# Leaving



## Spikelee (Mar 11, 2016)

It is with sadness i am leaving the philippines in a couple of months, my husband passed away in january. I am having trouble money wise. I need to change my pesos to usd to transfer back to the uk, i dont know where to do it, my bank says i have to buy the dollars somewhere else. Any ideas where i can buy dollars in Angeles.

Thank you


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

*Money changer reputable one*



Spikelee said:


> It is with sadness i am leaving the philippines in a couple of months, my husband passed away in january. I am having trouble money wise. I need to change my pesos to usd to transfer back to the uk, i dont know where to do it, my bank says i have to buy the dollars somewhere else. Any ideas where i can buy dollars in Angeles.
> 
> Thank you


Sorry to hear of your loss my condolences. Isn't this something your bank could do? If no bank a reputable money changer can change your peso's into dollars, once you land in the UK exchange your dollars for UK money.


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## Donwarner87 (Jan 18, 2016)

M.C.A. said:


> Sorry to hear of your loss my condolences. Isn't this something your bank could do? If no bank a reputable money changer can change your peso's into dollars, once you land in the UK exchange your dollars for UK money.


Isn't there an issue with declaring cash over $10K on international flights? Just curious.


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## whipster_99 (Feb 12, 2016)

why would anybody want US dollars for the UK. Changing them from dollars into pounds on arrival in the UK means you will get hit with the exchange rate twice. 

it is not impossible to buy UK pounds in the Philippines. I've done it. Just about any moneychanger in a big city will have a stock of UK pounds. Although I've only ever bought small amounts.


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## Spikelee (Mar 11, 2016)

I have a dollar acc here and in uk. Thats why


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## hogrider (May 25, 2010)

When you say buy $ do you mean cash? If so forget that idea. Just make a transfer from your bank to your UK account, no need to get involved with cash which apart from being a bit dangerous from security point of view, means you get the worst exchange rate. Also don't bother with $. The £ is at a very low rate at the moment, its a good time to change directly to your home currency.


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## Donwarner87 (Jan 18, 2016)

You have a dollar account here and you can't change your pesos. Am I missing something?


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## Tukaram (Dec 18, 2014)

SM dept. store usually has a money changer. I know they buy dollars... never asked if they sell them. Worth a shot. 
A real bank would do money exchange... but I understand the PI banks ha ha....


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

*Philippine Bank for Dollars*



Spikelee said:


> I have a dollar acc here and in uk. Thats why


Your Philippine bank will exchange (you are a member) your pesos for dollars and at a good rate. If it's a large sum over $10,000 US then I agree with hogrider, you could transfer the excess to your UK bank.


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## Spikelee (Mar 11, 2016)

I would buy sterling if i knew where to, i am with china bank and they are really un helpfull. I am left with thousands of pesos and no way of getting them back to the uk, this is why i have returned to the expat site. My branch of china bank do not do overseas bank transfers from peso account, and do not sell dollers or sterling? Any suggestions appreciated Thank you


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## Donwarner87 (Jan 18, 2016)

What about opening an account at an international bank like Citi Bank, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, or one of the other international banks here in the Philippines. Transfer the pesos and then close the account with China? It might be worth checking out.


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

*Money Changer*



Spikelee said:


> I would buy sterling if i knew where to, i am with china bank and they are really un helpfull. I am left with thousands of pesos and no way of getting them back to the uk, this is why i have returned to the expat site. My branch of china bank do not do overseas bank transfers from peso account, and do not sell dollers or sterling? Any suggestions appreciated Thank you


There should be plenty of Money Changers just north of you in Angeles City, they could exchange our peso's into dollars, but I also see that you have money changer's in San Fernando, Pampanga, here's a link or map. 

https://www.google.com.ph/maps/sear...ger/@15.0668742,120.5908466,12z/data=!3m1!4b1


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## justice (Nov 26, 2012)

How about Philippines National Bank. I found this online. If im not allow to post link, MODs please remove the link. Thank you in advance

