Best UK bank to receive international transfers

dont_use_vistaprint

Wise is not accepting transfers in AED

ADNOC_Geodesist

OP,

I moved to the UAE last year from UK and can share my experience wrt sending UAE Dirhams to UK as most of my UAE salary is sent to UK each month.

First of all forget Wise - for now at least. Shockingly they are (or were) extremely uncompetitive for AED to GBP transfers. So much so that even most UAE banks worked out cheaper than Wise once Wise added on their eye watering fees for AED transfers. I think the high fees were down to Wise being charged high debit card fees by UAE card issuers. Currently they've suspended AED transfers, I suspect they're looking at cheaper methods for exchanging AED.

I'm using a Revolut Premium account (@£72 pa) to receive AEDs from UAE, I then convert to GBP through the app (but not on weekends!) and send to my uk bank account. Their free offering doesn't allow unlimited exchanges  whereas their Premium account has no such restrictions. Initially I opened a current account with Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and was sending AEDs to my Revolut account from ADCB but it was a bit of a hassle as I had to go into branch every month for such transfers. AFAIK most UAE banks won't allow you to send dirhams abroad through online banking, AED to AED swift transfers can only be done in branch.

One of the UAE residents on britishexpats forum recommended opening a HSBC UAE account as HSBC allow AED to AED international transfers online. I was lucky enough to quailfy for their Premier account in UAE and have been using HSBC to send AEDs to my Revolut account directly. You need to go into the HSBC app (don't use desktop banking!) and choose 'HSBC Global Money Transfer'. Btw if it helps my Revolut account number begins GB95REVOxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Wrt HSBC Global money, you're correct HSBC UAE charge a few % on top of the 'real' exchange rate so I don't bother using HSBC to exchange currencies.

HTH

Marchitiello

dont_use_vistaprint said:

Marchitiello said:

dont_use_vistaprint said:

WastedWords said:

Are you transferring AED? 
If regular large transfers, probably HSBC AED currency account to receive then move to HSBC global money account to convert. 

Even better if coming from an HSBC in UAE

If a one off Wise might be easier. 

I just got refused advice account . They gave me a basic bank account which is no good as I only wanted global money and you need advance account for that. You can’t reapply for advance either if you have another account with them!  

Service at HSBC is pretty awful , the whole onboarding a new account was all over the place & staff cannot answer questions they can only read text from screens which often doesn’t answer the question  , so if you can’t find the answer yourself  online, the answer likely doesn’t exist and they cannot help either.

I could use an elite account but would need to put in 75K annually 

(Assuming you really mean Basic Bank Account and not Current Account) Have you checked you credit file? Do you have some recent UK address history? A basic account is normally initially offered due to poor credit file (could be simply not enough information). You could upgrade to a full account later, including Advance, once you build some history.

as an Advance first and Premier customer later, I have personally experienced great service, both on the phone and in branch

I have Premier now, service in UAE is far better than UK

But I have discovered the globally money adds a 1.99% margin on FX , it’s better than 3% that Barclays Premier charge but still significant.

Revolt is practically fee free  but won’t accept deposits from HSBC UAE, only Barclays, Chase etc 

Are you comparing GMA UK or GMA from another country? In the GMA thread there were reports that that account has been available for while in countries like Australia but it did not have the same favourable rates like the UK. I have just exchanged few post about exchanging GBP/USD, you may want to check that out. Important to also consider that Barclays 3% fee may be on top of their own rates rather then Bank Interchanged rates used as base by others.

ADNOC_Geodesist

@Marchitiello
I suspect it might be different for USD, EUR and other major currencies but both GMA UK and GMA UAE offer fairly poor exchange rates when converting between GBP and AED, especially for large amounts. Mid-market rate from GBP to AED has been hovering around 4.63 today (according to xe.com) yet GMA UK are only offering 4.57 AED to the £, for amounts greater than £1000. Strangely the rate improves to 4.60 when converting amounts less than £1000 into AED.

Marchitiello

ADNOC_Geodesist said:

@Marchitiello
I suspect it might be different for USD, EUR and other major currencies but both GMA UK and GMA UAE offer fairly poor exchange rates when converting between GBP and AED, especially for large amounts. Mid-market rate from GBP to AED has been hovering around 4.63 today (according to xe.com) yet GMA UK are only offering 4.57 AED to the £, for amounts greater than £1000. Strangely the rate improves to 4.60 when converting amounts less than £1000 into AED.

Not sure I follow your early statement that GMA was applying a 1.99 margin as the one you show in the example is just under 1.3%.

also Revolut is not free, you either pay a subscription or are severely limited in scope, they obviously apply their own margins to exchange rates and also charge your for international bank transfer … 

ADNOC_Geodesist

Marchitiello said:

ADNOC_Geodesist said:

@Marchitiello
I suspect it might be different for USD, EUR and other major currencies but both GMA UK and GMA UAE offer fairly poor exchange rates when converting between GBP and AED, especially for large amounts. Mid-market rate from GBP to AED has been hovering around 4.63 today (according to xe.com) yet GMA UK are only offering 4.57 AED to the £, for amounts greater than £1000. Strangely the rate improves to 4.60 when converting amounts less than £1000 into AED.

