Assuming that I quit these fair lands shortly, I'll be looking to move the loot I've accumulated to my new home. Could be a Sterling or Euro zone, not 100% sure yet (ie. I haven't even started really looking for a new job).

I'm pretty sure that there must be more favourable rates available than that from just a straight bank transfer. Actually, it's a pretty large amount so I imagine there might be a little more to it than just clicking on my eBanking anyway.....

So, what's the best way to convert the moolah to another currency?


Gav

Hi Gav
1. Option
Try Ruesch International in Zurich as they are specialized in foreign exchange. Not sure if they still open accounts for individuals though. I used to work for these guys and know they offer more competitive rates than banks. Their office is on Werdstrasse 2.
Phone: 0080080424242

2. Option
Check out www.wechselstube.ch

3. Option
Depending on your the amount you intend to convert, try calling your bank directly. As of CHF 100K, you could be getting a rate very close to interbank.

Good luck don't let them screw you, like they screw everybody ;-)
eric

you might find that you can convert your funds from SFr to €; I have a contact who might be able to help you

Gav, if you move your money to another location you don't necessarily have to change the currency. Likewise you could change it to another currency and leave it where it is (in Switzerland). What I am saying is that the decision about which currency to hold should be independant of the decision about where to hold that currency. If you hold it in a bank/jurisdiction with a bit of banking experience they will offer you competitive rates for whatever currency you may choose to hold. For my tastes the CHF offers way too little interest and seems to still be overvalued, but everyone has their own opinions, you'd have to decide for yourself You'd also have to consider taxation issues in your new location and also consider withholding tax issues (if applicable).

hmm.. with GBP poised to cross the 2.00 USD mark, i'm having second thoughts of holding a USD bank account.. In the past, the best currency rates i got for transactions was thru credit card companies. Though, I should admit I am not aware of any way to convert large sums thru this channel.

Also, you should get a better swap price if you try to sell CHF outside switzerland. What i usually do is to wire the money in base currency (USD wire in my case) and ask the destination bank to convert it. I get 2-4% better rates this way. And, yes it will matter for the "large dosh".

I would not change chf to euros right now, it is about the worst time in quite a while as the chf is very weak against the euro. I would keep it in an account here and wait.

See this graph for last two years of exchange rates for Euro vs Franc. It is a great site by the way for historic rates, goes back for years. Site itself: http://fx.sauder.ubc.ca/plot.html

image:
http://fx.sauder.ubc.ca/cgi/fxplot?b...g&a=lin&m=0&x=

Ok, if you want to do this, say convert CHF from a Swiss bank account to another Swiss account in Euros, which exchange rate do banks use? Is this when you get the options of Spots and Futures? Or do they use the same rate as international banking rates?

Disclaimer: I am not an expert in financial stuff.

IMO there are other reasons to stay out of the USD. One is the recent, sudden credit squeeze in the US mortgage area. This, apparently, has had, and is still having, some nasty side effects. Also China might be getting ready to give The Federal Reserve a good fisting. Here is my summary of this summary. The list goes on and on. Watch the world indices and see what happens.

The Chinese start to swing a $1.33trillion cudgel
Two officials at leading Communist Party bodies have given interviews in recent days warning - for the first time - that Beijing may use its $1.33 trillion (£658bn) of foreign reserves as a political weapon to counter pressure from the US Congress.

The ECB injected 95bn euros of "special liquidity tender" into the banking sector.

From this
The European Central Bank stunned markets on Thursday with its aggressive intervention to quash a brewing liquidity crisis in European financial markets.

After noting a sharp rise in overnight interest rates to 4.7 per cent – far above the target 4 per cent – the ECB put out a statement in the morning saying it stood 'ready to assure orderly conditions in the euro money market'.

Equally striking was the amount of money the 49 banks that took up the tender received: €94.8bn ($129bn). This was far above the €69bn banks took on September 12 and the €40bn the next day. By contrast, the Federal Reserve – which also saw overnight rates move up to above 5.75 per cent, compared with its target rate of 5.25 per cent – took less drastic action to support liquidity.

The New York Fed brought forward by a few minutes its normal daily open market operations, injecting a total of $24bn in overnight and 14 day repos during morning trading.

World Stocks Plunge on Credit Fears
...Amid Friday's decline, the Bank of Japan said it injected 1 trillion yen ($8.39 billion) into money markets to curb rises in a key overnight interest rate.

Stocks Tumble as French Bank Reacts to Home Loan Worries
Jonathan Mullen, a spokesman for BNP, said that the credit squeeze in the United States had made it impossible to calculate the value of the underlying assets of the funds and that the bank was obliged by market conditions to halt holders of the funds from cashing out or new investors from buying shares in the funds.

'It’s quite exceptional to suspend funds, and it means that people can’t buy in or sell out of the funds,' Mr. Mullen said. 'But we hope this is going to be temporary and that the market will come back.' (my emphasis).

I have mentioned XEtrade in earlier posts.

I have used XEtrade (www.xe.com) three times to wire CHF to a UKP account. They charge CHF 25. The rates you get change constantly, and are based on current market rates. You start a deal, click a button and get 60 seconds to accept a rate. Once you do, you have something like 3 working days to wire them your CHF at the agreed rate.

Account set up is a bit involved. You need to send certain documents, and a telephone conversation is required. This is when they ask questions where they will set your per-trade currency limit. As you will pay 25 bucks per wire transfer, it should be nice to have a high limit, no?

I have found their support staff to be excellent, courteous, and helpful. But my first time setting up a tranfer I found confusing.

On April 19th, I got a UKP/ CHF rate of 2.4690
On July 30th, I got a rate of 2.4637
On August 6th, I got a rate of 2.4492

I have no idea how that compares to my Bank's rates on those days.

BeastofBodMin, don' t you also have to pay for the wire transfer to XE.com, I mean your Swiss bank would charge to pax Xe, then XE charges to pay the UK bank right?

I just transfer the funds, including the 25 bucks, to a Swiss account held by XE in Geneva. The money is wired to the UKP account from there.