In this guide we’ll explain in simple terms how to send money to Australia and recommend the best ways to do so. If you’re about to send money to Australia from UK or send money from Australia to UK then make sure you explore the different transfer options you have at your disposal. In doing so, you’ll find there are ways to avoid unnecessary delays, unnecessary fees, and unnecessary worry.
We’ll have a particular focus on transferring large sums of money from UK to Australia, simply because there are more factors to consider, but that’s not to say we won’t cover the best way to send money to Australia for smaller amounts too, it’s just that we think the solution is a little more simple.
Quick Verdict: Best Way to Send Money from UK to Australia
(And Australia to UK)
Currencies Direct: #1 UK/Australia Transfers 🔝 AUD/GBP Rates- #1 Rated on MTC
- Industry Leader with £10bn in Annual Turnover
- No Transfer Fees, Great Rates
TorFX: Dual Offices UK-Australia, Bespoke Service- Australian Specialists with Local Offices
- 98% Client Satisfaction
- Dedicated Dealer for Transfers above AU$5,000
SendPayments: Best Up and Coming Money Transfer Service in Austrlaia- Best Website - Friendly and Transparent
- Easy to Sign Up and Trade, Excellent On-Boarding Team
- Competitive Exchange Rates for Both Small and Large Transfers
OFX: Traded on the ASX, Headquarters in Sydney, Offices in UK- Australian Company
- Traded Publicly
- 20bn Turnover per Year
Halo Financial: A UK Broker with Bespoke Service- Feefo 2020 Platinum Trusted Provider
- Excellent Website and Registeration Flow
- Highly Professional, Large Transfer Specialists
For Ecommerce Businesses & Sole Traders in UK and Australia
Worldfirst: Best FX Rates Online For Online Sellers/ Businesses- Best Rates: Fixed FX Spreads of 0.1% – 0.5%.
- Authorized by 6 Global Regulators
- Asian Currency Specialists
Whilst we never encourage rushing your decision, just know that if you need to make a decision fast, you can’t go too far wrong with any of the above providers. They are all what’s known as a ‘currency specialist’.
Rather than providing a bunch of financial services, international money transfers and foreign exchange are the bedrock of what they do. This allows them to focus on offering one thing well, benefit from reduced overheads and pass these cost savings onto customers. It also means that when you speak with a member of the team (all of the above companies assign customers with dedicated account managers) they are currency experts. Not generic help desk staff that you have to wait hours to get through to, but real people who are only ever a few rings away. They’ll provide specific advice around the best way to transfer AUD to GBP or GBP to AUD.
They’ll explain what’s been impacting the GBPAUD exchange rate over recent times and what may influence the rate moving forward. Making you more informed around when to make your transfer, whether you might want to fix today’s rate for a point in the future, or set up a target rate to automatically execute when the market meets the level you’d like to achieve.
Read on to learn about exactly how to send money to Australia and if you want to understand the best way to transfer money between Australia and the UK by:
- Transfer volume
- Transfer requirements
- Risk appetite
How do I Transfer Money from UK to Australia?
Given its antipodean location and contrasting timezone, sending money to Australia can take longer than it does to other countries. However, that doesn’t make the process any more complicated. In fact, in just a few easy steps you can initiate your transfer to Australia and then track your funds until they reach the destination account.
Step 1: Choose a Payment Provider
This is the single most important thing to get right. It will have the most influence on how much you have to pay, the flexibility of solutions you have to manage your currency exposure, how long the transfer will take and how safe your money is. All of which get even more important when you’re transferring large sums of money from UK to Australia.
Thus, we can broadly say there are four key categories which define what makes for a good international payment provider; cost, variety of solutions, speed and safety.
Cost
The first thing we always recommend is to side-step your bank if you want to save money. Our analysis on the best bank for international transfers and international money transfer fees found both UK and Australian banks to be some of the most expensive in the world. Australian banks were particularly expensive, with Commbank proving the worst of all and charging an FX markup equating to 4.81% of the size of your international transfer. This is the markup they apply when you convert one currency to another, for example transfer GBP to AUD. It’s ‘hidden’ in the exchange rate and it’s the most common way to get your fingers burnt on a cross-currency transfer. With a dedicated international money transfer provider, you’re more likely to pay anywhere from 0.1% – 2.5%, depending on how much you’re sending to Australia.
If you’re transferring large sums of money from UK to Australia, cost becomes an even more important factor. On a £100,000 transfer, losing an extra 4% in the foreign exchange markup would equate to £4,000.
If you have the time, we recommend registering with at least two providers so you can compare the rates on offer. Some companies like TorFX provide a rate improver guarantee, where they will match or beat any valid quote from other banks or FX providers.
Just remember, the cheapest way to send money overseas is not necessarily always the best – various other factors come into play, particularly when transferring large sums of money from UK to Australia.
