Hmmm, this year and last, Martin Luther king day, both arrived late on the Tuesday/Wednesday. Very good exchange rate no more than 4 Euros - sometimes no difference with best exchange rate.
Have compared DWP old age pensions and government pension payments via Citibank with Currency Exchange on a number of occasions and not much in it. Perhaps more interestingly I wrote to the Government Service provider suggesting next time they competed the contract for that service they should include the need for the service provider to provide on a website details of the echange rate they used on each day so that it made for easier comparison by folks like us. Totally ignored. This exchange motivates me to try again.
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If I pick my moment and get €1.195 when the exchange rate on the day is €1.205, but the day the official transfer is a few days later when the rate is 1.19, how does that give a better rate than mine, however the advantages of scale work?
You might want to try Revolt - you would get €1.205.
So what do they make out of it?
They make money on other services - they do more than just transfers
We did the transfers for a relatively cheap house 2 years ago and saved approx 1000€ euros.
AIUI from friends in the banking world, UK Govt appoints a couple of international banks to undertake FX transactions – including, but not limited to, pensions.
AIUI the contract is a multi-year appointment since it involves extensive IT work – it’s more complex than simply arranging a few SWIFT transfers. I don’t know any detail, sorry, this is what I’m told by a banker who spent several months on secondment to the Treasury.
Most of the banks who do this sort of stuff are in the US, hence the occasional delays for US public holidays. But in our experience – both mine and MrsW’s state pensions are paid into our French banks, the money always arrives the next day.
I suppose that when the contract is renewed Barclays or HSBC might be interested – but it isn’t a hugely profitable piece of business for an agreed fee, since I’m told the Treasury polices the rates to make sure that HMG and we pensioners get the benefit, rather than the bank concerned.
My banker chum says that only banks with highly automated, large scale FX payment systems could do this profitably: the fee per transaction will be tiny,
HTH
Ken
I
So, even if that is all you do with them, no other services of any kind, ever, the service is entirely free is it? And no constant, or occasional, blandishments at all, to use these other services, and no paper work to fill in, online or otherwise?
In our case that would amount to a saving of just 180€ per year, only worth it if it was as seamless as it is now, with none of the above involved.
I think it you tried to sign up to a currency trader today you would get a mountain of paperwork! (Real or virtual)
We use Wise as signing up for Revolut became too fiddly when you have a lousy internet speed and a very old phone, after trying three times I ditched them. But once that stage with Wise done we have had no adverts or other annoyances.
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It is free to set up a Revolut account so why not just try it. There are different account levels, the basic account is free. There are other accounts that you can pay a fixed fee for which include travel insurance etc (like most banks).
There is a referral scheme - I can refer you if you wish whereby both you and I would get a small payment.
There are more details here:
The reason why not is just what @JaneJones says, and the link you provide alerts me instantly to another problem, everybody these days seems to think they cannot exist without a smartphone. An app that I can tap anywhere is completely useless to me. I have nothing to “tap” it with. 
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We use Wise - you get the current money market exchange rate so they won’t be beaten on that, but there are (modest) fees for transactions, so they make money out of that.
Are the “modest” fees less than 1cent on the rate Geoff?
Considerably, David! I transferred £10,000 the other day - (12000 euros as it happens) and was charged 35
But they’re independent of the exchange rate, aren’t they? I thought they were relative to the amount?
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That’s correct - they are! It would be 3euros 50 (I think) for £1000 transfer. I just included what it converted to for interest but can see it gives a wrong impression- sorry!
OK, a bit cheaper then me, I got 1.19 with no charges on £6,000, thus €60 compared to you. Stuck in my ways though, at only 3 times or so a year I can’t be bothered with a change.
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I can relate to that, David
Last time I used Wise (about a month ago), the exchange rate was the same as the bank rate - cannot get better than that.
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On this subject, OH was surprised to get his £10 bonus this Christmas as he thought that had been stopped for non-residents. So we wondered if this was because his pension is paid into a UK bank.
Did those of you who get your state pension direct into French bank get your bonus?