# FOREX question: Moving ££ back to Canada



## LLOYDLEE (Aug 19, 2013)

Similar question to @kaede77 from last year (http://canadianmoneyforum.com/showthread.php/11258-Foreign-Currency-Question): my wife and I lived in the UK a few years and have some of our savings still there sitting in savings, waiting for a more favourable exchange rate. 

We banked with HSBC there, but not here in Canada, and we've enquired with them about opening an account here, but it looks like that would be little different than transferring funds between two totally separate banks: hefty wiring costs etc. 

Any tips on best way (i.e., least losses to exchange rates and transfer fees) to exchange to CAD and the best way to move that money back there? Thanks for any advice!


----------



## liquidfinance (Jan 28, 2011)

ukforex.co.uk have always been good for me. 

The rates aren't bad and the service has always been fairly swift. Others recommend xe and hifx. I have no experience with either of those. 

Just have a play around and see who you get the best quote with. UK forex is free if you transfer over 2k I believe although going back cad to gbp its $15 below $10k

I just logged on to my UK forex account and 5000gbp is being quoted at $8029 or $1.6058 that compares to $1.62874 quoted on xe.com mid market live rate. This works out to around 1.4% The rate improves the more you send.


----------



## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

Interactive Brokers is by far the cheapest, but there is up to $10/month fee for inactivity. I use it to transfer between Euro and CAD. If you don't need a non-reg account, there's XE and Knightsbridge etc


----------



## LLOYDLEE (Aug 19, 2013)

liquidfinance said:


> ukforex.co.uk have always been good for me.
> 
> The rates aren't bad and the service has always been fairly swift. Others recommend xe and hifx. I have no experience with either of those.
> 
> ...


Thanks! That's a huge help.


----------



## liquidfinance (Jan 28, 2011)

m3s said:


> Interactive Brokers is by far the cheapest, but there is up to $10/month fee for inactivity. I use it to transfer between Euro and CAD. If you don't need a non-reg account, there's XE and Knightsbridge etc


Are you saying that with interactive brokers I could have both my GBP and CAD accounts linked? 

That's interesting if this is the case but then IB requires a $10k deposit and that isn't going to happen any time soon.


These seem reasonable for smaller amounts. https://www.worldremit.com/en/home


----------



## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

liquidfinance said:


> Are you saying that with interactive brokers I could have both my GBP and CAD accounts linked?
> 
> That's interesting if this is the case but then IB requires a $10k deposit and that isn't going to happen any time soon.


Yes you just need the IBAN. I'm confused that Canadian banks can't do this... as if holding/transferring another currency is some impossibly wild feat

IB is useful as a non-reg brokerage or even a savings acct but standalone I suppose not.


----------



## Robillard (Apr 11, 2009)

Sometimes paying the fees to wire the funds from your foreign bank account makes more sense than just letting the funds sit there. 

Incidentally, HSB Bank Canada offers GBP denominated savings accounts. If you opened an account with them, you could move the funds over relatively cheaply (I'm assuming that intra-HSBC wire transfers are less expensive than external wires) and still wait for a favourable exchange rate movement before converting the funds.


----------



## liquidfinance (Jan 28, 2011)

I'm aware that they do that but see little point in having GBP in a Canadian account. 

Not to steal the thread form the OP but i'm in an unfortunate situation at the minute of potentially needing to send money back to cover the mortgage. Trust that to be when the pound is the stongest it's been for a couple of years. 

In this instance it paid to keep my GBP in the UK otherwise I would probably have transfered here for about $1.55 depending on the rate / broker and sending back in the region of $1.67

Pros and cons I suppose.


----------