Not sure I follow your early statement that GMA was applying a 1.99 margin as the one you show in the example is just under 1.3%.

also Revolut is not free, you either pay a subscription or are severely limited in scope, they obviously apply their own margins to exchange rates and also charge your for international bank transfer … 

I never said that Revolut was free. But in my own experience, Revolut easily beats all others for regular incoming forex transfers, even after taking the £72 pa fee into account. I’ve found Revolut’s exchange rates are more or less mid market rates (provided I exchange during the week) , certainly far better than HSBC’s. Yes Revolut now charge for outgoing int’l payments (previously they allowed up to 2 ‘free’ swift transfers each month) but I use Wise on the rare occasion I have to send funds from uk to use. 

Nothing wrong with using GMA if you have to make the occasional one- off transfer but for regular transfers - specifically incoming transfers into GBP - there are far cheaper alternatives available. 

dont_use_vistaprint

ADNOC_Geodesist said:

OP,

I moved to the UAE last year from UK and can share my experience wrt sending UAE Dirhams to UK as most of my UAE salary is sent to UK each month.

First of all forget Wise - for now at least. Shockingly they are (or were) extremely uncompetitive for AED to GBP transfers. So much so that even most UAE banks worked out cheaper than Wise once Wise added on their eye watering fees for AED transfers. I think the high fees were down to Wise being charged high debit card fees by UAE card issuers. Currently they've suspended AED transfers, I suspect they're looking at cheaper methods for exchanging AED.

I'm using a Revolut Premium account (@£72 pa) to receive AEDs from UAE, I then convert to GBP through the app (but not on weekends!) and send to my uk bank account. Their free offering doesn't allow unlimited exchanges  whereas their Premium account has no such restrictions. Initially I opened a current account with Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and was sending AEDs to my Revolut account from ADCB but it was a bit of a hassle as I had to go into branch every month for such transfers. AFAIK most UAE banks won't allow you to send dirhams abroad through online banking, AED to AED swift transfers can only be done in branch.

One of the UAE residents on britishexpats forum recommended opening a HSBC UAE account as HSBC allow AED to AED international transfers online. I was lucky enough to quailfy for their Premier account in UAE and have been using HSBC to send AEDs to my Revolut account directly. You need to go into the HSBC app (don't use desktop banking!) and choose 'HSBC Global Money Transfer'. Btw if it helps my Revolut account number begins GB95REVOxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Wrt HSBC Global money, you're correct HSBC UAE charge a few % on top of the 'real' exchange rate so I don't bother using HSBC to exchange currencies.

HTH

Thanks for this. I think you nailed the best method , globally money without the FX and premium Revolut. Appreciated 

Band7

I would never use Revolut. The saga about their questionable accounts and their application for a UK banking licence has been going on for over 2 years now. Executives have been leaving. One customer was allegedly threatened by a Revolut Exec who advised he'd wait for him with a shotgun.

The latest is now that they might withdraw their application for a UK banking licence.
https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/42335/revolut-faces-reported-rejection-for-a-uk-banking-license-offers-to-withdraw-application

ADNOC_Geodesist

Yes I've heard a few horror stories about Revolut support but perhaps I've been lucky since I've not had any issues. Or maybe they offer better support to fee paying customers, I don't know. One time they asked me for proof of source of funds in UAE (for KYC purposes I guess), I sent them last 3 payslips and letter from employer and that seemed to satisfy their curiosity. I don't use my revolut account like a bank or savings account so not too fussed about their lack of FSCS protection..its only used to convert AED to GBP every month which I then send to my UK bank account almost immediately. Using Revolut Premium, I've saved £100s so far versus Wise or HSBC GMA 

WastedWords

ADNOC_Geodesist said:

Marchitiello said:

ADNOC_Geodesist said:

@Marchitiello
I suspect it might be different for USD, EUR and other major currencies but both GMA UK and GMA UAE offer fairly poor exchange rates when converting between GBP and AED, especially for large amounts. Mid-market rate from GBP to AED has been hovering around 4.63 today (according to xe.com) yet GMA UK are only offering 4.57 AED to the £, for amounts greater than £1000. Strangely the rate improves to 4.60 when converting amounts less than £1000 into AED.

Not sure I follow your early statement that GMA was applying a 1.99 margin as the one you show in the example is just under 1.3%.

also Revolut is not free, you either pay a subscription or are severely limited in scope, they obviously apply their own margins to exchange rates and also charge your for international bank transfer … 

I never said that Revolut was free. But in my own experience, Revolut easily beats all others for regular incoming forex transfers, even after taking the £72 pa fee into account. I’ve found Revolut’s exchange rates are more or less mid market rates (provided I exchange during the week) , certainly far better than HSBC’s. Yes Revolut now charge for outgoing int’l payments (previously they allowed up to 2 ‘free’ swift transfers each month) but I use Wise on the rare occasion I have to send funds from uk to use. 

Nothing wrong with using GMA if you have to make the occasional one- off transfer but for regular transfers - specifically incoming transfers into GBP - there are far cheaper alternatives available. 

Trying to get my head around HSBC Currency / GMA possibilities (purely interest as I don't have a need for AED conversions).
Assuming you have the ability to open HSBC accounts in UK and UAE I see 2 possible scenarios

UAE - AED current account receiving salary
UAE GMA for conversion to GBP (poor rate / additional charges)
HSBC transfer to UK current account

UAE - AED current account receiving salary
transfer to UK AED Currency account (should be free)
UK AED Currency acc. to UK GMA AED acc.
Convert to GBP in UK GMA.

Any idea how would they compare?

(Hope that makes some sense after a Friday night beer).