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EUR to GBP transfer into UK

Financial discussion for any financial queries for Expats
JMN2
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EUR to GBP transfer into UK

#18565

Postby JMN2 » December 29th, 2016, 1:30 pm

I hope to sell some property soon in the Euroland, I have a EUR bank account there where euros will be paid into. I then wish to send GBP to my UK bank account ie bring the loot home.

Instead of having a regular retail bank do the fx and send me Sterling to Lloyds Bank, and 1) give me a bad fx rate 2) charge fees, I assume

1. it makes economical sense to use companies like Caxton and HIFX?
2. these sort of firms are safe (not a scam)?

Thanks!

dickscovered
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Re: EUR to GBP transfer into UK

#18662

Postby dickscovered » December 29th, 2016, 4:42 pm

I am doing the same in January.

I am using Moneycorp, partly because they are FCA regulated. The main attraction of them for me is that they have a French bank account into which the Notaire will pay the proceeds. Otherwise, I would have to wait in France until the funds from the Notaire are credited to my account there and physically visit my branch to do the transfer which could take a couple or more days. A particularly attractive option when you have just sold your house! Moneycorp did advise that not all Notaires are happy to pay to a third party (75% they said would) and most are unhappy to transfer funds overseas, but if you are planning to have the proceeds credited to your own account first and then use whomever, I don't see any problem. A further advantage for me is that the French only see that the cash has been paid to Moneycorp who will then credit the GBP amount from London to my new structure in Liechtenstein. The French have a bit of a bee in their bonnets about offshore and particularly trusts, but I need one when I become UK resident in April.

As regards economy, anything will be better than the banks. I have opened an account with Interactive Brokers in the name of the new structure. I have done very little with it, but I did buy some Canadian shares which meant that I had to convert GBP to CAD. The accounts are meant for traders, including those that punt on forex, but that doesn't mean that you can't use them for conversion at much keener rates than I imagine will be available with any forex specialist broker. You do need to have the funding account and the payee account in the name of the account holder. I will not be using them this January, but I have a few upcoming transactions where I will, and I expect to get wholesale rates even on small amounts.

Clitheroekid
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Re: EUR to GBP transfer into UK

#18680

Postby Clitheroekid » December 29th, 2016, 5:51 pm

FredBloggs wrote:Agreed, if you need a broker try Moneycorp. FWIW, the Daily Telegraph recommend them in Telegraph Money.

I don't know whether Moneycorp are good, bad or indifferent, but as the Daily Telegraph has a commercial association with them its `recommendations' should perhaps be treated with some scepticism.

Clitheroekid
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Re: EUR to GBP transfer into UK

#18717

Postby Clitheroekid » December 29th, 2016, 8:45 pm

FredBloggs wrote:But............. it clearly demonstrates they are not scammers.

Realistically, none of the money transfer firms authorised by the FCA - Caxton, HiFX, Currencies Direct and so on - are going to be scammers.

Mark
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Re: EUR to GBP transfer into UK

#18725

Postby Mark » December 29th, 2016, 10:18 pm

I personally have an account with Interactive Brokers. The spreads they charge will be significantly tighter than those offered by the likes of Caxton FX - interactive brokers spreads should be less than a pip in a currency pair such as EURGBP. It is not the simplest solution in terms of setting up an account and using the platform - primarily because it is intended for those who are trading professionally - but it would almost certainly be cheaper than the others.

I would simply ask a number of candidates what their spreads from the mid price are.

dickscovered
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Re: EUR to GBP transfer into UK

#18826

Postby dickscovered » December 30th, 2016, 1:21 pm

FredBloggs wrote:For sure. However, I recall a year or two back a currency broker went belly up and people did lose money. I can't recall the details but it was around what the level of FCA authorisation was that the firm held. Hence, the need to DYOR.


That may have had to do with the Swissie taking off like a startled pheasant, rather than regulatory failure.

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Re: EUR to GBP transfer into UK

#19251

Postby DiamondEcho » January 1st, 2017, 5:51 pm

dickscovered wrote:... my new structure in Liechtenstein. The French have a bit of a bee in their bonnets about offshore and particularly trusts, but I need one when I become UK resident in April.
As regards economy, anything will be better than the banks. I have opened an account with Interactive Brokers in the name of the new structure.


