Note that there are many companies advertising apparently astronomically good rates, sometimes significantly above interbank. These are speculations, and offered as "investment opportunities", often with "trial accounts", just like commodity futures such as pork bellies. No one who invests in pork bellies actually wants to take delivery, the goal is to sell the futures contract at a profit. (In fact, their worst nightmare is to have a huge tractor-trailer pull up in front of their home and have the driver get out and say "Your shipment of pork bellies is here - where do you want them?")
Most of these companies do not deliver actual foreign currencies at all. If you buy a currency future as a speculation, for instance, a Euros contract, bought in US Dollars, and want to convert it to actual Euros, they will sell the contract for US Dollars, and then hand the money to their bank for conversion to Euros - at retail - plus the broker's fee. The net result is fewer Euros and a lot more paperwork and fees.
Integrity Financial is a delivery platform. If you have an actual transaction involving a foreign currency, if you are buying or selling something overseas, we move the money. We are not a speculation or an "income opportunity"; instead, we are the "post office" for your funds - we make the delivery.
Interbank rates quoted by the various reporting services for major currencies are fairly accurate, and are a good indication of about how much you can expect to receive, in the real world.
For minor currencies and for exotic currencies, these rates are not as reliable, and the rates on these currencies are not as stable as on major currencies. If at all possible, try to time your conversions during mid-week, when the market is settled, and avoid making trades early on Monday or late on Friday. Please also be aware that for political reasons, some governments may state interbank rates which are artificially high or low ("See how healthy/sick our economy is?"), and their currency often does not actually trade at those stated prices.
Compliance with applicable banking and currency regulations and with reporting requirements (if any) in either the source or destination country is the client's responsibility.
2. Fees
Since we have certain fixed costs per transaction, we are not competitive on conversions of less than about $6,000 or equivalent in the major currencies. If your trade involves a minor currency, or is a complex or urgent transaction, and getting it done is more important than the absolute yield, please call us to see if we can be of assistance.
For transactions of under $10,000 or equivalent, we have a flat fee of $150. We usually beat the banks on transactions of this size, and are faster and with more personalized service as well.
For transactions of $10,000 or more, the fee is $300 or one percent (whichever is more). We can easily save you thousands and thousands of Dollars on transactions in this range.
For transactions of over $100,000, the fee is less than one percent, depending on the amount of the transaction. We are so far ahead of the banks here that it is no contest. On one transaction of just over a million Dollars, the rate moved slightly and we saved our client just over $40,000. The bank would have pocketed it, instead, the client got it and was rather pleased, to put it mildly.
Our fee can be paid inside or outside of the transaction, depending on your requirements.
We do not charge wire transfer fees. However, your originating bank, some intermediary banks, and/or the final receiving bank MAY charge additional wire transfer fees, which will be deducted from the net yield.
3. Time For Transfers, Correspondent Bank List
Transactions involving major currencies are usually completed within 48 to 72 hours of receipt of verified funds in the transfer accounts at the banks listed below, or other bank and escrow account as may be required for a particular transaction. This excludes weekends, holidays, acts of God, telecommunications difficulties, delays due to incorrect or incomplete routing instructions, failure of recipient to confirm receipt in a timely fashion, or similar. Transactions involving minor or exotic currencies can take a few days longer.
Please note that your money never goes into or through any bank account either owned or controlled by us! There is a full SWIFT audit trail for the entire transaction.
Correspondent Banks:
Citibank London for:
Australian Dollar (AUD)
For other currencies:
Danish Krone (DKK), Nordea Bank, Copenhagen
Hong Kong Dollar ((HKD), Standard Chartered Bank, Hong Kong
Korean Won (KRW), Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corp., Seoul Note: Outgoing currency controls apply.
Mexican Peso (MXN), Banco de Boston S.A., Mexico City
Norwegian Krone (NOK), Nordea Bank Norge ASA, Oslo
Singapore Dollar (SGD), Standard Chartered Bank, N.A., Singapore
South African Rand (ZAR), Ned Bank, Johannesburg Note: As of February 2006, we can do transfers both into and out of ZAR. Previously, outgoing Rand conversions were done only by SA banks, at officially preset (awful) rates.
