Transfer money from UK bank account to Pakistan Foreign Currency account

Question

I was a student in UK last four years. Now I moved to Pakistan permanently. I saved a lot of money there in my UK bank account. Now I want to keep that money in pounds, therefore I am thinking to open foreign currency account in Pakistan. So that I could transfer my UK account money to Pak account in the same currency.

The question is I don't want to lose a lot of it. Someone says, that amount will be remitted first in Pak currency and then will be converted in pounds (exchange rates) and after deduction fee of bank charges and centre bank of wire to wire transaction it will be added in your foreign currency account and you will have a loss. Is that true? I am travelling to the UK next month for two weeks, I would not be able to bring a lot of cash with me (it is not even safe to carry a lot of cash in Pakistan, because someone can rob you here).

Is there any good advice for me? How that money will be transferred from Pakistan without having a big loss?

Answer 1

It comes down to the limitations of the payment system used to transfer money in Pakistan.

Most international payments can be paid via SWIFT in major currencies (e.g. British Pounds). It is important that the details are completely correct as you might end up with a two week saga while they figure out where the money went and track it down. The details are usually quite complicated as more than two banks can be involved in the transfer process.

It is then down to the local bank to determine how they deposit pounds in their bank account. If they offer pound sterling accounts, they should have a reasonable way to transfer money into that account (e.g. via SWIFT) without too much in terms of fees.

Often times however, a bank may only support one currency, so when a foreign payment comes in, they convert it to the local currency, at a not particularly favourable exchange rate, and then add fees on top. One needs to check what these are in advance of the transaction and shop around.

Answer 2

Have you considered keeping your UK bank account?

Depending on your (UK) bank this may not be possible, but Nationwide at least certainly allows us to maintain a UK bank account while living in Germany. (So far there has been no suggestion that we will have to close the account post-Brexit.)

It probably helps that we have regular income into the account from an investment property and a pension.

Answer 3

My advise Please open Bank account in Pakistan in name of your father or mother in GBP. They need to be filer to open such an account. Barclays Bank in UK does not charge any money but recipient Bank charge 1 Pound (Bank AlHabib) as i know about. Please note if you transfer money in pounds more than equall to Rs 5 Million or FBR will question you of its source. Then Send this money to close member of your family like father or mother as family support Posted with best intention with advance apology if I am wrong.