Hi all,
Before moving here I brought some relatively large amount of cash over in GBP, and would like to convert it into CHF.
All the official options that I could find are relatively bad. The banks usually charge around 5% (as determined by the difference between the buy/sell rate).
I was wondering if anyone wanted to do the reverse... i.e. someone about to go/move to Switzerland who wants to get some GB cash??
We can use the interbank exchange rate (agreed on beforehand).
Please PM me.

I once needed to exchange equivalent to CHF 20-25.000 in Germany, and when I asked, they did offer a better exchange rate.

If the amount is large enough, you may get a better offer.

Also, be aware, that scottish pounds get a worse exchange rae than english pounds.

Doc.

do you need the chf? if not dont exchange now as the rate is the worst for 11 years plus.
if you are to become resident here put it in the Isle on Mann offshore and get 6 to 8% gross and no UK tax.
if you need the chf best of luck

Why is that? Bloody stupid if you ask me. It's alll supposed to be British...

Simple answer - supply and demand. If a Swiss bank buys Bank of England pounds it will have demand in Switzerland and will be able to pass them on. If they buy notes issued by Scottish banks then the demand in Switzerland will very low and they will end up shipping them to their branch in Scotland (difference in exchange rates = estimated shipping costs).

If you have a GA (or, presumably, a Halb-Tax card - though you'd have to check), you can change your money commission-free at any big train station (the HB in your case) with a Bureau de Change.

I can't do anything about the exchange rate, though... sorry!

The rate generally is not particularly good right now but I used Moneycorp in London last year (one of many) FX companies, you can instruct them on a "target" rate, buy half now, hedge the rest etc etc. It does take some time to get ID set up with any of these type of companies so allow a few days for this. They charge no commission and transfer for £15 to any account in the world with a guarantee of no other charges from the receiving bank etc (not sure how likely that would be but its nice to know).

I don't think the rates likely to get a lot better any time soon but thats a WHOLE new thread !!

Hi Lokami,

You can get a very low commissions if you open a proper trading account with an online broker. I opened one recently with "Interactive Broker" (Google to find them). Commissions for < 10000 USD are about 0.01% (compared with 2-3% at a high-street bank).

It's usually pretty easy to transfer money into the account (by wire) in GBP and then to withdraw the same amount (again by wire) into your Swiss bank account in CHF. Although this isn't the intended purpose for such an account, you can use it to for this.

You will need to take a little while to setup the account (all online) and to scan passport and other docs for the opening. But once you've done that, it's really easy.

As for the "rate", well that's anyone's guess!

Alex.