cream bun

Hi guys

I wonder if anyone might be able to help me.

After a short stay last year (thanks again to everyone who helped with my VPN), I'm now back in Abu Dhabi on a permanent basis - and delighted to be back, particularly after the wettest winter London had seem for a long time! Just need to get life in order, move into flat, develop new social network - oh and help my other half find a job! Anyway, enough of that...

Question for you experienced expat-types is that I need to be set up a transfer of funds back to the UK (to cover mortgage etc) and (eventually) to an offshore savings account. I have managed to overcome the hurdle of opening a bank account (went for NBAD, hope the fact that this was easy isn't going to mean that my luck has run out...) but I'm struggling to find out the best way to move money out of the UAE. Apologies if this has been covered to death by other posts, but I did search and found nothing - but not guaranteeing that's not down to user error...

I am a Scot so am stereotypically keen on losing as little on charges/exchange rate losses as possible, so any advice people could give would be greatly appreciated.

Also, any thoughts on the best location for an offshore savings account (although that might be a long way off as relocating is definitely not cheap!) would be great - I have been hearing scare stories about people's bank accounts in UAE not being as secure as you might hope, so would like to make sure that anything I can save is safe!

Thanks in advance - and it's fab to be back!

CB

Brains1983

Pm norm or meow for proper info mate on large amounts and offshore stuff.

Small amounts, UAE exchange are OK, you can negotiate the rate to a certain level (I've had 7% off the rate on the board twice), you lose 15GBP via Deutsch Bank on the UK transaction (also a scot and a tight bastard for want of a better description)!

Welcome back to the sandpit.

Millhouse

Actually for large amounts this still works very well, I've managed to match the spot rate on my blackberry at the time of transfer by asking for a volume discount and showing them the number I want to get to.

The fees are pretty low too. You can go through brokers but for me that was just slow and painful as you have to transfer to the broker, then transfer on again. Cash at UAE exchange is nice and easy.

Meow

creambun

For reasonable sums you can access wholesale/commercial rates without a fee - much better than your bank will offer, safe and efficient. You transfer directly to the dealer, but it is no slower than a bank to bank transfer. Usually takes just 3 days.
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Millhouse

Valid point... I had problems transferring AED to the Danish intermediary bank (HSBC just wouldn't do it) although no issues moving money in via a broker.

One thing that irritates me is the 15quid charged in the UK to receive the money. It is true that the the broker can over come this?

the time UAE exchange takes varies, I've had it same day and also had it take 6 days... which did make me sweat a little.

csdf

I used a UK wholesale FX company to transfer a relatively modest sum out here recently and it worked flawlessly. I imagine transferring in reverse is just as easy.

flares

You can also do it online through NBAD but don't expect a very good rate.

But it can be useful if you need to clear your UAE account from a remote location for whatever reason...i.e.if you are sat in departures doing a runner and think your acct is about to be frozen

Also there's a max daily limit.