It won't count for much
Retail banking in the UK- i.e. working in a one of the nationwide high street banks [HSBC,LLoyds/RSB, RBS, Halifax. Abbey, NatWest Barclays] or a building society branch: This is not a highly paid job, as so much has been centralised in regional offices. The govn't had to bail out virtually all of them bar Barclays , and they have been cutting down on staff and branches. In most of those branches, the main activity is clearing payment, handle cash, process requests for plastic cards, FX [bank notes], automated banking payments [BACS CHAPs] and simple transactions. Many branches have 'investment advisers' who are licensed to advise and sell a limited range of products such as insurance, money market funds, mortgages, loans, etc. Share trading is now done on line and not via bank branches, and retail banks do not - as a rule- advise on those. I think that your experience from Israel would be of limited value, as processing is done differently, This applies also to selling/advising on investments and mortgages.loans etc. if you want to specialise in investment products and advice, you will have to undergo training and sit some exams. This particular job is now really more of a 'salesperson' type, and you will be expected to sell a certain quota of products to customers. There are some back office work, such as processing claims, settlement and suchlike, again, I do not think that your Israel experience would be of much help. The best career prospect is with merchant international non retail banking, based in the 'City' [incl Canary Wharf]. You can start at the bottom - in the back office, doing things like nostro reconciliation, confirmations, and progress steadily along the ladder. This will take time, and skills, some courses, and, at least to begin with, you will earn very little. If you have book keeping skills or knowledge this would be helpful. But, as you make your progress to more specialised skills, you may end being paid better than anything else in the financial world. Bear in mind that the financial sector shed a lot of jobs, not just of traders and top earners, but also at the very bottom too. It is not the best of time for a novice to look for a job... The first thing you ought to do is to compose a good CV, using the correct terminology to describe what your relevant experience is. Frankly, if you do not use the locally familiar job titles to describe what you do, it will immediately be noticed by whoever reads the CV, and your CV will be discarded immediately. You'd best be advised to start as a temp. Traditionally, banks and insurance companies rely on job agencies to filter through applicants. So please google on the web looking for such agencies- and go for ones that specialise in the banking sector, or the insurance sector. the general agencies- such as Hayes- are no good . Please be sure to mention on your CV that you are a British Citizen, and I assume that your language skills are as good as your Hebrew, very important in case you wish to deal with customers. Be sure to mention a local [London or mobile] telephone number, as most agencies would handle initial screening via the web and telephone. I can assure you from personal experience that if you seek a career in international/merchant banking, what matters is what you have to offer, and not your nationality or your looks or your age. If all of this sounds a bit discouraging, it is not meant to be; I am trying to describe things as they are. This does not mean that you have no chance of success- far from it, but it will be a little bit harder. It will take some time for you to find a job, and your first job would be low pay job, so you will have to support yourself for some time [hence you will need to bring several thousand pounds with you]. Finally you mention qualifications and courses; yes, you will need them if you wish to sell products to the general public. You can get sponsorship from employers- a much preferred option to studying on your initiative. Good luck