Anyone have experience of HSBC for inbound FX?

ratechaser

My need - move about 40k USD into the UK - been looking at brokers (obviously), but because of the mechanics of the transfer, I really need a UK account in my name to receive funds into, and they don't seem to offer that (only a generic 'client money' account).

Talking to HSBC, their rate doesn't seem to be much worse than the brokers, but they are at pains to point out that it's only indicative (and initially they quoted the live spot rate at me... wouldn't that be nice!).

Anyone else had any experience of this, and was the rate ok?

I can apparently also get a better deal if I open a USD account with them, receive the funds in locally and then effectively do an 'internal' transfer and conversion between my USD and GBP accounts. Not sure if anyone here has used that as well?

thanks
RC

EdSwippet

ratechaser wrote: »

My need - move about 40k USD into the UK - been looking at brokers (obviously), but because of the mechanics of the transfer, ...

Medallion signature guarantee issues with US bank, perhaps? I have encountered this in the past.

My way around it was to open a USD account that is outside the US but in my own name, and wire the USD to that. From there it was then fairly straightforward to wire it onwards to a specialist forex broker, and for them to wire the equivalent in GBP into my UK current account. In practice my non-US USD and UK GBP accounts were with different banks, but I don't see why this wouldn't work if both were the same (HSBC, in this case).

If exchanging a decent amount you could try negotiating for a better rate with the bank. My experience with bank forex, though, is that it's generally best avoided. You might get a fair rate from a bank, with persistence, but unless you're not paying attention you always get a fair rate from a specialist forex broker (some, of course, "fairer" than others).

For what it's worth, you'll do a lot better today on your USD forex than I did on mine...

ratechaser

Thanks. Might well be medallion related, not too familiar with that control but it's certainly mentioned. In any case, it seems to rule out paying proceeds into a generic broker client money account.

In any case, I think a simple USD account is probably the best bet. As an HSBC customer I will probably go with their currency account unless anyone knows of a better option out there?

Just hope it doesn't take as long to open as my original account did!