The NZ Herald published an article after speaking with Carl Halvorsen, who revealed that ANZ Australia charged his family a staggering $19,600 above the official wholesale exchange rates during a transfer of NZ$780,000 to his daughter in Perth.
When the funds arrived in his daughter’s account, only A$687,012 was deposited—far less than the nearly A$700,000 (NZ$774,000) they had anticipated.
Editors note: when we first moved to Australia we used our bank to transfer money and like the Halvorsen family we discovered pretty quickly that banks charge a large margin ontop of the exchange rate and fees ontop of that.
We then moved to using XE an online foreign exchange provider and found their rates not only more compeitive, but they also don’t charge fees when you transfer through on of their partners (e.g. Moving to Australia).
Don’t make the same mistake we did—it could cost you thousands. Be sure to read my foreign exchange post and register with XE.
Here is the link to the article on the NZ Herald, but you must be a premium subscriber to read it online, so I have reworded the article for you below.
Halvorsen contacted their bank and were disappointed to hear that the large difference was due to the bank’s exchange rate.
They are now wondering, how many other Kiwis are getting struck like this? Even with a handling fee, this is exorbitant.
Halvorsen’s daughter is among the tens of thousands of Kiwis who have moved to Australia in the past few years. She has been building a new beginning out of recent family sorrow. Her mother died in March 2024.
As part of the will, the family sold their Ohope Beach home. The money was then transferred to Australia to enable Halvorsen’s daughter to buy her own home in Perth, also to house her new baby in the coming weeks. But when the family saw how much money had been lost on the exchange, it left a bitter taste.
An ANZ spokesman told the NZ Herald that they encourage people to contact them for advice before sending large sums of money overseas. He said the bank posts the latest ‘indicative foreign conversion rates’ on its website calculator each morning, allowing customers to understand the exchange rates and fees likely to apply and the amount expected to arrive in the recipient’s account.
However, the 72-year-old Halvorsen said it had been the lawyers handling his daughter’s inheritance who made the transfer, not him.
On the day of the transfer, Halvorsen noted that the official Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) exchange rate had A$1, buying NZ$1.1038. At the RBA rate, the family’s transfer of $779,995 would equal approximately A$707,000. He expected to end up with something close to A$700,000 after typical retail rate and fees. However, when they received the letter from the bank, they were shocked to discover they had charged a flat A$15 fee along with a conversion rate of 1.1353, resulting in A$687,012 being transferred.
The family has since complained to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.
Halvorsen’s daughter received a letter from ANZ acknowledging the complaint and said it was willing to work towards resolving the family’s “concerns” and offered them a “goodwill gesture payment of $6610”, which the family had seven days to accept.
ANZ said no errors were made in the case. However, it noted that if on the day of the transfer, the family had asked ANZ staff about the market rate, they could have been offered a better rate, resulting in the $6610 difference.
The letter also provided “additional information” about the exchange rates, stating that the official exchange rates often quoted online and in the media are wholesale prices for transfers between banks and not available to retail customers. Banks and dealers added margins to protect themselves should the wholesale rates change dramatically during the day.
Claire Matthews, an associate professor at Massey Business School, said people moving large sums of money overseas should seek financial advice. Lawyers are not financial experts, nor are they expected to be. People should go directly to their foreign exchange dealer (e.g. XE) or their bank to negotiate and look at the conversion rates they are offering rather than the published wholesale rates.
Conversion rates can fluctuate daily and depend on whether the money is exchanged in New Zealand or Australia.
Expats posting on Facebook pages, such as Kiwis moving to Aussie and Kiwis Moving to Melbourne (Original), backed her advice. Contributors on both sites suggest negotiating with banks, while many also recommend using online foreign exchange providers like XE or Wise, which they said offered better rates.
Meanwhile, Halvorsen has been struggling to sleep as he can’t help but think that, while not illegal, the conversion rate has left him personally feeling like he’s been wronged. To him, it feels like a major bank is scamming its customers while at the same time advising customers on how to avoid scams.
Editor’s note: Thank you Carl Halvorsen for sharing your story. I’m sure you will save other Kiwi family’s thousands of dollars by doing so. It’s so sad it cost you so much to learn this valuable lesson. I hope you sleep better soon, JJ Smith.
As mentioned earlier, we experienced this firsthand. Fortunately, it only involved a few thousand dollars—not the value of an entire home.
I occasionally hear from visitors who are unsure about trusting an online foreign exchange company. However, I can confidently vouch for XE. They have an excellent customer service team that is always ready to assist. I’ve personally spoken to them multiple times, and their support has been outstanding.
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