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SWIFT transfer to HSBC HK - disparity between amount sent and received??

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  1. #21

    Join Date
    May 2006
    Posts
    457
    Quote Originally Posted by Firemin:
    So, just to confuse things even more, I did an identical transfer using transfer wise...

    ...HSBC account credited with exactly $2000. So presumably the $125 must have been taken off by Azimo - odd since their main marketing is "no fees". Have made an enquiry with both HSBC and Azimo and will see what the situ is...
    It all depends on how they processed the payments. It looks like Transfer Wise is licensed as a Money Services Operator in HK, so they probably did a local HKD transfer from their HK bank account, which is why there were no fees involved in receiving.

    Azimo has a "direct to bank" option - I suspect if you chose that, you wouldn't be charged anything.

    Quote Originally Posted by Firemin:
    Thanks for that, explains it nicely!
    Oh well, maybe I should just withdraw some cash next time I am in the U.K. and change it into HKD over here, to avoid all the hidden charges!
    There won't be any "hidden" charges - you'll just be given poor cash exchange rates! But probably still cheaper than 120 for 2000.

    However, if you bring in too much cash, then the bank will probably ask you where the cash is from and why you have so much.

  2. #22

    Join Date
    Sep 2015
    Posts
    73

    I had a similar issue when transferring money from the UK to Hong Kong. There was a discrepancy of over HKD100 in the received amount. It turned out the money was not coming into my bank directly but via the Hang Seng Bank, and Hang Seng was charging that lost amount for the transfer.

    In the end I just opened an account with Hang Seng for the specific purpose of doing money transfers from the UK. That got rid of the discrepancy.


  3. #23

    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    Posts
    3

    Not sure if it has been mentioned, but make sure to input the bank code whether you use Azimo or TransferWise so they can process it as local transfers and don't need to go through SWIFT (both Azimo / TransferWise have local partners and hold funds in every country they operate so they don't actually need to move money between countries for each transaction).