How Do I Transfer Money From Fnb to Fnb Account

FNB International Payments: Transfer Fees, Forex Rates, Alternatives, and Monito's Recommendation

Sep 13, 2021

One of the largest and most established multinational banks that call South Africa home, First National Bank (FNB) offers a wide range of retail, business, and investment services to customers in South Africa and across southern and central Africa.

While the bank provides excellent, secure, and affordable banking solutions to everyday customers, when it comes to international money transfers in particular, FNB can be extremely pricey. When making an outgoing payment from South Africa, FNB customers pay a hefty commission fee combined with a poor exchange rate margin, leaving between 10.00% and 25.00% of the entire value of the transfer being eaten up by fees.

FNB International Transfer Fees

In most cases, FNB international payments are processed as international wire transfers. This means that, as a customer, you'll need to use your online or mobile banking account to instruct a transfer, and FNB will wire your funds over the SWIFT network to reach its destination in a foreign country and currency.

Alternatively, FNB customers can also send money internally through FNB's partnership with MoneyGram — a feature that's available via mobile app, SMS banking, in-branch, or over the ATM.

FNB Charges for International Transfers

FNB international transfer fees are levied through a combination of commissions and fixed fees per transaction. For transfer instructions via online or mobile banking, these fees are the following:

A0.55% cutof the total transfer amount, capped at a minimum of R295.00 per transfer and a maximum of R550.00 per transfer;
A R185.00 flat fee for all transfers made in South African rands.

On the other hand, for transfer instructions in-person or over the phone, the fees are similar, albeit with much steeper maximum and minimum fee caps. They are as follows:

A0.65% cutof the total transfer amount, capped at a minimum of R400.00 per transfer and a maximum of R925.00 per transfer;
A R185.00 flat fee for all transfers made in South African rands.

FNB International Transfers: Other Fees to Anticipate

In addition to the mandatory fees highlighted above, you may meet other fees still when sending money abroad with FNB. Depending on your individual circumstances, these fees could include:

AR150.00 service fee if you're sending money to Namibia, Lesotho, or eSwatini (which together with South Africa form the Common Monetary Union and use a shared value across their currencies). This fee is in addition to the fixed fees outlined above, and in place of the exchange rate margin fees that you'll be skipping when sending to these currencies.
A correspondent bank fee that can range anywhere between R150.00 and R1,500.00 if FNB cannot transfer your funds directly into your beneficiary's bank account and needs to rely on a correspondent or intermediary bank to get the job done.

FNB MoneyGram Fees

In addition to standard wire transfers, MoneyGram from FNB is an alternative method for FNB customers to send money internationally. The service is primarily geared toward cash pick-up services, although MoneyGram — the second largest currency exchange company in the world — also processes bank transfers and mobile wallet payments too.

MoneyGram from FNB is accessible via the FNB mobile app, at an FNB ATM, in-branch, or by dialling *120*321#. The bank charges its own set of fixed fees and uses MoneyGram's forex rates (which are usually better than FNB's). These fixed fees are as follows:

FNB Forex Rates: Beware The Hidden Fees

In addition to the costs outlined above, FNB will also include another (less transparent) fee into your transfer. These fees, known as exchange rate margins, are charged when banks or other currency exchange providers offer poorer exchange rates than the "real" exchange (called the mid-market exchange rate), thereby making a small profit on every rand converted into a foreign currency.

While FNB forex margins may not appear to be very high (typically ranging between 1.00% and 4.00% of the total transfer amount), these costs stack up quickly.

It's worth noting that — as with other South African banks — FNB charges lower exchange rate margins on the three major world currencies (i.e. the British pound, US dollar, and the Euro) than it does on less-traded world currencies.

What's more, currencies that are pegged in value to the South African rand (i.e. the Namibian dollar, the Lesotho loti, and the Swazi lilangeni) have no exchange rate margins at all with FNB, and as a customer sending to these countries you'll be able to dodge one of the biggest fees in the international money transfer world entirely!

The Costs Combined

With both the service fees and the exchange rate margin fees taken into account, it becomes obvious that the cost of international payments with FNB can be exorbitant. For smaller transfers (<R1,500.00), the fees can easily come to a quarter of the entire transfer amount, and even for large transfers (>R50,000.00), they can reach nearly 5.00% of the total transfer amount for some currencies.

Suppose, for example, you were to use FNB for a R5,000.00 transfer to a friend in Kenya. After you'd paid R625.43 in total fees (a R470.00 service fee plus a R155.43 exchange rate margin fee), your rand amount would be converted across to Kenyan shilling and leave your friend with Ksh32,500.00 at the time of writing.

Contrast this to making the same transfer with Skrill, a London-based money transfer specialist available to South Africans and the cheapest on our comparison engine for this transfer at the time of writing. With Skrill, you'd pay no service fees and an exchange rate that's better than the mid-market by 0.05% or R2.41 at the time of writing. This would get your friend Ksh37,155.00 — or nearly 15.00% more than they'd have received with FNB.

