with VISA rather than blinking of their own accord.

Yeah. I honestly wonder how that worked out. I suspect Amazon account for a not-insubstantial amount of payments so you have to wonder how that standoff was resolved.

> Barclays and (IIRC) HSBC

Interesting. Yes, most of the international accounts have some kind of minimum something, which is annoying. Euro and USD accounts are then possible. Other currencies they want you to hold a lot more money to get them.

I can see why transferwise have a market.