ASB International Money Transfers: Everything You Need To Know

Are you considering using ASB to send an international payment from New Zealand? While the bank is reasonably priced all things told, you may end up paying more than you anticipate in exchange rate margins, correspondent bank fees, and transaction costs.

Take a look at Monito's guide to find out everything you need to know about international payments with ASB, from exchange rates to alternatives, and more:

Established in the mid-nineteenth century as Auckland Savings Bank, ASB Bank is today one of the largest and most prominent banks in New Zealand, offering a range of retail, business, and rural banking services to New Zealanders nationwide.

With a strong emphasis on its digital presence, ASB offers customers a wide range of financial services through the convenience of its online banking platform, FastNet Classic. Among the features available on this platform is sending international money transfers from the New Zealand dollar to other countries at reasonable exchange rates. However, the service comes with a rather high transaction fee that makes transfers of smaller amounts very expensive.

What Will ASB Charge You?

To send an online international money transfer with ASB, you'll need to use your FastNet Classic online banking account. These transfers form a specific type of transactions known as wire transfers or telegraphic transfers.

Instead of a commission fee (where you'd be charged a percentage of your transfer value), BNZ will charge you a fixed fee of NZ$15.00 for each transaction, regardless of the amount you send.

ASB Exchange Rates: Beware The Hidden Fees

The NZ$15.00 transaction fee you'll pay when sending an international payment with ASB's FastNet Classic will not be the only fee you'll pay.

In addition, you'll also pay what's known as an exchange rate margin for each transaction that involves currency exchange. In essence, this is the fee that ASB pockets by offering you an ever-so-slightly poorer exchange rate than the one it has access to, known as the mid-market exchange rate.

At ASB, these exchange rate margins vary quite dramatically depending on the currency you're buying using your New Zealand dollars. For Pacific Island currencies, they tend to be highest (as much as 5% of the transfer value), while for major currencies such as the Aussie dollar, the US dollar, and the British pound, ASB charges a lower exchange rate margin of between 1% and 2%.

The Costs Combined

When taken together, ASB's exchange rate margins and fixed fees can constitute a fairly hefty slice of your transfer amount — one which you'll feel most if you plan on sending a small amount of money overseas.

For instance, let's assume you sent NZ$500 to the bank account of a friend living in India. With ASB, you'd pay NZ$9.77 (or 2.01% of your transfer value) in hidden exchange rate margin fees and a further NZ$15.00 in transaction fees. The total fee amount, NZ$24.77, would therefore constitute nearly 5% of your transfer amount and leave your recipient with ₹24,754 at the time of writing.

Weigh this up against making the same transfer with Wise, the much-loved money transfer specialist that was the cheapest service for this transfer on Monito's comparison engine at the time of writing. With Wise, you'd pay NZ$4.99 in transaction fees and a further NZ$0.05 in exchange rate fees, getting your friend ₹25,801 — more than 4% more than they'd have gotten with the bank.

To get a clearer picture of the exact costs you can expect when sending an international money transfer with ASB, take a look at the fee breakdown below (as of 12/03/2021 at 15:15 +01:00 GMT):

Compare the money transfer marketplace and save up to 95% in fees on your next transfer from New Zealand to any currency or country across the globe:

ASB International Money Transfers: Other Fees to Anticipate

Over and above the transaction fee and exchange rate margin that you'll pay when making an international money transfer with ASB, there may be other expenses yet before the money arrives in your beneficiary's account. Depending on your individual circumstances, these could include:

• A NZ$30.00 service fee for transfers that require staff assistance, whether in-branch or over the telephone;
• A NZ$30.00 service fee if you'd like to trace, amend, or cancel your transfer after already sending it.
• A correspondent bank fee (typically ranging between NZ$10 and NZ$100) if ASB doesn't have the operational expertise to handle financial transactions directly with your beneficiary's bank and they need to use a correspondent bank to get the job done.

Is ASB Right For You?

All things considered, whether you bank with ASB or whether you use them to send money overseas too; you'll find a reliable and relatively cheap partner for your everyday banking needs. We recommend you remain with ASB for international payments if you're sending a large amount of money abroad, and if you don't mind paying a bit extra in fees.

However, if you're planning on sending a smaller sum of money abroad (i.e. <NZ$1,000.00), or if you'd like to find the best deal on any transfer you send abroad no matter what the amount, then we recommend that you explore the marketplace of the many money transfer specialist services out there. These services are normally much cheaper than high-street banks, all while offering faster transfers and the same level of all-round security.

Wise was the cheapest transfer service on 38.8% of all comparisons from New Zealand on Monito in 2020

To compare the market and find the best exchange rates, fees, and transfer times for your next transfer abroad, run a search on Monito's comparison engine.

When it comes to alternatives to ASB, we particularly recommend you compare transfer services if you're sending money to countries other than Australia, the UK, the UK, the Eurozone, and Canada, for which exchange rates against the New Zealand dollar are more favourable. However, even for transfers to these countries, you'll still make savings! To get a better sense of just how this works, have a look at the table below to see how ASB stacks up against several top providers on a NZ$500.00 transfer to Australia (as of 12/03/2021 at 15:15 +01:00 GMT):

Photo credit: ASB