To find out more about how FNB breaks down its fees on international payments, take a look at the graph below for several major currencies:

Compare the market and save up to 95% in fees compared to FNB

Receiving Money From Overseas in South Africa With FNB

While FNB makes receiving money from overseas in South Africa very easy, it's nevertheless almost as expensive as the other way around. To receive a wire transfer from an international bank via SWIFT, FNB will charge the following fees:

A0.55% cutof the total transfer amount, capped at a minimum of R195.00 per transfer and a maximum of R450.00 per transfer;
A R185.00 flat fee for all transfers made in South African rands.

Similarly to the FNB international transfer fees outlined earlier, the fee will be higher still if you'd like to receive money from overseas in-person or over the phone.

Is FNB Right For You?

All things considered, FNB is indeed a world-class partner for your everyday banking needs, and as a customer, you'll be able to rely on a secure and distinguished institution to help you with a wide range of services. As such, if you're happy to pay a little bit extra for the comfort and security of making an international money transfer with a bank such as FNB, then we'd recommend you stick with them, as they'll most likely give you everything you need.

However, if you're somebody who values saving money on these oftentimes expensive services, then FNB may not be the best choice for you. Instead, we advise that you explore your options on the many money transfer specialist services out there to see which one will offer you the best rates. To get the job done, run a search on Monito's comparison engine to find real-time rates and fees with all major providers available to South Africans.

For example, data from nearly 70 thousand real-time comparisons in the first six months of 2021 indicate that although WorldRemit, on average, offered the cheapest bank deposit transfers from South Africa (70% of global searches), other money transfer services such as CurrencyFair (cheapest on 12% of global searches), Xendpay (7%), and Skrill (4%) were better choices for transfers to certain countries.

How Do FNB International Transfers Compare?

To get a better picture of how FNB's foreign exchange services weigh up against a few of the specialist money transfer services mentioned above, take a look at how the costs weigh up on a R10,000.00 transfer to India in the comparison table below:

Quoted: 06/07/2021 19:00 GMT +02:00

Frequently Asked Questions About FNB International Money Transfers

How long does an international transfer take with FNB? ⏱

FNB international money transfers made via SWIFT typically take between one and three working days to arrive in the beneficiary's bank account abroad. However, these types of transfers can sometimes take longer still, especially if the beneficiary's bank is located in a less-served country. FNB transfers with MoneyGram, on the other hand, typically take between 10 minutes and two working days, depending on the chosen pay-out option.
Does FNB do exchange currency? 💱

Yes. As a major world-class banking institution, FNB most certainly does currency exchange. These services range from international wire transfers (as we explored in this article), to multicurrency bank accounts and travel cards, to buying foreign banknotes, as well as to currency exchange with MoneyGram and PayPal. While most of this you can do using your FNB online banking, you can also go to your bank branch. To see which FNB branches in South Africa offer currency exchange services, click here.
What is the FNB dollar/rand exchange rate? 💲

FNB's dollar/rand exchange rate is constantly fluctuating. To see the most up-to-date figure, visit the bank's foreign exchange rates page and click on the 'View rates' button.
Is FNB an international bank? 🌍

Yes. Although it's based out of South Africa and a vast majority of its customers are South African, FNB has operations in neighbouring Botswana and Namibia, making it an international bank, strictly speaking. What's more, FNB also has subsidiaries in many countries across Africa, including in Tanzania, Zambia, and Mozambique.
How do I make an FNB international payment? 💻
To send money as a wire transfer with FNB, you'll need to do the following:
1. Login to your FNB online banking profile;
2. Select 'Forex'from the tabs at the top of the interface;
3. Select the 'Global Payments' option;
4. Specify whether your payment is once-off or recurring;
5. Add all your recipient's banking details;
6. Enter the BoP code for your transfer;
7. Instruct the transfer.
How do I transfer money from FNB South Africa to FNB Namibia? ☀
To transfer money from FNB South Africa to FNB Namibia, you'll need to do make an international bank transfer just as you would to a bank in any other country. This is because FNB Namibia, despite being a subsidiary of FNB South Africa, remains functionally separate. To transfer money from FNB South Africa to FNB Namibia, you'll therefore need to do the following:
1. Login to your FNB online banking profile;
2. Select 'Forex'from the tabs at the top of the interface;
3. Select the 'Global Payments' option;
4. Specify whether your payment is once-off or recurring;
5. Add all your recipient's Namibian banking details;
6. Enter the BoP code for your transfer;
7. Instruct the transfer.

International Payments With Other SA Banks

How Do I Transfer Money From Fnb to Fnb Account

Source: https://www.monito.com/en/wiki/international-money-transfers-fnb-south-africa