HSBC Global Money Account launched

Shanwick

I needed to move 10k GBP to a US USD today with reasonable convenience.

GMA offered $12530

Instead I FP'd the 10k GBP to Wise and got 12559 deposited in the US account.

GMA is a decent product but I don't always find it to be better than Wise.

Marchitiello

Shanwick said:

I needed to move 10k GBP to a US USD today with reasonable convenience.

GMA offered $12530

Instead I FP'd the 10k GBP to Wise and got 12559 deposited in the US account.

GMA is a decent product but I don't always find it to be better than Wise.

I think it is currency dependent and GMA looks to be quite strong with EURO on a consistent basis and less with USD. 

However, I have a couple of question:

the GMA’s offer was it on the last screen when you had to approve it to get exactly that rate or was it on the previous screen when it is still just indicative?  And was within seconds of doing a wise comparison ? (I normally would have both apps and or the app on the phone and wise online on the laptop opened at the same time).

with Wise: Did you send and paid only £10k GBP inclusive of all fees? Or you sent £10k net of fees ?

thanks for clarifying 

Shanwick

The total cost was 10K GBP and the total deposit in USD was 12559. The rates were being checked at the same time and over several minutes GMA never offered anything to beat Wise. I have noticed that GMA is often more competitive than Wise for lower amounts due to the different charging models but for amounts over (say) 1000 GBP I always check elsewhere.

Marchitiello

I interesting, I have just done an attempt at 1000 GBP
in Euro, both apps opened same time, and GMA was better (really marginally so, £0.17, but nevertheless better).

I screenshot both screen so you can also check the time (you need to take my word that was literally within 5 seconds of each other) 

Marchitiello

To add to the above, the rates difference means Wise would be better by £0.005681, so over £10,000 it would be £56.81 however the Wise fee would be £44.07, so effectively only £12.74 better, assuming you do not get a better rate over £10,000 with GMA vs the rate displayed for £1000. 

In your example you are showing a difference of $29 net, whilst in mine it would be only $16, so I suspect you did not get to the final offer screen of GMA that just need confirmation or there is something else at play.

PS I use wise regularly for Business Transactions (many currencies) but GMA/Fineco for personal transfers, mostly related to Euro

Shanwick

I just did similar parallel tests of 1000 GBP and 10000 GBP

10000 GBP - 12537.95 USD on GMA & 12562.39 USD on Wise - Wise was better
1000 GBP - 1256.44 USD on GMA and 1255.95 on Wise - GMA was better

P.S. - The only reason I even used Wise on that earlier occasion was convenience and speed - I wanted it in the target account by end of day with no wire fee involved - both the GMA and Wise paths could achieve that with differing details. I've been doing this a while myself.

Note - By "GMA" above I'm referring to HSBC UK GMA. The rates on HSBC Expat GMA are not nearly as good as HSBC UK GMA nor are those offered at HSBC USA's GMA.

Shanwick

While on a less than interesting conference call I tried testing 10000 GBP > USD a few times and Wise was consistently around 25 USD better than HSBC UK GMA when compared at the same time and using the final offered USD amount each time. It doesn't really surprise me. I have generally found that HSBC UK GMA will beat Wise at around the 1000 GBP mark but not at 10000 GBP. Of course that could change anytime so I usually check unless it is a very small transfer.

Marchitiello

Shanwick said:

While on a less than interesting conference call I tried testing 10000 GBP > USD a few times and Wise was consistently around 25 USD better than HSBC UK GMA when compared at the same time and using the final offered USD amount each time. It doesn't really surprise me. I have generally found that HSBC UK GMA will beat Wise at around the 1000 GBP mark but not at 10000 GBP. Of course that could change anytime so I usually check unless it is a very small transfer.

If it happens that you are on a similar less interesting call, would you mind taking screen shots of both app screens when you do a similar test? By my example there would be a theoretical difference of £12.74 over $10,000. Both app will not have any personal information in those screens as per my example above.

ADNOC_Geodesist

Shanwick said:

While on a less than interesting conference call I tried testing 10000 GBP > USD a few times and Wise was consistently around 25 USD better than HSBC UK GMA when compared at the same time and using the final offered USD amount each time. It doesn't really surprise me. I have generally found that HSBC UK GMA will beat Wise at around the 1000 GBP mark but not at 10000 GBP. Of course that could change anytime so I usually check unless it is a very small transfer.

I've also noticed the same thing - GMA gives you a worse exchange rate (for all currencies?) when exchanging anything above ~ £1000. The 2 screenshots below were taken around 5-10 sec apart, mid-market rate from GBP to AED is 4.63. As I've said in a different thread, GMA is not very competitive, there are cheaper options available especially for regular money transfers and/or large amounts. 

Shanwick

The same is currently being seen on USD. I flipped back and forth using both 1000 GBP and 10000 GBP and the 1000 GBP tries were being offered in the 1.246 or 1.247 range but the 10000 GBP tries were being offered in the 1.243 or 1.244 range. Too many attempts to do screen shots but didn't seem to be related to the actual spot rates moving in synch with my tries.