UK Banks & outgoing transfers to Eurozone

borderfox_2

All the banks list transfer fees of £10-20 for transferring GB£ to a GB£ account in a Eurozone country. When it comes to small transfer amounts, this is very frustrating - as it is simply uneconomic.

Within the Eurozone, transfers can be made via SEPA/IBAN for a few cents!!

Someone is trying to tell me that as part of the EU, British banks must provide IBAN services. However from what he tells me, unless the customer actually asks for it, they don't offer it by default. They prefer to let the customer use more expensive means.

I've tried this with some of the highstreet banks - and i'm coming up against a brick wall. Does anyone have any knowledge of this? Any reference to their legal obligations on this (if there is such a thing)?

Thanks in advance for any info anyone can provide.

97trophy

open an account with fx broker XE.com

no need to use the banks....

dave1470

I believe you are referring to EU regulation number 924/2009.

It states "For the proper functioning of the internal market and in order to facilitate cross-border trade within the Community it is essential that the charges for cross-border payments in euro are the same as for corresponding payments within a Member State. That principle of equality of charges is established by Regulation (EC) No 2560/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 2001 on cross-border payments in euro [4], which applies to cross-border payments in euro and in Swedish kronor up to EUR 50000, or equivalent."

Basically it means, whatever a UK bank charges for a domestic payment in euros, they must charge the same for an international payment.

rebeccaK_3

All IBAN stands for is International Banking Account Number it is not a service, the reason banks charge 10-20 for a gbp to gbp payment is because they are not making any money on any kind of exchange rate so they have to make money somewhere, I know it seems a lot but thats what most banks charge, i doubt you will find anywhere that will do it much cheaper

System

rebeccaK wrote: »

All IBAN stands for is International Banking Account Number it is not a service, the reason banks charge 10-20 for a gbp to gbp payment is because they are not making any money on any kind of exchange rate so they have to make money somewhere, I know it seems a lot but thats what most banks charge, i doubt you will find anywhere that will do it much cheaper

Not quite. The reasons are that
(a) UK banks abolished BACS euro transfers, thus removing the domestic benchmark that would have compelled them to charge little or nothing for transfers of euro to other EU countries; and
(b) Blair-Brown didn't dare, and Cameron-Osborn don't dare, annoy UK banks by using article 14 of EC 924/2009 to force UK banks to make cheap transfers of GBP to other EU countries.
http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/payments/crossborder/index_en.htm#regulation
Transfers of euro within the SEPA (EU plus Switzerland and a couple of others) are cheap because EC 924/2009 forced EU banks to set up automated pan-European clearing houses, and SEPA Credit Transfers proceed 'straight through' untouched by human hand. (Like 'Faster Payments' within the UK, which, in principle, could be extended to payments denominated in euro.)

borderfox_2

YoungNick wrote: »

Not quite. The reasons are that
(a) UK banks abolished BACS euro transfers, thus removing the domestic benchmark that would have compelled them to charge little or nothing for transfers of euro to other EU countries

I just thought I would check back and see if ( - in the hope that - ) anyone had heard any possible movement or political will to change this situation?

NFH

borderfox wrote: »

I just thought I would check back and see if ( - in the hope that - ) anyone had heard any possible movement or political will to change this situation?

No, it will remain Rip-Off Britain here. Open a proper euro account with DKB or an Irish bank.