I need to move a reasonable amount of money from my NZ bank account now I’m no longer earning there.

Who’s good these days? There were some kind of peer-to-peer exchange brokers a few years back who have a much more favourable rate for both ways, a few years back. I assume they’re OK and are still around?

Recommendations welcome!

Used Transferwise a couple of times and very satisfied. Not sure if they transfer to/from NZ.

New Zealand – New Zealand Dollar (NZD)

TransferWise can only deliver NZD to bank accounts in New Zealand. This is sent out from our bank account in New Zealand.

Currently TransferWise cannot support conversions from NZD.

unfortunately, much as transferwise are ace at this kind of thing they cant help here.

Bitcoin?

Have you tried Currencyfair?

Are you just looking to transfer funds from one account to another in the same currency, or are you looking to convert from NZD back to GBP or something similar?

If you’re looking to do a conversion, there are plenty of FX money-remitters who will do it at probably a better rate than a bank will give you. Larger transactions will get you a better price and lower transaction costs, so move it all in one chunk if possible.

You can look at prices online, although you will have to register as a client and provide some info to get you through the compliance checks before you can actually transact.

(I work for one such company, albeit on the back office side)

are you looking to convert from NZD back to GBP or something similar?

Yes – have a couple of year’s savings from NZ to move back to the UK, so that we can spend it on bikes and shiny things.

FX money-remitters

a what now? we are keen on saving a bit on the rate as it will make a difference. If the compliance checks take more than a week I’ll have to go to a simpler type of broker.

Compliance shouldn’t take very long, but you’ll most likely be asked to provide scanned copies of documents giving things like proof of address, source of funds, details of the accounts you will pay from and to etc. Could be less than an hour if you have all the documents to hand.

The industry is fairly heavily regulated to deter money-laundering these days, so strong compliance requirements are generally the sign of a reputable company, even if they seem a little onerous when registering.

HSBC seem to be in the news for offering this type of service?

^^^
Surprised it took that long to come up!

Bitcoin?! You could loose thousands by the time you’re changing it back!

cheers offthebrakes. we* should be able to prove enough, (ok, the mrs. will, I won’t) to satisfy the basics.

we used HiFX when moving the other way a few years back and don’t remember such proof of ducmentation then. do you have any specific recommendations we should compare against?

cheers

HSBC & Bitcoin 😆

HiFX are reputable, they aren’t who I work for (SGM-FX). Same sector though.

What level of documentation you need may depend on where you were located then, how much you were transferring etc. But the regulations around money-laundering and Know Your Client are being tightened up all the time, so it might well have changed since then.

Ironically HSBC are one of a number of UK banks to be very heavily fined under US money-laundering legislation!

If you want me to put you in touch with someone at my place, email is in my profile (I don’t get commission so I’m not going to try and sell you it!).

Alternatively, if you used HiFX before then they’ve probably still got you on their client database. So you wouldn’t be starting from scratch, but quite likely they will need to see some of the documentation again as it is probably ‘stale’ by now.

I’m probably at the limits of my competence here, so best you talk to sales staff at whichever company you choose to get the full details 🙂