NAB acquires Citibank Australia

[Flashback]

Ummmm. No. No it doesn’t.
Forgot the thread reason…

It does let you xfer between the linked accounts currencies at the spot rate for the pair. But this doesn’t help for use outside GBP or AUD does it…

If it transfers AUD to GBP and doesn't charge any fees at all and uses the spot rate ..... then that's all I need. I have an account with HSBC in the UK, so might have to look into opening the AU one and do a test.

 

[albyd]

FWIW I think Revolut (I’m assuming Wise too) is the only one close to spot. I haven’t checked HSBC but might have a look next time. Would make life a hell of a lot easier. Going via Revolut adds more unnecessary complexity.

 

[Chicken]

Does it move at the spot rate with no fees though? With my current NAB account I can withdraw cash at the daily spot rate for Visa/MC (can't remember which one the card is!).

It is actually very murky.

First look at page 10 of the "HSBC Transaction and Savings Accounts Terms" 28 Feb 2025:
- if you are transacting in a foreign currency, which you have in your account, and there is sufficient balance of it (say you want to spend £85 and you have £90), then it will be deducted from your account, no conversion.
- if you transact using a currency which is not a currency available for this account, it will be Visa rate.
- if you don't have sufficient balance (say you want to spend £85 but you only have £30), it will be taken from your AUD in full, then "
apply the prevailing exchange rate at the time we process the transaction, see clause 21 (“Foreign currencies”) in the Personal Banking Booklet".

So let's read that clause 21 in "HSBC Personal Banking Booklet" 30 Jun 2025?

"You can buy and sell foreign currencies with us or make and receive payments in foreign currencies using our various products. The exchange rate will be applied on the date the transaction is processed. It is dependent on several factors, including the level of risk HSBC assumes in the foreign exchange transaction, the type of payment, how it is processed, the time of day and third party relationships. These rates can change.

For a Visa credit card foreign currency transaction, the Visa exchange rate is applied.

For a Mastercard credit card foreign currency transactions the amount will first be converted into US Dollars, and then to AUD using the Mastercard exchange rate

For all other foreign currency transactions, except Visa Debit Card transactions, the prevailing HSBC exchange rate will be applied on the date the transaction is processed and can be seen on your transaction history."

So what happens when you use the Visa debit card with this account? There is a gap here in their explanation.

I do have a friend with this product, and they will be going overseas in the next few month. I really should ask them to test this.

I have an account with HSBC in the UK, so might have to look into opening the AU one and do a test.

Do you have Premier status in the UK? If you can get it, the "Global View" function is a nice to have. I have seen my friend using Global View to check their accounts in Australia and Hong Kong. It is very useful? No; but it's a nice to have.

The irony being that I went to open a Bankwest account last month (Aus citizen, AND a resident of WA ie the west where Bankwest is from) and was knocked back for no apparent reason. Call times were comical so instead of fixing whatever issue with my application that there was, I have decided to move to Macquarie instead.

haha, that's why I would recommend avoiding Bankwest if possible.

 

[Flashback]

It is actually very murky.

First look at page 10 of the "HSBC Transaction and Savings Accounts Terms" 28 Feb 2025:
- if you are transacting in a foreign currency, which you have in your account, and there is sufficient balance of it (say you want to spend £85 and you have £90), then it will be deducted from your account, no conversion.
- if you transact using a currency which is not a currency available for this account, it will be Visa rate.
- if you don't have sufficient balance (say you want to spend £85 but you only have £30), it will be taken from your AUD in full, then "
apply the prevailing exchange rate at the time we process the transaction, see clause 21 (“Foreign currencies”) in the Personal Banking Booklet".

So let's read that clause 21 in "HSBC Personal Banking Booklet" 30 Jun 2025?

"You can buy and sell foreign currencies with us or make and receive payments in foreign currencies using our various products. The exchange rate will be applied on the date the transaction is processed. It is dependent on several factors, including the level of risk HSBC assumes in the foreign exchange transaction, the type of payment, how it is processed, the time of day and third party relationships. These rates can change.