Foreign Exchange - Philippine National Bank


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## pagbati (Apr 9, 2014)

*Transferring Pesos to UK*



Spikelee said:


> It is with sadness i am leaving the philippines in a couple of months, my husband passed away in january. I am having trouble money wise. I need to change my pesos to usd to transfer back to the uk, i dont know where to do it, my bank says i have to buy the dollars somewhere else. Any ideas where i can buy dollars in Angeles. Thank you





Spikelee said:


> I have a dollar acc here and in uk. Thats why





Spikelee said:


> I would buy sterling if i knew where to, i am with china bank and they are really un helpfull. I am left with thousands of pesos and no way of getting them back to the uk, this is why i have returned to the expat site. My branch of china bank do not do overseas bank transfers from peso account, and do not sell dollers or sterling? Any suggestions appreciated Thank you


Spikelee, my condolences. Shocking that China Bank is unable to help you with this. What I don’t know is whether or not you have a £ Sterling account in UK in addition to the US$ account. As pointed out by Whipster_99, it’s important that you try and avoid changing your money into too many currencies, as the exchange rate’ll keep hitting you. Based on the information provided in your various posts, I suggest the following. Identify a reputable Philippines Bank that can:

(a) action International transfers full stop, 
(b) action an International transfer to your US$ account in UK directly from a Peso account, (meaning you could open a Peso account with the new bank instead of a US$ account),
(c) open a US$ account for you here in case the bank cannot action (b) above. 

From my experience, BDO fits that criterion. By the way, I see no reason why BDO would not arrange a transfer from a Peso account to your US$ account in UK without you having to open a US$ account. This is standard procedure and when these sort of transfers are done online, you are asked what currency you want the funds sent in. You would establish this information before deciding upon which account/s to open. As I see it, you have a few scenarios to consider as follows:

*Scenario 1.* You have a £ Sterling account in UK. Open a Peso account with BDO and transfer your funds to that Peso account. You then transfer the Pesos direct to your £ Sterling account. This way, you only have one currency exchange taking place and as pointed out by Hogrider, you would get an excellent exchange rate at the moment.

*Scenario 2.* You do not have a £ Sterling account in UK, only a US$ account. Open a Peso account with BDO and transfer your funds to that Peso account. You then transfer the Pesos direct to your US$ account in UK.

*Scenario 3.* You do not have a £ Sterling account in UK, only a US$ account but BDO will not transfer Pesos to your US$ account in UK. I cannot see how this scenario would arise for the reasons mentioned above i.e. it is standard banking practice to make International bank transfers in different currencies. I mention this because you don’t want to go through the hassle of opening a US$ account with BDO if they will do the transfer from a Peso account. Still, if they insisted on you having a US$ account here, then open it and transfer your money into that account. If China Bank are unable to make a local transfer to a local US$ account then you'd also need to open a Peso account with BDO too. Like I said, I don't believe this would be the case.

My apologies if I’ve complicated matters but I don’t know all the facts and I'm trying to cover the different angles for you. You'd need to ask the rep at BDO the right questions before you take the relevant action. A brief summary, try to avoid changing through too many currencies, avoid opening accounts that you don’t need and try to avoid carrying large amounts of cash around with you, whether that be between banks in the Philippines or travelling back to UK.

If you do want to go down the BDO route, I have a reliable contact with BDO in Manila that I’d be happy to pass on to you via PM if you want. The only other thing I’d suggest is that if you did go down the BDO route, they may be wary about going through the hassle of opening an account purely to enable you to transfer some funds and you then close the account. I’m not suggesting that you lie to them, but there are times when it helps to be economical with the truth. By the way, when entering the UK from any non-EU country, you should be aware that you have to declare cash of €10,000 or more (or the equivalent in another currency). 

