And I told you to change your bank to a proper bank.
It is an EU directive that mainstream banks must offer SEPA Instant transfers at no charge.
Purely for comparison, I asked exactly the same question to another FX company, Xe. They said that in practice, if they are confident you are ‘good for the money’, they will hold an agreed rate for up to 5/6 days, particularly given modest daily limits on amounts that can be transferred by some banks. She said that people making large transfers eg to buy a property will frequently take several days to bring the total transferred up to the agreed amount, so holding the rate is essential for them and their clients. I can’t help wondering if this practice isn’t perhaps more widespread than is publicly acknowledged by FX companies.
Yes, thank you Adam, I know you did.
Last time I checked, Société Générale was considered a proper bank but on your advice I looked around to see what other major French banks say about SEPA transfer times. Here’s a sample.
Crédit Mutuel:
BNP:
Crédit Agricole:
No mention of instant transfers anywhere.
How odd that there should be an EU directive requiring them to provide instant transfers within the SEPA region yet none of these big banks are complying.
Presumably the directive in question is “règlement (UE) nº 260/2012 du 14 mars 2012 établissant des exigences techniques et commerciales pour les virements et les prélèvements en euros”
If so, here’s the issue:
“Le règlement SEPA actuel, en effet, n’encadre pas précisément la mise en œuvre pratique de ce type de virements. De ce fait, le virement instantané n’est pas proposé partout, ou pas systématiquement.”
Thank you George. That’s reassuring.
Given my experience with the Soc Gen - and seemingly other major French banks have similar policies as regards transfer times - such practice on the part of Xe makes a lot of sense.
There’s reference to the “SEPA Instant Payment Protocol” online…a brief summary below of the conditions for it to apply-
It’s not clear to me - from a brief skim - whether individuals as opposed to businesses can use the Instant Payments Protocol.
Thanks again George.
I think any transfer I would be doing from my French bank in euros to, say, TorFx would meet those conditions.
Presumably the euros I would be sending would go into a euro-denominated account held by TorFx which would then convert them.
I think the simple fact is that in practice the Soc Gen - and quite a few other major French banks - don’t provide instant transfers within the SEPA region. Or at least not to individual customers.
Looks like the EU directive merely establishes the principle. Not the detailed practical arrangements.
Yes they do. Maybe not yours though. Again: CHANGE!
Read the EU directive
Yes they can. I use it at least once a week.
Change to who?
The Crédit Mutuel, the BNP, Crédit Agricole, etc all have the same policy on transfer times as the Soc Gen.
Credit Agricole Britline use SEPA instant.
Seems to me there’s lots of info (and therefore lots of choice) on this thread.
Naturally, each will find/ have their own favourite/trusted… fair enough.
Our friends were with SG, when they left to go to America SG were not happy to let go of their money. When they arrived in the US they set up a new account obviously and the manager sent over a request to have the funds transferred, even then SG didnt want to let go. Some rule or other was put into the message and funds were eventually released but it was a scarry time for my friends, new country and little money.
Thanks. I will look into Crédit Agricole Britline. Although if, as George says, companies like TorFx are in practice willing to wait a bit longer than 24 hours for the funds to reach them, that would solve the problem.
I’ll start shifting it now in that case!
We might well be moving to the UK next year.
I’ve been with SG for decades (they’re the default bank into which my employer pays all the salaries and they have a branch in the building that houses the organisation I work for)
but I don’t particularly like them.
Problem is none of my friends are any happier with their banks. Occasionally someone gets a conseiller they like but then the person moves on. Or the management changes.
It hardly seems worth the hassle of moving accounts when things can change so quickly at the new bank.
They’re free alright, no problem there.
It’s just that the maximum I can transfer myself via my Soc Gen app is EUR 6000.
For anything largeer than that, I have to go to the counter and ask them to raise the limit for that single transaction. Afterwards, the ceiling reverts to EUR 6000.
Any transfer I do manually over the counter (which I would probably want to do with a really large sum, say, to a currency specialist for the purpose of buying a house in the UK) costs EUR 8. The lady did at least think it would arrive the same day. And having spoken to TorFX, it seems they’re fairly flexible.
For now, I think the easiest solution for me is just to add EUR 6000 at a time to my Wise euro account. I’ve set an exchange rate alert so when the euro strengthens against the pound, I’ll transfer the accumulated sum from Wise to my UK bank account.
@Helenochka , I can’t ever remember having such problems with Britline, and that was with the most basic account (no card, no cheques). I just had to ring up the lady who’d been assigned to me and ask her to do things.
I’ve done the same.
That’s great they offer such a nice flexible service. I can’t imagine calling the SG and telling them to transfer, say, €200k to TorFX and they would do it instantly and for free.
But I don’t think the SG is unusual among high street French in imposing a €6k limit on transfers you do yourself via the app or website.
I asked my colleagues and most of them have even lower limits.
I don’t think they’re unusual in charging for transfers you do at the guichet, either.
My mind is at rest now, though, because at least they’ve said any funds sent “manually” (ie involving form filling at the guichet) would arrive the same day.
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