Receiving regular foreign transfers

Pilgrim1311

I've just started contracting for a Japanese company and want to know what is the best way to avoid the charges associated with receiving payments to my UK account (GBP7 on any foreign transaction into a Lloyds a/c, whether it's in Yen or Sterling). Can I open a Yen account in the UK and transfer out at a time/exchange rate convenient to me, or will that still attract transaction charges?

Hope someone can help!

dzug1

£7 is at the cheaper end of the spectrum - particularly if combined with a reasonable exchange rate.

Taking money out of a yen account in the UK and converting it to ££ will incur charges of some sort.

Olipro

Pilgrim1311 wrote: »

I've just started contracting for a Japanese company and want to know what is the best way to avoid the charges associated with receiving payments to my UK account (GBP7 on any foreign transaction into a Lloyds a/c, whether it's in Yen or Sterling). Can I open a Yen account in the UK and transfer out at a time/exchange rate convenient to me, or will that still attract transaction charges?

Hope someone can help!

your cheapest option is to open an account with Nationwide, they process incoming SWIFT transfers free of charge and give the interbank rate on the exchange.

mrs_deadline

Must have improved lately then, Olipro, because last time I wanted to send euros to my Flex account it bounced the transfer. Could have been a couple of years ago, however.

Olipro

mrs_deadline wrote: »

Must have improved lately then, Olipro, because last time I wanted to send euros to my Flex account it bounced the transfer. Could have been a couple of years ago, however.

always been fine for me, so long as you give the correct info.

(and if the sending bank are particularly stupid, pre-warn them that yes, the two differing BIC codes are correct)

System

mrs_deadline wrote: »

Must have improved lately then, Olipro, because last time I wanted to send euros to my Flex account it bounced the transfer. Could have been a couple of years ago, however.

There were indeed problems in 2008. HSBC resolved them by requiring SWIFT transfers to Nationwide accounts to include a Nationwide BIC NAIAGB21 as well as the HSBC (formerly Midland Bank) code MIDLGB22. Nationwide's current (annoyingly complicated) instructions are at:
http://www.nationwide.co.uk/search/DisplayArticle.aspx?article=1572

ERICS_MUM

YoungNick wrote: »

There were indeed problems in 2008. HSBC resolved them by requiring SWIFT transfers to Nationwide accounts to include a Nationwide BIC NAIAGB21 as well as the HSBC (formerly Midland Bank) code MIDLGB22. Nationwide's current (annoyingly complicated) instructions are at:
http://www.nationwide.co.uk/search/DisplayArticle.aspx?article=1572

This is an odd payment-routing processing. Looks like NW are using HSBC London as their clearing agent for foreign currency payments as well as the usual sterling payments. Looks like NW can't process their own inward SWIFT msgs.

System

ERICS_MUM wrote: »

This is an odd payment-routing processing. Looks like NW are using HSBC London as their clearing agent for foreign currency payments as well as the usual sterling payments. Looks like NW can't process their own inward SWIFT msgs.

Yes. It's not unusual for a banking institution to use another bank as an intermediary for SWIFT payments. Roughly speaking, Bank A can only send a SWIFT payment direct to Bank B if Banks A and B have accounts with each other in their respective currencies. And every bank in Venezuela can't have accounts with every bank in Norway.

This is all because SWIFT is much what Italian banks invented to move money from Florence to Siena in about 1300, except that they now use electronic messages instead of people on mules. Which is why SWIFT is expensive, and not swift.