For a Visa credit card foreign currency transaction, the Visa exchange rate is applied.

For a Mastercard credit card foreign currency transactions the amount will first be converted into US Dollars, and then to AUD using the Mastercard exchange rate

For all other foreign currency transactions, except Visa Debit Card transactions, the prevailing HSBC exchange rate will be applied on the date the transaction is processed and can be seen on your transaction history."

So what happens when you use the Visa debit card with this account? There is a gap here in their explanation.

I do have a friend with this product, and they will be going overseas in the next few month. I really should ask them to test this.



Do you have Premier status in the UK? If you can get it, the "Global View" function is a nice to have. I have seen my friend using Global View to check their accounts in Australia and Hong Kong. It is very useful? No; but it's a nice to have.

From what I had previously read re: HSBC, it was nothing but negative comments which was why I had discounted it.

No, re: Premier for various tax related reasons.

 

[albyd]

Out of curiosity, just testing it now. I'm testing a payment of $US100. The exchange rate proposed by HSBC Global View is:

• 1AUD = USD 0.6457465
• on Revolut, it is 0.65733
• on IRESS which is my trading platform, it is 0.6591

• I see IRESS as the "true" interbank rate;
• Revolut as pretty close to it (was closer when it started in AU, then started building in a margin which is fair enough, they aren't a charity);
• HSBC is furthest from the interbank rate so the margin is effectively 0.0133535 USD for HSBC so for this point in time, it's approx. 2.02%.

In short, the HSBC rate is not the sharpest - especially if you're transferring a reasonable (whatever that means to you) quantity. Might not be that much for "smaller" transfers.

I currently debit my debit card to fund my Revolut account in AUD then do an exchange to USD and then transfer the funds out to my USD checking account within the US banking system - it's an ACH transfer. I generally leave the USD in there for a few days, so Revolut gets a few days free (since they don't pay any interest) funding to make it look just that little bit less of what it is - an FX transfer service - as they don't like it - they don't make "much" money from it. I imagine that's why Interactive Brokers are asking so many questions of those doing just this with them - aside from doing their part in cracking down on illegal behavior. End Rant. YMMV.

 

[Flashback]

Out of curiosity, just testing it now. I'm testing a payment of $US100. The exchange rate proposed by HSBC Global View is:

• 1AUD = USD 0.6457465
• on Revolut, it is 0.65733
• on IRESS which is my trading platform, it is 0.6591

• I see IRESS as the "true" interbank rate;
• Revolut as pretty close to it (was closer when it started in AU, then started building in a margin which is fair enough, they aren't a charity);
• HSBC is furthest from the interbank rate so the margin is effectively 0.0133535 USD for HSBC so for this point in time, it's approx. 2.02%.

In short, the HSBC rate is not the sharpest - especially if you're transferring a reasonable (whatever that means to you) quantity. Might not be that much for "smaller" transfers.

I currently debit my debit card to fund my Revolut account in AUD then do an exchange to USD and then transfer the funds out to my USD checking account within the US banking system - it's an ACH transfer. I generally leave the USD in there for a few days, so Revolut gets a few days free (since they don't pay any interest) funding to make it look just that little bit less of what it is - an FX transfer service - as they don't like it - they don't make "much" money from it. I imagine that's why Interactive Brokers are asking so many questions of those doing just this with them - aside from doing their part in cracking down on illegal behavior. End Rant. YMMV.

I'm not sure what date you're using due to the time in Aus, so I've used 2/10 as an example. Those rates then compare to the MC/Visa rate, if I was withdrawing cash from the AU account at an ATM in the UK which should be something like:

• Mastercard: 1 australian dollar = 0.6626997 united states dollar
• Visa: 1 AUD = 0.663199 USD

Both seem better than what HSBC and Revolut are offering, which is what I'd expect as I know they're both using their own rates and building in some margin.