Big banks lag specialists in money transfer services
Canstar has given Citibank, OzForex and WorldFirst top ratings in its latest review of international money transfer services.With ratings based on pricing (exchange rates and transaction fees) and features, Citi, OFZ and WorldFirst received five-star ratings."All three institutions offer very competitive exchange rates," said Mitch Watson, Canstar's group manager research and ratings."They also offer real-time currency quotes, online calculators, 24-hour service and a wide range of currencies," he said.HiFX, HSBC and TorFX received four-star ratings.The Big Four banks received three-star ratings, along with Arab Bank, Bank of Melbourne, Bank of Sydney, Bendigo Bank and Suncorp Bank.Canstar looked at nine currencies (averaged over four weeks) to assess the difference between the rates quoted by 19 different providers. For a transfer into US dollars it found a range of quoted rates from US$0.749 to US$0.720, which would result in a difference of US$2888 on a A$100,000 transfer.