Swedish Krona (SEK), Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, Stockholm
Thai Baht (THB), Standard Chartered Bank, Bangkok
US Dollar (USD), Bank of Rhode Island, Providence, RI
Be aware that many banks accumulate incoming wire transfers during the day, but do not post them until midnight local time. They may also delay up to 24 or 48 hours after posting before sending a notification of arrival. It has been our experience that even though your money is actually there, you may not get a notification of arrival or use of the funds until a day or two after they are posted.
Our fees are per transaction, which is defined as a single, one way funds transfer/currency exchange. We reserve the right to change our fee structure or service terms before services are performed. We will notify you before performing the conversion and transfer if our terms change.
Example transaction: "I sold something here and want to send the money home." $50,000 to GBP, exact amount to arrive not important. Wire in $50,000, one percent fee deducted, $49,500 is converted to GBP to arrive in UK bank account.
Example transaction: "I'm buying something in the UK, and the seller wants the GBP equivalent of $50,000, and no less." $50,000 to GBP, exact equivalent of $50,000 to arrive. Wire in $50,000 plus 1% fee, entire $50,000 converted to GBP to arrive in UK bank account.
Any minor adjustments to balance accounts or fees are paid in US Dollars. (This is very rare, and is usually a matter of only a very few dollars one way or the other.) We do have a GBP payment facility available, please inquire.
British Pound (GBP)
Canadian Dollar (CDN)
Swiss Franc (CHF) (Note: Limit on incoming WT amount.)
Euro (EUR) (The Euro countries are: Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Finland, France (including French Guiana, French Southern Territories, Martinique, Reunion Island, Mayotte, the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, where it is cold, and the islands of St. Martin/St. Maartin and St. Barts, where it is warm), Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the Vatican.)
Japanese Yen (JPY)
New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
4. Times of Trade
Trades are made at the following times:
First Trade of day, 7:30 AM PST, all currencies except Latin American currencies and Indian Rupees
Second Trade of day, 8:45 AM PST, Latin American Currencies and Indian Rupees*
Last Trade of day, 11:30 AM PST, all currencies
*The 8:45 AM PST trading time results in best execution for these currencies due to local market considerations.
Confirmation of trades is generally available (exact rate and amount) about an hour after trade time. Settlement confirmation is within 48 to72 hours, excluding weekends and local holidays.
We use fixed trade times specifically because it "keeps our clients out of Las Vegas". When financial markets are settled (which is most of the time, media reports notwithstanding), daily exchange rates move slowly and over small ranges. Sitting in front of a monitor watching for rate changes measured in tiny fractions of a cent/pfennig/centime and then yelling "Now!" is not cost effective unless your trade is extremely large.
If you do not have a time constraint, it is probably worthwhile to monitor longer term weekly trends. For instance, if the rate change trend is in your favor, delay the trade to the last moment so you can get the best possible rate. If the rate trend is not in your favor, do your trade as quickly as possible to minimize exchange losses. Please remember that trying to make a profit on the currency conversion in addition to your basic transaction is going to be highly unlikely. Currency conversion costs are an expense, which we can keep to an absolute minimum for you.
No "excess funds" or "marooned bank accounts" on behalf of dead African dictators or oil companies and/or their heirs/executors/buddies, real or imagined. Come on guys, we heard this one already. Try something new.
No "deals" involving billions in currency X in a warehouse somewhere, with dozens of faxes talking about non-disclosure/non-circumvention agreements, prime bank guarantees, fresh cut funds, ready, willing and ables, and especially "tranches". These are not real, and are a total waste of everyone's time. The only winner here is the phone company, from all those overseas faxes.
No Iraqi Dinars, old, Bremer, or new. This is a speculation, pure and simple. There's no market. (Sorry.) Think about it - if the Iraqis don't want this stuff, why should we?
All details of all transactions are totally confidential. We do not sell, rent or otherwise disclose names, addresses, e-mail addresses, transaction details, amounts, routings, account numbers or any other information whatsoever to any person, company, or organization not directly involved in performing the actual transaction, or to any government entity, save only under full due process of law in the governing jurisdiction.
4-30-08
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