Anyone any advice re large foreign exchange companies?

paddyrg

Shortly we have to pay a load of people and companies in GBP but we are being paid in USD - we are talking £1-2M of exchange needed, so we're clearly not going to do it at the airport ;-)

Has anyone had any experience and recommendations of successful high-value exchange transactions who can give me any pointers? If we pay 0.1% over the odds, that's maybe £20k, and we can't afford a £20k error! Likewise we don't want to pay a fortune in spread or fees. Any tips?

Horace

Paddy, have you tried speaking to your bank? From what I remember from my time at the Uni when I dealt with various Profs - they used the IBAN system especially when it came to conference expenses etc that they were paid around the world. Not sure if it is the same thing but it might be worth a shot - I recall that their expenses would often be paid in USD AusD, etc yet via the IBAN system it converted into GBP.

Also have a look at American Express Travel - I know they have a foreign currency exchange but cannot remember how much they charge.

paddyrg

Hi Horace - yes, we could make the transfers via IBAN/BACS etc - it's the actual exchange rates that I'm anxious about. The banks do not offer the best exchange rates, so we could easily save £40k+ by picking the right exchange company!

InsideInsurance

When you get into the $1m+ range you are going to be getting different rates at the banks than you see published on the door.

Have never personally need to hit that sort of level so cannot recommend any particular organisation

paddyrg

Kind thanks to everyone who PM'd me suggesting I use their services - with £2M or so at stake, I am unable to engage or contract a new joiner, and was meaning more to get examples of any long-standing contributors who had done this regularly and successfully. Your kind offers are appreciated, but if you see things from my side, I'm sure you understand why I cannot accept your offers!

All the best,

Savvy_Sue

May I refer those who PMed paddy to this part of The Rules.

fguk

Paddy

Is it useless of me to say we used HiFX for a few overseas payments? They were not high value as compared to yours, but the service was good, and the rates were good so far as we could tell.

I think people (as proved by your PM`s) would be falling over themselves to help you with your transactions. I am suprised your bank manager hasn't risen from his/her secret hiding place to get your business!

paddyrg

Thanks for the suggestion, I will look at HiFX! The budget is pretty hefty, this is just the GBP part, we're paying most people in USD :-!