Flexible Solutions
In addition to the direct costs you experience from your payment provider, the other overriding factor determining how much money you’ll receive is obviously the exchange rate at the time you transfer GBP to AUD or AUD to GBP. The currency market is constantly moving and it can make a huge difference to the amount you receive.
If we take a recent example…
On the 23 Sep 2022, the GBPAUD rate was 1.66. On the 17 Oct 2022, the GBPAUD rate was 1.80. In under 1 month, the rate moved by a staggering 8.4%. Let’s say you were sending £10,000 to AUD, that could have resulted in either $16,600 or $18,000, depending on the date you made the transfer.
When you transfer money from UK to Australia with a bank, you have the option to initiate an instant transfer at whatever the current exchange rate is. This is known as a ‘spot transfer’. However, in addition to spot transfers, there’s a variety of FX tools that currency brokers provide which can help you to achieve a better rate, or protect you in the case it moves against you. Two of the most well-known are ‘limit orders’ which sees an FX trade automatically execute when your target rate is hit, and ‘forward contracts’ which allow you to guarantee today’s exchange rate for the future. With a currency specialist you have access to these tools and a team of currency experts who can explain how they work and when they might be suitable.
If you’re working to a fixed budget, such as buying a house in Australia, a forward contract is a great budgeting tool as it allows you to fix the exchange rate. You’ll know exactly how much AUD you’ll receive for your GBP, or vice versa, how much GBP you’ll get for your AUD.
Demand for hedging tools is more common for individuals and SMEs transferring large amounts of money from Australia to UK.
Speed
When you use a bank to transfer money from UK to Australia, or send money from Australia to UK, the money is sent via the SWIFT network. It’s an antiquated system that was launched in the 1970’s which relies on banks having a network of intermediary banks in order to connect them and find a route to make an international payment. As things stand, you’re looking at T + 2 working days to transfer GBP to AUD via SWIFT, i.e. send money to Australia from UK on a Tuesday and it should arrive by the Thursday.
Rather than working on a domestic basis like most banks, international money transfer services operate in multiple jurisdictions and hold bank accounts in multiple countries. Meaning they can accept local transfers to settle FX payments and then disburse funds to the beneficiary from a local bank account too. For an international money transfer from UK to Australia or when you send money to UK from Australia, know that companies like TorFX, OFX and WorldFirst all hold accounts in both the UK and Australia. One of the tactics that a money transfer specialist can employ is to make a local transfer to the beneficiary as soon as your money has been credited to their account in the sending country, making the transfer significantly faster.
Safety
From a standalone perspective of safety, it’s fair to say that banks are one of the best ways to transfer money from UK to an Australian bank account. If you hold money with a bank in the UK, your money is protected under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to £85,000 per eligible person, per bank. If you hold money with a bank in Australia, your money is protected up to $250,000 under the Financial Claims Scheme.
These schemes protect your money in the event that your bank goes bust. Electronic Money Institutions and Authorised Payment Institutions do not operate under these schemes. Instead, they are required to keep your money in separate safeguarded accounts with banks. In this instance, you should get most of your money back in the event that your payment provider goes bust. Safety will be an even more important factor when transferring large sums of money from UK to Australia. We only recommend working with regulated and financially sound money transfer companies. A company like Currencies Direct has had a strong financial position since their launch in 1996 and a company like moneycorp is a globally-recognised brand running since 1970’s. Providers like these can also be considered one of the best ways to send money to Australia from the UK from a safety perspective too.
Decide on what factors are most important to you, read the reviews of our top-rated international money transfer services, and choose your provider. If you’re based in Australia, we’ve also selected the best rated international money transfer companies in Australia. Behind the UK, Australia has the second-highest number of non-bank money transfer alternatives.
Step 2: Register With One or More Providers
Once you’ve completed your comparison, you’ll need to register with the service or services of choice.
The high level of competition in both the UK and Australia ensures that providers aim for fast onboarding times, normally getting customers up and running the same day. You’ll be able to register online within minutes but the slightly longer turnaround comes when you have to verify your identity. Regulated money transfer companies have a legal obligation to do this but in many instances it can be done instantly, if not, it shouldn’t take longer than a few hours.
If you’re working with a specialist currency broker then this is also when you’ll want to get to know your account manager. You’ll have their direct contact details (telephone & email) and they’ll be on hand to guide you through your transfer of GBP to AUD.
Step 3: Setup Your GBP to AUD Transfer / AUD to GBP Transfer
Once you’ve registered with your provider, you can submit your international money transfer from UK to Australia. You’ll be able to do this online with any type of bank or money transfer company or by speaking to your account manager if you opted for a specialist broker. Submitting a cross-currency transfer has two main elements.
First, you’ll have to accept the exchange rate. This is where we think it’s worth comparing at least two options so you can make sure you’ve got the best deal. You can either input the GBP amount you want converted or the AUD amount you want to receive. The provider will then calculate either how much you’re set to receive or the amount you have to send.
Secondly, you’ll need to input the beneficiary details.