I too have an a/c with IntB, and also will be looking to tax-shelter my portfolio before returning to the UK for good in a year or two.I've had the a/c for about 8-10 years now, whilst moving from country to country, and they have always been zealous in flipping me from internal IB entity regionally to another along the way. Hence why before facing a return to the UK, I want my account [with whom ever, I'm not assuming it will be IB if they can't handle it] not get 'auto-switched' to their UK entity.

So, I'm curious as to what kind of structure you set up in Liechtenstein, that IB accepted, despite not being resident there. If you're able to provide any pointers to the basis of your arrangements [vs 'the other usual possibilities', CH, IOM etc] I'd be very interested to hear them.

dickscovered
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Re: EUR to GBP transfer into UK

#19351

Postby dickscovered » January 2nd, 2017, 6:35 am

DiamondEcho wrote:
I too have an a/c with IntB, and also will be looking to tax-shelter my portfolio before returning to the UK for good in a year or two.I've had the a/c for about 8-10 years now, whilst moving from country to country, and they have always been zealous in flipping me from internal IB entity regionally to another along the way. Hence why before facing a return to the UK, I want my account [with whom ever, I'm not assuming it will be IB if they can't handle it] not get 'auto-switched' to their UK entity.

So, I'm curious as to what kind of structure you set up in Liechtenstein, that IB accepted, despite not being resident there. If you're able to provide any pointers to the basis of your arrangements [vs 'the other usual possibilities', CH, IOM etc] I'd be very interested to hear them.


The cash is in Liechtenstein. The structure is a St Kitts Limited Partnership ultimately owned by a discretionary Trust resident in St Vincent and the Grenadines. Only the LP was disclosed to IB just to keep things simple, and that was at a point when I was the Limited Partner personally. Because the LP was resgistered in the Carribean, it comes under IB's US operation, which was handy for me particulary with regards to KYC rules and money laundering etc. The US barely has any requirments, whereas a French pal of mine who opened an account with TD in Luxembourg had all sorts of hoops to jump through and still does if he wants to add funds. My previous structure dates from the mid nineties and is now mainly returns on investments, but I have no paperwork going back all the way as there were no requirments then. A second useful point about it being in the US is that it will not be reported under the new Automatic Exchange of Tax Information, as the US hasn't agreed to take part. HMRC will still be able to ask the US for information under a bilateral arrangement, but they will have to be proactive and even then they will have to try and work out between both accounts what the score is. We will be completely compliant in any case, but I really don't like this automatic business at all. I mean to say that as a non dom you just claim the remittance basis without having to tell HMRC how much foreign income or gains is at stake.

Back to your original question, IB insisted that the LP have a real office evidenced by a lease, utility bill or whatever. We thought of getting a telephone installed in the LP's name in Liechtenstein, but in the end opened up an office for three months in the Regus business centre at Luton airport, which did not mean that the LP comes under the UK operation. I doubt that they will request anything again. The whole point is to save money - the Trustees in Liechtenstein are good value, but the bank charges fees for everything, including not doing anything at all dressed up as custody fees. 0.3% p.a!

DiamondEcho
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Re: EUR to GBP transfer into UK

#19517

Postby DiamondEcho » January 2nd, 2017, 4:51 pm

Thank you very much for laying that out in such detail, it has certainly given me food for thought!

GrahamPlatt
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Re: EUR to GBP transfer into UK

#20682

Postby GrahamPlatt » January 6th, 2017, 1:45 pm

Take a look at TransferWise. Interbank rate, charge 0.5%.

JMN2
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Re: EUR to GBP transfer into UK

#25676

Postby JMN2 » January 24th, 2017, 12:47 pm

Decided on HIFX in the end. Did a test run with my euro bank, XE rate was 1.159, got 1.170269 including eur7 fee. HIFX gave me 1.1663 versus 1.1596 XE no separate fee. Euros go to their Barclays bank in Slough whereupon it's a short hop for the GBP to my bank branch in Reading, convenient. :lol:

Very smooth user experience, so far...good web interface.

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Re: EUR to GBP transfer into UK

#28542

Postby xiox » February 2nd, 2017, 9:24 pm

I have a German bank account with DKB. It was much cheaper to get DKB to convert EUR to GBP and send this to my UK account than use any of these transfer services for largish sums. German banks have very good rates and modest fees versus British banks. However, I think transferwise was cheaper for small amounts as the fixed fees of the German banks eats into the good rate. Of course it's much safer to do a direct bank to bank transfer than an intermediate service. More information here (in German): https://www.udongo.de/girokonto/35-giro ... anken.html and https://www.udongo.de/girokonto/35-giro ... isung.html


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