If an international bank has branches in two countries, can I bank transfer between them?

Question

I currently use wire transfers to move money from the US to the country in Europe that I live in now. The problem with this is that it's a hassle (I have to call the bank, verify I give the correct numbers, and there's a fee).

If a bank that's say, based in England, has branches in the US and also my current country, can I send money from my US bank to it, and withdraw it from the branch here (or use an ATM)?

My problem is that I regularly transfer money and pay fees for wire transfers and Western Union. Also I'll probably need to transfer a large amount at some point to buy property, and that would require several (dozens?) of wire transfers with associated phone calls and fees for each.

Answer 1

This isn't something that's automatically offered just by virtue of the bank having branches in two countries. You'd need to ask the specific bank what facilities they offer.

Answer 2

HSBC Premier allows direct international transfer free of charge. You only need to open an account in each country. Their online tool is called Global View.

Answer 3

Yes, this is almost possible, but only with one bank: Wise.

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EDIT: Here below I explain how I understand Wise works because people around me who didn't know about it have suggested similar ideas for international transfers. I believe you allude to the same scheme of 1 bank in multiple countries, and sfxedit's answer also suggests a similar scheme, but with acquaintances rather than a neutral 3rd party.

So the reason to explain it is because yes, it can be that simple.

And yes, this reads like an ad because I am enthusiastic to share about it. It has saved me many times from international transfer fees, and I feel the least I can do is to raise awareness.

Furthermore, I would really like Wise and other neo-banks¹ to succeed because I feel the traditional banking has deliberately not pushed new technology to clients in order to keep them paying ; meanwhile, while they have optimised their IT, reduced personnel, and automatised most of the operations.

^{1 See this article on Forbes about what is a neo-bank. It doesn't have to have branches. Yes, Revolut, N24, Neon and others are neo-banks.}

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Wise, formerly TransferWise, has set up exactly this back in ~2014, in order to lower fees of sending money across countries. They had accounts with big banks in multiple countries, but this was transparent to the end users. In turn, end users use the Wise app to tell the bank about the transfer: amount, destination, currency, etc. Then they are given an account in their local country (e.g. US in your case), and a reference that tracks the transfer. Users send the money to this account, mentioning the reference. Upon receival, Wise retains a small fee (much smaller than regular banks), and sends money from their foreign account to the user's destination (e.g. Europe in your case).

Now they also offer an "international" card. You can charge it with money in your currency of choice, and then pay and withdraw money in any currency in any country. You can even pay online, avoiding costly conversion fees (there still are some, but are way smaller and the exchange rate is fair).

I am not affiliated with Wise, but I've been a happy cross-country user of them since 2015 and I think they provide a really good service.

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^{P.S. Wise also has a referral scheme: if you join with a referral link, your first transfer is completely free, and the person referring you may get ~€40. "May get", because they only get it when accumulating 3 invites}

Answer 4

Not without creating another local account at the same bank in England - KYC (know your customer) norms are pretty strict internationally, and each country has their own banking and tax regulations which every bank has to comply with.

Once you create a local account, you should be able to do inter-branch international transfers with ease. However, it doesn't necessarily mean that this will be faster or cheaper. For example, Smaller banks actually use the services of larger banks to do international transfers. This can result in higher fees and slower transfer speeds too. And most banks also charge a currency conversion fees that are often higher.

But all this depends on your bank and only they can clearly tell you how much fees they'll charge and how much time the transfers will take.

Since you are buying a property, I'd advise you to create a local bank account and seek advise from the bank. You will also benefit from their advise on local banking regulations and tax laws that you should be aware of. While banking with the same bank is often convenient, check out competing local banks too as they may offer better services and deals (like reduced fees) to have you as a customer.

Note: International debit cards often allow you to withdraw currency in any country through their partner networks (often Maastercard or Visa). But obviously the fees are higher.

Tip: One thing we indians abroad often do is a "swap transfer" - basically we find another indian in the foreign country where we work, and pay that person the amount we want to transfer in the local foreign currency, and they then transfer the same amount in indian currency to our local indian bank account from their local indian account. (Or vice versa). So both parties save on the transfer fees and get better deal on the currency conversion without any additional fees. Ofcourse, you have to trust the person to not cheat you. And you also have to be mindful of the tax laws - we create documentation to show it as a personal loan, in case, on rare occasion we are questioned about the nature of such transfers by the tax authorities. This is legal in India (see my comment below for more details).

Answer 5

Not without special programs that the bank offers.

What you think of as "bank transfer" relies on (electronic) settlement protocols individual countries may set up to facilitate electronic transfer of money between accounts of domestic banks. They typically connect to the central supervisory authority (ie. often the central bank) somehow and that's where the technical movement of money is sorted out.

When crossing international boundaries, those domestic systems no longer apply and banks need to use for example the Bank of International Settlements to facilitate movement of money. As money crosses jurisdictions, there is bound to be more regulatory checks and fraud-prevention checks. And to do that, there will be cost. And that is what the "wire transfer" you think of is nowadays.

The same applies to "international" banks that keep the same brand name, some management structure but operate as separate entities across jurisdictions when it comes to regular banking. (ie. obviously, things like trading or investment 'banking' would be different.)

Thus, the answer to your second question is simply: absent of special circumstances, wire transfer is the best.

You pay for actual services. And you should be able to find banks that offer a fixed (relatively trivial, compared to buying a house) fee as opposed to percentage fee for wire transfer.

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EDIT:

Special circumstances can include:

• a local bank in your area having special arrangement with another bank in your destination area that facilitate direct settlement -- thus reducing the cost they need to charge to you

• your current area and destination area being in a wider jurisdiction such as the Eurozone

• your current area and destination area being covered by a (trading) broker -- again, same entity only, not brand

These circumstances mean that it may be worth your time investigating alternatives. But alternatives are still not guaranteed. You can try Googling for local banks that advertise international transfer of money. If you don't find quick results, that means those special circumstances in the background don't apply to you; so just go with wire.

Answer 6

Checks/Cheques are another (slower) option.

We keep a USD account in the international bank where we can convert the funds to USD, then have the bank mail us a check from the USD funds. The down side is that my local bank puts a month hold on the funds. There is a fee if we use certified mail, but not if using regular mail. You would have to verify with your local bank that they would accept a check like this from the other country (either in the foreign currency or USD).

We used to do the international banking free transfer thing. The problem was that both the US and international bank charged monthly fees, whereas my local bank does not. I couldn't justify keeping that monthly fee charging US bank account open just to transfer money, especially since they don't have any branches in my state. We just didn't transfer funds that frequently to justify the cost of keeping another account open.

Answer 7

The Post Office offers this service. Our local Post Office is often visited by foreign workers paying money into their accounts, which their families can then access at the other end.

Having said that, this is inside Eurasia. The rules may be different depending how far you want to go. But it's worth asking at your local post office.