Tax Consideration. Don't forget that the UK tax year runs from 06 April to 05 April; you may want to delay going back to the UK until after 06 April in order to avoid falling into the current tax year. Similar with transferring any funds back to UK; just to be on the safe side, I'd be inclined to delay that too until after 06 April. This is tax avoidance and perfectly legal as opposed to tax evasion which is illegal. 

Finally, there are numerous ways to solve your problem, this is only one possible solution. Good luck.  To the moderators, I have no ‘self interest’ with BDO whatsoever. I am simply trying to assist the OP. If you feel this post is against the forum rules, simply delete it. Thanks.


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## Phil_expat (Jan 3, 2011)

I had a friend that banked at China Bank that returned to the USA and he was able to exchange his pesos to dollars. I have discovered that not all branches of the same bank have the same police as in the USA. The bank manager is allowed to enforce some polices or ignore them. You might ask at another Chins Bank. I did hear that some branches will only exchange dollars to pesos for Filipino only. Try the money changers in Angeles there are many (Norma’s).


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## HondaGuy (Aug 6, 2012)

I have had issues before with Philippine banks not wanting to change PHP to USD.
They will happily change your USD to PHP at a not great rate but going the other way has been problematic for me and for other friends of mine.

Here was my experience 2 years ago:

http://www.expatforum.com/expats/philippines-expat-forum/851250-phil-us-php-usd.html#post8117458


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## pagbati (Apr 9, 2014)

*Pesos to USD$*



HondaGuy said:


> I have had issues before with Philippine banks not wanting to change PHP to USD ............ http://www.expatforum.com/expats/philippines-expat-forum/851250-phil-us-php-usd.html#post8117458


HondaGuy, thanks for the heads up; very interesting to hear that. I hadn't realised that a bank such as BDO would refuse to sell customers USD$ for Pesos. I dare say maintaining a USD$ account with the Philippine bank would help to mitigate the problem.


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## hogrider (May 25, 2010)

It is not a case of going to your local Philippines bank and asking them to sell you dollars or GBP or any other foreign currency, which indeed they may not have, anymore than a bank in England would carry many pesos. 
What you need to ask for is an international transfer TT, from your pesos account to your overseas bank, in this case in UK. When the funds arrive at the beneficiaries account it will be converted to the currency of that account. Dollars if a dollar account GBP if a sterling pound account.
Just out of interest Spikelee, may I enquire how much we are talking about.


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## HondaGuy (Aug 6, 2012)

hogrider said:


> What you need to ask for is an international transfer TT, from your pesos account to your overseas bank,


I thought it would be that simple too and thats exactly what I asked for but apparently there is either a Philippine law or BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) Rule restricting wiring pesos out of the Philippines. When I tried to do exactly that two years ago, BDO told me they could ONLY wire out Dollars, not pesos which is why they wanted me to change my pesos to dollars at a money changer. I had a friend of mine ask a bank manager at a China Bank branch in Angeles City and they said they couldn't wire out pesos either; it HAD to be USD. 

Very frustrating! Hopefully you can find a bank branch where the manager will be able to help you out.


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## hogrider (May 25, 2010)

HondaGuy said:


> I thought it would be that simple too and thats exactly what I asked for but apparently there is either a Philippine law or BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) Rule restricting wiring pesos out of the Philippines. When I tried to do exactly that two years ago, BDO told me they could ONLY wire out Dollars, not pesos which is why they wanted me to change my pesos to dollars at a money changer. I had a friend of mine ask a bank manager at a China Bank branch in Angeles City and they said they couldn't wire out pesos either; it HAD to be USD.
> 
> Very frustrating! Hopefully you can find a bank branch where the manager will be able to help you out.


If that were the case, no company could ever place any overseas orders or indeed conduct any sort of business requiring international trade.
I think we (I) are missing something here.


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## HondaGuy (Aug 6, 2012)

hogrider said:


> If that were the case, no company could ever place any overseas orders or indeed conduct any sort of business requiring international trade.
> I think we (I) are missing something here.


