Cross-border payments
One of these charges no fee. It is the expensive one.
Send GBP 2,000 to the eurozone through two providers on the same afternoon. Both quote their fees honestly. What lands in the account is not the same number, and the gap is not in the fee.
GBP 2,000.00 to EUR, mid-market rate 1.17
Advertises no commission
Zero-commission broker
EUR 2,272.14
Costs EUR 67.86 on this transfer, all of it in the rate. 2.90%.
Advertises a EUR 11.40 fee
App transfer
EUR 2,318.52
Costs EUR 21.48 on this transfer, fee included. 0.92%.
At the mid-market rate, EUR 2,340.00 would arrive.
Nobody sends at the mid-market rate. The question is how far from it you are.
EUR 46.38 a transfer
EUR 1,113.12 a year at two transfers a month, between two providers a customer would call equally cheap.
Five deductions, in the order the money leaves
01
Advertised fee
The only one most providers name, and usually the smallest.
02
Percentage fee
Quietly proportional. It does not shrink as the amount grows.
03
Exchange-rate markup
Never quoted as a cost. It is where a zero-fee provider earns.
04
Intermediary deduction
Taken in transit by a bank neither side chose.
05
Receiving bank charge
Applied at the far end, after the sender has stopped looking.
Work it yourself
Change any number and watch which provider wins
It opens on the two providers above. Move the rate markup on either one and the answer changes, usually before the fee does.
What each kind of provider advertises, and what that hides
High-street bank
A single transfer fee, stated up front
A flat wire fee, a correspondent deduction you never see quoted, and the widest rate markup on this list.
3.4%
rate markup
App transfer
The real exchange rate, no markup
Genuinely cheap on the rate, and the percentage fee is the part that grows with the amount.
0.35%
rate markup
Zero-commission broker
0% commission
Nothing is charged as a fee. Everything is charged in the rate, which is why the headline can be true and the transfer still expensive.
2.9%
rate markup
Card network payout
Arrives in minutes
Fast and predictable, with a percentage that does not fall as the amount rises.
1.1%
rate markup
Marketplace payout
Free payouts to your account
Priced for the platform rather than the recipient: a small fee, a moderate markup, and a receiving bank charge at the far end.
1.8%
rate markup
The markup is not the same everywhere
A corridor with deep liquidity is priced near the mid-market rate. A thin one is not, and the gap is the whole business.
Put your own numbers through it
Send us the two providers you are choosing between and the corridor you send on. We will work the arithmetic through and send back what actually arrives.
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