GETTING FOREIGN CURRENCY A CON STILL - ALA BOI

Re: operate foreign currency accounts in Ireland

Hi Marie

As well as the "price" set by the seller in - say - USA there is also the equivalence against other currencies put on the $ at that historic moment which can affect what the producer/country of origin actually receives!

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Yes, this is called "currency risk"

Still, on the wider issue of the "commodity" nature of money the information from Zag et al on the arbitraryness of currency has shaken the fundaments of my world-view.

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That's odd - currency risk is a fundamental element of most trans-currency business or money transactions.

Who decides to print more money when, for example, a particular currency is 'strong' (e.g. sterling for the past couple of years).

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The Central Bank with authority over the particular currency.

Re: operate foreign currency accounts in Ireland

so presumably you would have no trouble setting up a euro account in the UK with any of the major banks.

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I cannot see any bank (even a UK one) being so charitable as to offer this service for free, or even for a low charge.

Also, the bureaucracy attached to compliance with anti-money laundering requirements (particularly with transnational transactions) will increase the cost and reduce the appeal of any such facility.

operate foreign currency accounts in Ireland

Many thanks to Statler, EuroDilbert, Tommy, Zag and NotBanker for your thoughts. I did some research this morning and my own bank (Lloyds TSB) gave me the phone number for Lloyds International. I explained I wanted to move 170K euros from Ireland. The information given was I could do that any way I wished, but if it arrives in my account here via bankers' draft or physical euros thre is a charge of £80 and the claring process takes up to 6 weeks (and perhaps in terms of the charges this connects with NOAH's experience in bringing physical euro notes to his bank to get physical Swiss Francs)?

If I have it wired it clears immediately into my account. The flat charge for this is £8. The woman who was advising then said if it was wired this morning the commercial rate is 1.48 at the moment ("a bit better than it has been") and that would be the exchange-rate applied, so my 170K Euro would equal £114.632.50 in my bank account this afternoon.

Phew!

I then did a bit of research on off-shore euro-accounts for the non-banking-sophisticate such as myself and found Nationwide International (operating Isle of Man since 1989, wholly-owned subsidiary of Nationwide Building Society) will open a euro-account for an individual for minimum Euro 1,000. There are NO OPERATING CHARGES TOMMY!!!! payments in and withdrawals (latter must be a minimum of Euro 500 at any one time) can be by any method agreed beforehand with NI; subsequent transactions in and out can be in any currency which enter the account at Nationwide International's own exchange rate at the time. NI don't charge any fees but their bankers charge between £6 - £15 per transaction for electronic payments.

Interest is calculated on a daily basis and is currently 1.75% if the a/c stays over Euro 100,000 and all calculated interest is added up to the day of closing the account.