RetireJapan

You can't just compare the cost of forex conversions by looking at the flat fee or the commission. The buy sell spread is much more important for anything over a nominal amount. The FX rate is crucical.

You won't beat a forex broker for FX spreads, but most people won't be bothered to set up an account just to do the odd transfer.

Interesting. Hadn’t considered that the FX rate itself might differ from place to place.

I checked the rates on both Moneypartners fx broker and at Sony Bank against the rates quoted by Google. While the fx rate was updated every second and matched the Google rate given at that time, the bank rate given by Sony lagged by a while (perhaps they’re updated every minute or something?)

The fee structures can often be complicated, and the better services offer a breakdown explaining where fees and spreads come in, using a sample transaction.

It is very common for a company to attract customers with low fees, only to introduce poor spreads. Or vice-versa.

Japanese banks seems to incentivise clients to hold larger deposits with them, allowing them to qualify for Gold/Presetige/Diamond/etc service with reduced fees or better rates.

...

This popped up on the timeline and seems relevant. Though it is mostly an ad:https://youtu.be/IgDVZWm0KSQ?feature=shared&t=9

I used shinsei for a long time, up till about 7 years ago.

I'd maintain platinum status with dollars on hand, get the best rates (no sony at the time), and then also a free wire transfer each month (tho I only used 2-3/yr).

For the cost of the spread they gave on buying dollars, a transfer to the US was completely/totally free--no wire transfer fee, no intermediary bank fee, and no fee on receipt. I'd send between $10-$25k, and other than listening to an anti-money laundering spiel on the phone (and it was done via a phone call), no questions at all about source of funds, etc. Initiate in the morning, and it'd be in my account the next business day.

I guess the world has moved on since then...

I've recently opened a Shinsei bank account because they're offering an upgrade to Diamond status for users who sign up to SBI Shinsei Connect, linking the bank account to their SBI Securities account.

Although I'm planning on keeping Platinum Status at Sony bank for a while in order to take advantage of their 0.04 yen dollar exchange commission and free dollar transfers per month arrangement, I think that in the long term the 0.06 yen dollar exchange commission that Shinsei Diamond status confers will be sufficient for day to day conversion needs. Diamond status apparently let's you make one free foreign currency overseas+domestic transfer a month via the Go Remit app, so that sounds like a pretty good deal considering all you need to do is to sign up to the SBI Shinsei Connect scheme.

ChapInTokyo wrote: ↑Fri Jun 28, 2024 1:17 am ... considering all you need to do is to sign up to the SBI Shinsei Connect scheme.

Ha ha, this might be easier said than done if you have a middle name I had to give up trying to connect mine in the end. The problem is that SBI allow middle names in katakana but Shinsei do not (only middle names in English), which means they won't connect due to a "mismatching name". The only solution was to remove my middle name from SBI but that would have upset other things so I didn't do it. The other "solution" was to have my wife connect her Shinsei and SBI accounts instead of me. The Japanese are fortunate to not have middle names, so it was almost instant. Then I had to persuade Interactive Brokers UK to let me transfer funds from my IB account to her Shinsei account - a third-party transfer which is normally a no no. After submitting some documentation (such as marriage certificate and proof of address) and a lot of back and forth, they finally agreed. So now we can transfer funds from overseas without Shinsei's 2000 yen transfer fee, which is what we were aiming for. But simple it was not

Oh that must have been a nightmare! Good to hear that IB were able to bend their rules though.

northSaver wrote: ↑Fri Jun 28, 2024 4:36 am

ChapInTokyo wrote: ↑Fri Jun 28, 2024 1:17 am ... considering all you need to do is to sign up to the SBI Shinsei Connect scheme.

Ha ha, this might be easier said than done if you have a middle name I had to give up trying to connect mine in the end. The problem is that SBI allow middle names in katakana but Shinsei do not (only middle names in English), which means they won't connect due to a "mismatching name". The only solution was to remove my middle name from SBI but that would have upset other things so I didn't do it.

FWIW I had no problem setting up SBI Shinsei Connect, though checking the settings on both accounts, I see that both SBI Shoken and SBI Shinsei don't have my middle name recorded at all.