HSBC bank account holders have been issued an urgent warning over withdrawal limits. The high street bank has been forced to respond after a baffled customer wrote into This is Money to ask: "Why wouldn't HSBC let me withdraw more than £1,000 in cash?"

They wrote: " I wanted to take out £5,000 in cash from my HSBC bank account. HSBC says it has no limit on the amount of cash you can withdraw over the counter. But it seems HSBC Watford does not allow customers to withdraw any amount they request.

"There is a £1,000 limit if you go into the branch with your passport, and you can’t even arrange a larger withdrawal with notice of any kind. Why is this the case when HSBC says it has no limit on the amount of cash you can withdraw?"

Helen Kirrane of This is Money repliesd: "You are right that HSBC does not put a limit on how much cash a customer can withdraw over the counter."

She wrote: "HSBC was one of the banks which said there was, in theory, no limit to how much a customer could withdraw over the counter in one of its branches."

A spokesman from HSBC replied: "There is no maximum limit for a cash withdrawal over a counter in our UK branches.