Sharing this as it might be of interest to someone else trying to find out which currency transfer company gives the best rate.
I transferred 700 francs from my cantonal bank account to my Barclays UK account with each to see which would do best.
I chose 700 as £500 is about the level where these exchange companies start applying serious money rates.
Unfortunately currency fair were a total pita with sign up so I had to split it into two rounds.
Scores rounded to the nearest 50p.
Round 1: Currencies Direct vs. Transferwise
Transfers initiated in the early afternoon of the 15th (so my bank processed it on the 16th). Both arrived on the 17th- Currencies Direct a little faster.
CD score: £551 - 6chf transfer fee I had to pay on my end
TW score: £559
Round 2: Transferwise vs. Currency Fair
Transfers initiated on the evening of the 21st (so my bank processed it on the 22nd). Both came on the 23rd, TW a hour or two earlier.
TW score: £553
CF score: £551.50
So there we have it.
In spite of all the bad press about them fudging their numbers...it seems Transferwise is indeed the best, though Currency Fair isn't so much worse that its worth switching if you're already on them.
IB is the best. At least for larger amounts, $700 is just pocket change
I don't know what guide you're talking about, but if it only talks about forex and nothing about stocks, real estate, business and taxes, it is totally utterly wrong indeed.
I recently converted 40k CAD to EUR. Transferwise charged a total margin+ fee of 0.7%. Their online assistances was fine, and the money was transfered in a couple of days (I think it is slower for Canada, than for interEurope transfers)
The best I found from other currency transfer operations was 1.4%.
Some downside I think is minimum account balances and they probably would like you to see you trading every now and then, not just do a one off conversion. IB charges $10/month if you don't trade and don't hold at least $100k stock with them. Captrader should be less strict AFAIK. Also transfers out aren't free, you get one free transfer per month with IB. And transfer in incur some bank fees as it's to abroad.
Here are a few quotes I pulled just now within a couple of minutes. Each conversion below about 100k comes out to about 2-2.5 Fr in IB's own commission plus market bid-ask spread. Spread is about 0.001-0.002% for EUR/CHF in my quotes and as you can see rates varied a bit in every example. It's all basically at the level of minute rate volatily. If you have more than a few thousands to convert you have much more to gain or lose by trading at the wrong time of the day or even hour, so there's no point to even think about them unless you're into forex day trading.
IB's CHF account is in UK, wire transfer to it will not be free as it is abroad, so add your bank's wire fee to the cost. Cheapest I've been charged was 2 Fr (swissquote and cantonal banks). Or transfer EURs, it's free with SEPA at most banks, although not all.
Can I use Currency Fair / Transfer Wise to change currency without transaction abroad, i.e. from one my account to another at the same bank within CH ?