Bluey

This is just to share information to any interested parties out there. I had a conversation with HSBC / First direct today with regards to opening an account in Adelaide. In brief, the process takes approximately 6 weeks. First Direct / HSBC will recommend an existing account holder to the nearest HSBC branch in Australia assuming you have a decent credit rating. I was told that in 2-3 weeks I will be contacted by HSBC International with account options, they will then send out the relevant forms for me to return. Once processed any documentation and cards should be with me before we leave.

As far as transferring money goes, HSBC will charge a £10.00 flat fee for Buying your Australian dollars and transferring them to your Australian account. HSBC Australia will then charge a flat receiving fee of $20 ish dollars, which if you are transferring the proceeds of a house sale, is not big beans. They do not take a percentage of the exchange rate, you get the same rate at which they buy the dollars from HSBC Australia (no crappy tourist rates), however that rate does depend on how much you transfer, there are better rates for above £14000, above £67000 and above £200000.

If you are a First Direct customer, call 08456 100100 and ask for the Foreign Department, if you are an HSBC account holder the number for HSBC international is 0207 9917278 .
Hope this is of help to some of you out there.

Rudy

We have just opened a Commonwealth bank account in London. All we needed was the application form, certified copies of our passport front page only, a bank statement, and a utility bill. It was back with us within 3 days - Account opened! They offer all sorts of risk management products for your money transfer etc, including fixing an exchange rate before your funds are available to go into the account, and no transfer fee etc if the amount is over £30k. The Australian bank account will be activated when you present yourself at a selected branch with ID, your cards etc will be waiting for you.

They also offer advice regarding pensions etc.

So far we are impressed.

susette

Bluey,

We have a HSBC account in both UK and in AUS, we have setup a 'Fax Indemnity' with our branch in the UK, so that we can watch the exchange rate and when the time is right we can have HSBC AUS fax the UK and then transfer the money over. Makes a big difference if your transferring large amounts over and you don't need access to your money straight away.

Susette

keith (UK)

I also use First Direct (UK) and HSBC (Oz). The exchange rate you get to do a 'foriegn priority payment' is excellent. It is only a few cents off the rate you can see on www.xe.com.

I transferred the obligatory $2000 to HSBC to activate the savings account, only to find that they deduct $10 to receive the payment! HSBC still activated my account though!

Keith.

dracupg

I would definitely check our www.ozforex.com.au to transfer money. They would normally beat the high street bank rates by a considerable margin. A lot of money when you are transferring a lot of cash, and well worth investigating every option.