# Common banks between AU and NZ?



## paisleypark (Mar 9, 2010)

Hi,

We will be moving from Australia to NZ soon, however all our AU affairs will remain - e.g. bank accounts - since we may return after a few years.

On a monthly basis, I will need to move money from AU to NZ and was wondering if there are banks that allow us to share the same account between AU and NZ?
We are currently with Commonwealth in AU - is ASB their 'sister' bank in NZ?

Does anyone know which bank would give us the best monthly deal for moving money around?

Are these the 3 main players in AU we need to talk to that have NZ presence?

Commonwealth
ANZ
Westpac

Thank you.


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## anski (Aug 17, 2008)

paisleypark said:


> Hi,
> 
> We will be moving from Australia to NZ soon, however all our AU affairs will remain - e.g. bank accounts - since we may return after a few years.
> 
> ...


We have ANZ & Westpac here but as far as I know they operate independently in each country.

I had the same problem when I first moved over & it was a hassle using an AU issued credit card to pay for purchases in NZ until I was able to get a NZ one.

For moving money I would suggest Forex, easy to open an account in AU & you get better exchange rates than banks.
Do not use a bank to transfer funds-too expensive.

The main banks here are

BNZ
ANZ
ASB
Westpac
Kiwibank

I have had dealings with them all, but recommend Kiwibank, branches everywhere from Post Shops.


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## paisleypark (Mar 9, 2010)

Thank you Anski - may I PM you?


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## Andrew East (Nov 9, 2012)

paisleypark said:


> Hi,
> 
> We will be moving from Australia to NZ soon, however all our AU affairs will remain - e.g. bank accounts - since we may return after a few years.
> 
> ...


I had the same problem but the other way around, unfortunately there are no common bank accounts between the two countries. 

Some of the banks will allow you to have separate accounts for different currencies, for example it is possible to have a NZ dollar account at an Australian bank. Don't forget to look at HSBC too.

Shop around for currency exchange to get the best deal (don't use an interbank transfer) and you should be able to do the transaction on line with a forex company. 

At the moment you should get a good rate of exchange for selling AUS dollars and buying NZ, not too good the other way around.


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## paisleypark (Mar 9, 2010)

Thank you - this will need to be done on a monthly basis though.

How does the forex method actually work? do I first transfer the money from AU account into a forex account, and then transfer from forex account into NZ account? Won't this incur more charges?

and are you talking about something like www forex com ?


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## Andrew East (Nov 9, 2012)

You do the transaction on line and then have a limited amount of time to make the transfer from your account into the broker's account, they then pay it into your NZ account It can take a few days but I'm not sure the banks will be any quicker and I don't think you can chose the exchange rate with any certainty, or take advantage of daily currency fluctuations.

Brokers charge a flat rate fee of about 15 dollars but that is the way you'll get the best exchange rate. Doing it every month is going to going to cost you and you're at the mercy of currency fluctuations. Is there any way you could transfer one lump sum and have done with it, or do you have to make it monthly?

For small infrequent withdrawals you can just use your Australian ATM card in New Zealand.


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## paisleypark (Mar 9, 2010)

I have PM'ed you, thank you


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## anski (Aug 17, 2008)

paisleypark said:


> Thank you Anski - may I PM you?


Yes certainly.


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## Andrew East (Nov 9, 2012)

paisleypark said:


> I have PM'ed you, thank you


Not a problem, remember to shop around and haggle for the best deal if you're going to be making regular monthly transactions.


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## topcat83 (Apr 16, 2009)

Andrew East said:


> ....Don't forget to look at HSBC too......


That's a bank I really would not recommend. They have too few branches over here, and I am an ex-customer because they treated long-term loyal customers (me!) so abysmally!
Long story, which I'm sure is somewhere on this forum in another post


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