Sparkasse International Transfers in 2023: Charges, Exchange Rates, and Alternatives

Known for its vast network of public banks across Germany, Sparkasse offers a wide range of retail, business, and investment services to Germany customers, including foreign exchange and remittance services.

Although Sparkasse gives you excellent banking services all around, when it comes to making international transfers from Germany in particular, the bank can be surprisingly pricey. When sending an international payment online (either through your Online-Banking or the Sparkasse Ihre mobile Filiale' app), the following costs will apply per transaction:

• A around €35 combined processing fees and third-party expense fees,
• A 0.75% to 5% exchange rate margin.

In the end, this means that whenever you make an outgoing payment from Germany with Sparkasse, you'll pay a not-so-insignificant amount in total fees, leaving anyway between 0.75% to 5% or more of the entire value of the transfer chomped up by charges. Save money now by finding the cheapest and fastest alternative with Monito's live comparison engine below. 👇

Sparkasse International Transfer Fees

Sparkasse Bank international transfers are processed as international wires. This means that, as a customer of Sparkasse, you'll need to use your online or mobile banking account to instruct a transfer, and Sparkasse will wire your funds over SWIFT to reach its destination in a foreign country and currency.

Banks generally make money from you on SWIFT transfers by levying commissions, fixed charges, or a combination of the two on the amount you send. This is also the case with Sparkasse, which charges a combined processing fees and third-party expense fees of around €35 for every international transfer you make with them.

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Correspondent Bank Fees

In addition to this combined processing fees and third-party expense fees, you might also be charged a correspondent bank fee (not by Sparkasse but by a third-party bank) which can range anywhere between €10 and €100.

This fee (also called an 'agent charge') isn't incurred every time you transfer money abroad, but it might happen if Sparkasse Bank cannot transfer your funds directly into your beneficiary's bank account and needs to rely on a correspondent or intermediary bank to get the job done.

Sparkasse Exchange Rates

In addition to the abovementioned costs, Sparkasse will include another (less transparent) fee in your transfer. These fees, known as FX margins, are charged when banks or other currency exchange providers offer poorer exchange rates than the 'real' exchange rate (called the mid-market rate), thereby making a small profit on every euro converted into a foreign currency.

While Sparkasse FX margins may not appear very high (typically between 0.75% and 5% of the total transfer amount, according to our analysis), these costs can stack up quickly.

It's worth noting that — as with other Germany banks — Sparkasse charges lower FX margins if you're sending a euro transfer to a major world currency like the British pound, US dollar, euro, or Singaporean dollar. On the other hand, its FX margins for conversions to less-traded world currencies like Indonesian rupiahs or Nepali rupees tend to be much higher.

Sparkasse International Transfer Alternatives

According to our analysis of thousands of comparisons from Germany here on Monito, the following money transfer service offers the cheapest money transfers from Germany to various countries worldwide. If you plan to send money to a specific country, be sure to double-check in advance whether the provider below facilitates transfers there and whether it's the best deal in your specific case.

Wise

Wise is a low-cost and trusted online money transfer provider supporting transfers from Germany to dozens of countries and currencies worldwide.

• Wise Charges: €0.45 + 0.56%
• Wise Exchange Rates: 0%
• Available Destinations From Germany: Turkey, India, Poland, the USA, Ukraine, Thailand, the Philippines, the UK, Ghana, Switzerland, and many others.

As you can see, Wise is a great way to send money abroad from Germany and is usually significantly cheaper than Sparkasse on a per-transfer basis. However, even Wise with its great pricing isn't always the cheapest provider from Germany, and the best deal varies depending on the market, your destination country, and many other factors. To find the best deal in real time, simply compare providers in real time below! 👇