As online workers, many of the transactions we make are conducted in US dollars. Since we then have to convert those dollars into our home currency (in my case Euro), exchange rates play a very important role and should be monitored carefully.
I recently did some research about exchange rates offered by Maltese banks, when making a USD transfer, which automatically gets converted to Euro upon arrival in your bank account.
Interestingly enough, almost all banks offered a rate 0.745 Euro for every 1 USD. Only HSBC offered a worse rate, giving out 0.741 Euro for every 1 USD. I’ve also included the PayPal conversion rate for reference.
| Bank buys USD | |
|---|---|
| HSBC | 1.3504 |
| BOV | 1.3426 |
| APS | 1.3402 |
| Banif | 1.3409 |
| Lombard | 1.3402 |
| PayPal | 1.3636 |
This might not make much difference on small amounts, but when we deal with a few thousand dollars the difference quickly adds up. I monitored the rates over a few weeks and HSBC consistently offered worse rates. I’m not entirely sure why there is this discrepancy and will try to investigate further.
| 1000 USD | 5000 USD | |
|---|---|---|
| HSBC | 740 | 3702.60 |
| BOV | 744 | 3724.12 |
| APS | 746 | 3730.79 |
| Banif | 745 | 3728.84 |
| Lombard | 746 | 3730.79 |
| PayPal | 733 | 3666.67 |
Here are some handy links to the exchange rates offered by the main banks in Malta:
- HSBC Exchange Rates
- Bank of Valletta Exchange Rates
- Banif Exchange Rates
- Lombard Exchange Rates
- APS Bank Exchange Rates
A great service for receiving and making payments is Transferwise, it’s cheaper than using PayPal or bank transfers. I always use Transferwise when making currency conversions, such as when I want to invest in UK property through property crowdfunding sites.
What are your thoughts?
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