TL;DR: What are the currency conversion options for changing ~4 figures CAD cash to CHF in Switzerland after a wedding reception?
So, for context, I reside in Canada. When I visit Switzerland, I mostly use card with a little bit of CHF cash here and there. When I get home, I can just deposit (sell) any leftover CHF bills into my CAD bank account.
I was chatting with my cousin who lives in Geneva and she was saying she can’t do that with CAD into her CHF accounts. She’s visiting family here in Canada and will likely end up with a pile of CAD cash (~4 figures) after a reception since she just got married. What are her options to convert it back in Switzerland or is she better off getting family to help her convert it here?
If she wants to absolutely minimise the exchange fees and maximise the rates, then the best would be to deposit the money into a someone’s CAD account in Canada and then use a service like TranswerWise or similar to exchange and send to the CHF account in Switzerland. This means finding a trustworthy person and dealing with the hassle
Otherwise cash exchange at SBB in the airport is the easiest - some fees but not extortionate and 0 hassle
Personally I found the Raiffeisen exchange rates cheapest. Just ask at SBB and at a Raiffeisen branch and compare. For only 4 figures the hassle of opening an account is not worth it.
I found that Raiffeisen is cheapest for Euros, they’re also cheaper than SBB. So they may well be cheapest for CAD as well. But that still means about 5 Rappen margin per CAD, so roughly 10% down the drain.
So, even for 4-digit amounts dandi’s suggestion in #4 is probably worth doing. It’s easy money after all and you don’t need to hurry.
Wow, the options in Switzerland are way more limited than I thought they’d be. Getting someone to convert it here looks to be the way. Hell, if it’s only 4 fig (or even low 5 depending on the grand parents, I am just guessing after all) She could probably save the wire fees and just get the 1000 CHF notes and bring it home that way.
The conversion if I were to buy CHF cash through my bank is approx 3% atm. (~1.68 Rappen/CAD vs the xe.com rate.
Side note, does Private Account mean general public? In Canada, when Banks talk about “private” accounts or “private banking” you’re usually a High Net-Worth client to even qualify.
Had a quick look at the SBB site, you can only order to buy CAD, not to sell. At buy the exchange rate is 0.63 Vs 0.58 online… 10% margin, I would withdraw my assessment of “not extortionate”. You can apparently only find out the exchange rate on sell if you walk to one of their exchange desks
Exchanging to CHF cash in Canada won’t change anything, in fact it might well be even worse. Because in both cases either currency is relatively low-volume and foreign.
Handling cash is risky and thus expensive, that applies triple to low-volume foreign currencies. If you have businesses handle foreign cash for you you have to pay up.
The only way out is handling the cash side yourself (or by people you trust) and switch to electronic transfers in the currency’s country (applies to all currencies). This can reduce the exchange cost literally to a pittance (see IBKR exchange rates, also Wise and Revolut).
Beware, PostFinance allows you to open an account in CAD, but they do not allow you to deposit CAD cash. The same for other currency accounts like GBP. The only cash deposit they accept is CHF in EUR.
UBS accepts cash in almost any currency, but unless it’s CHF, they charge a “counting fee” like 10% making the whole process too expensive (compared to changing cash in a bureau de change)
I think you missed the part where I can walk into one of the big 5 banks here in Canada and get CHF cash immediately at ~3% fee. That’s the “bad” rate for expediency’s sake. (Significantly better than the 10% that has been mentioned for changing it in Switzerland, though.) While I’m not sure if they have the 1000 CHF note, I know they have 100 and down so they probably have the 200 at worst.
That said, it sounds like she may have figured out getting Wise to work for her.
Good luck finding a 1k note anywhere, including in Switzerland. They seem to disappear as soon as they are released. Where? In safety deposit boxes, in mattresses, buried in the back garden? Who knows.
From what I understand, the crowd wisdom brought additional insight that @RL106 did not have before. Additionally, it also enriched my knowledge. So, the posting was probably worth while