If you’re transferring money from the UK to an Australian bank account, you’ll need to provide:
- Beneficiary Account Number
- Beneficiary Bank SWIFT BIC
- 6-digit BSB Code
- Beneficiary Address
If you’re wanting to transfer money from Australia to a UK bank account, you’ll need to provide:
- IBAN Number (This Includes Beneficiary Account Number/Beneficiary Swift Code)
- Beneficiary Address
Make sure you get the details right to avoid any delays, or worse, your pound sterling or aussie dollars going to the wrong account. If it does you may not be able to get it back.
Step 4: Send your GBP or AUD to Settle the Trade
You usually have a few methods in which you can fund your deal. Debit cards and bank transfers are the most common. If it’s a bank transfer your provider will tell you which account to pay and what reference you should include. It’s important to input the correct reference so that funds can be easily allocated to your trade and processed ASAP.
You can then monitor the progress of your payment or await confirmation from your provider once it’s gone through.
What is the Best Way to Send Money to Someone in Australia?
Best For: Service
TorFX, operating in both the UK and Australia, is a currency broker that is fundamentally built on its service-led proposition. Winner of Moneyfacts Best Customer Service award in 2022, it’s the fourth time the firm has been recognised for its outstanding customer service. Headquartered in Cornwall, UK, it was the first currency broker to base itself outside of London, a move which was the catalyst in retaining a team of highly experienced and knowledgeable currency specialists. Customers are unanimously happy with the service received too – the firm boasts an impressive 4.9 / 5 score on TrustPilot from over 5,800 customer reviews. Whether you’re based in the UK or Australia, you’ll have direct access to a local, dedicated account manager.
Best For: FX Solutions
All of the currency specialists listed on this page provide customers with a range of FX tools that provide a much greater degree of flexibility than simply having to accept the exchange rate at the time you’re looking to make a transfer. Our choices below reflect two companies that just do this particularly well and are backed up by slick online systems which allow experienced customers to set up their own currency hedges.
Best Money Transfer Solutions UK to Australia: moneycorp
Best Money Transfer Solutions Australia to UK: Send
Best For: Safety
Aside from banks, Currencies Direct has to be recognised as one of the safest and most credible money transfer firms in existence today. Launched in 1996, it’s been safely handling client money for over 25 years and enjoys a level 1 credit rating with Dun & Bradstreet (the highest a firm can get). Employing over 500 staff around the globe, Currencies Direct helps hundreds of thousands of clients move billions of pounds each year.
Best For: Transferring Large Amounts of money from Australia to UK
Given their coverage in both locales, the expertise of their staff and award-winning customer service, we think TorFX is a great option for transferring large sums of money from UK to Australia or transferring large amounts of money from Australia to UK. They don’t necessarily have the slickest online system but their dedicated account management service is completely geared to customers transferring large sums abroad or receiving large sums from abroad.
Best For: Paying Staff
Papaya Global, one of the world’s leading global payroll services, offers a myriad of solutions covering both the UK and Australia. Well versed in payroll and employment law in the UK and Australia, Papaya Global can assist with facilitating payroll transfers from GBP to AUD or AUD to GBP, as well as employer of record services in both of the countries.
What is the Cheapest Way to Send Money from UK to Australia?
The cheapest way to send money from UK to Australia is largely determined by how much you’re looking to send.
Cheapest Way to Send Money from UK to Australia < £10,000: Wise
The ‘do-it-yourself’ online money transfer companies like Wise are generally the cheapest way to send money from UK to Australia when you’re sending smaller sums. You don’t get access to currency specialists who can help you make a more informed decision, nor do you have access to hedging tools which can potentially help you achieve a more favourable rate, but they do have transparent, low fees. Significantly cheaper than banks that similarly will not offer these high-value services to individuals and SMEs. Probably cheaper than currency specialists who do offer these high-value services but are likely to be more expensive in terms of standalone fees on smaller transfers.
Cheapest Way to Send Money from UK to Australia > £10,000: Currencies Direct
Currency specialists like Currencies Direct will provide a better rate the more you’re looking to send. If you’re transferring over £10,000 then compare your options as the difference in rates could mean losing hundreds if not thousands of pounds. And by this we mean the difference in the GBP to AUD rate from one day to the next and from one provider to the next. Both have a significant impact on how much you’ll have to pay.
Last Word: Best Money Transfer UK to Australia
UK and Australian banks provide some of the most expensive international payment solutions around the world. However, individuals and SMEs have a broad range of options when they want to transfer money from UK to Australia or make a bank transfer from Australia to UK. The cheapest way to send money from UK to Australia is dependent on how much you’re looking to send and how well you’re able to time your trade with currency fluctuations. For larger sums, we recommend currency brokers as the best way to transfer money from the UK to an Australian bank account. For smaller sums, online-only money transfer services are the cheapest way to send money from UK to Australia, just be prepared to manage the whole process by yourself.
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