What is the best way to transfer money to foreign currency?

inferno

inferno

inferno

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Joined
23 May 2004
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2,184
Hi guys,

I'm wondering what is the best way to transfer money from one account to another from GBP to foreign currencies, specifically AED. I don't mean like your average holiday transfer but in the tens of thousands?

The banks offer terrible rates but I'm not sure what companies do it in the UK competitively or if there are any limits in the amount!

Has anyone bought a house abroad and transferred their savings?

Many thanks!
 
If you're talking those sorts of amounts I'd seek some proper financial advice to make sure you don't fall foul of some sort of tax/money laundering/etc. law especially when dealing with somewhere like the UAE which may have wildly different views on it to us.
 
Do you need to ? Cant you make a payment from your UK to the UAE bank for such a purchase. Then you only get screwed for the international banking fees on the actual amount. Not the whole.
 
www.ukforex.co.uk usually has better rates than transferwise so check both.

Edit: also with large sums it's usually worth ringing up as they can provide better rates over the phone than online (not quite sure why...)
 
Efour said:
Do you need to ? Cant you make a payment from your UK to the UAE bank for such a purchase. Then you only get screwed for the international banking fees on the actual amount. Not the whole.
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if he's buying a house in the UAE they'll want payment in AED not GBP, as they don't use the same currency - thus he's asking about exchanging currency

he'll need to check with a variety of FX brokers who deal with small companies and individuals, how transparent they are I'm not sure, hopefully he can phone around and see if they can just tell him how many basis points they'll add to the prevailing sport rate but I'm not sure whether they'd do that or not.

Certainly if you're a treasurer in some company dealing directly with a large commercial bank then you'll simply have a set level of sales margin for your FX deals which will vary depending on how much business you're putting their way and simply whether you're clueless/they can get away with just ripping you off.
 
I know the question wasn't aimed at me but when I transferred £15k last year (to CAD) I think the difference between rate i got and spot rate worked out at about £50 or something like that. I wondered at the time how they made their money but I assume it's all about the number of transfers and margins on all. Obviously the rate changes the more money you transfer.
 
used hifx myself. Thats for business but the rates are good and no fees,

not sure on sending it personally though
 
Regy53 said:
used hifx myself. Thats for business but the rates are good and no fees,
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would be a bit rich to charge fees when they're already adding some margin to the rate

never understood how the travel money places used to think it was justified
 
There's not cost for transfer wise as there is no fx exchange fees. They just swap people's money around and charge a small fee on top. (John has £ and wants AED, Abdul has AED and wants £)

Banks actually perform a fx exchange through swift.
 
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Not quite sure that's how they work. As far as I know they essentially have bank accounts* in each country they deal in. You agree a rate, that will be 0.0* or 0.00* off the interbank rate/rate they get and then deposit your currency into their bank account in your country. They then authorise a transaction from their* bank account in the country you want it transferred to and transfer your new currency into your bank account there.

I assume they work on the hope that people want about as much transferred one way as the other, if not they pick up more cash in the local currency. They just skim a small percentage off the exchange rate as their fee/profit.

Perhaps I'm wrong, but that's how I understand they work.

*Either owned or associated with
 
Lloyds TSB recently offered me 1.26 euros to my pound to change £27k.

How do they get away with it? Hifx and otheres at the time were 1.31 and exchange rate was 1.31.8 on the day
 
ScoTTyBEEE said:
Banks actually perform a fx exchange through swift.
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no they don't - SWIFT is just a messaging system, they'll often confirm the deal via SWIFT after it has taken place(MT300 for FX Spot or Forward deals) and send/receive payment messages(MT202) but it has nothing to do with the actual dealing nor does it facilitate the clearing/settlement either (that is just done via their corresponding Nostro accounts).
 
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