Most international transactions are conducted in US dollars. Here is a pretty good writeup of why:

https://www.quora.com/Why-is-international-trade-conducted-in-the-US-dollar/answer/Darrell-Francis

Back to the original topic, I just remembered that HSBC Premier members can transfer money between different denominated accounts in different countries, but the minimum account balance is fairly high.

From HSBC UK: "Have savings or investments of at least £50,000 with HSBC in the UK"
From HSBC Philippines: "You qualify for HSBC Premier in the Philippines, if you maintain a minimum Total Relationship Balance (TRB) of PHP4,000,000, or its foreign currency equivalent. Your TRB would include your deposits and investments."

If you (spikelee) meet the qualifications, HSBC should be able to move your money for you.


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## pagbati (Apr 9, 2014)

*International Bank Transfers*



hogrider said:


> It is not a case of going to your local Philippines bank and asking them to sell you dollars or GBP or any other foreign currency, which indeed they may not have, anymore than a bank in England would carry many pesos. What you need to ask for is an international transfer TT, from your pesos account to your overseas bank, in this case in UK. When the funds arrive at the beneficiaries account it will be converted to the currency of that account. Dollars if a dollar account GBP if a sterling
> Just out of interest Spikelee, may I enquire how much we are talking about.





HondaGuy said:


> I thought it would be that simple too and thats exactly what I asked for but apparently there is either a Philippine law or BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) Rule restricting wiring pesos out of the Philippines. When I tried to do exactly that two years ago, BDO told me they could ONLY wire out Dollars, not pesos which is why they wanted me to change my pesos to dollars at a money changer. I had a friend of mine ask a bank manager at a China Bank branch in Angeles City and they said they couldn't wire out pesos either; it HAD to be USD. ...





HondaGuy said:


> Most international transactions are conducted in US dollars. Here is a pretty good writeup of why: https://www.quora.com/Why-is-international-trade-conducted-in-the-US-dollar/answer/Darrell-Francis Back to the original topic, I just remembered that HSBC Premier members can transfer money between different denominated accounts in different countries, but the minimum account balance is fairly high. ....


I agree with hogrider when he says that if you want to arrange a transfer, one doesn’t go to the bank and ask them to sell you USD$ etc. He's also correct to say that you ask for an international transfer TT. With regard to the currency being transferred however, my experience is that larger banks will often ask you what end you want the currency converted, so it’s not necessarily converted at the receiving end. I don't, however, have any experience of transfering funds out of the Philippines, hence I'm following up these posts as different banks in different countries have different policies. There are also middle banks to consider, with transfers sometimes being directed via that middle bank – but perhaps we’re veering of course here. Incidentally, HSBC is one of the major middle banks.

When HondaGuy says the bank would not transfer Pesos out of the country, I get that, for the reasons discussed. What I don’t get is when he says that BDO would only wire out USD$, implying that they wouldn’t make the international transfer from a Peso account and they wouldn’t even exchange his Pesos for USD$. HondaGuy has no reason to make this up so I accept that it happened. But as hogrider says, one should be able to arrange the transfer and if BDO will not convert the Pesos at their end, it should be possible to conduct the transfer wherby the Pesos are converted at the beneficiary's end. But if I underdstand HondaGuy correctly, he believes the bank would not do this and mentions some Philippines law that prevents it. Based on this, I too, get the impression that we’re missing something along the way. I read the link in HondaGuy’s subsequent post but that mainly explains why USD$ is the preferred choice of currency when making transfers; as the author points out at the top, it's not the only currency to transfer money in.

HondaGuy, purely out of interest and to try and get to the bottom of this one, I’m willing to e-mail my contact at BDO with a query. To ensure we’re on the same page, do the following two questions (_in italics below_) explain a situation you encountered in the past. I think this is still linked to the OP; besides, it's an interesting exercise.

_Q1. I have been told that it is not possible for a BDO customer to make an international transfer from a Peso account to a USD$ or £ Sterling account. Is this correct?
_
_Q2. I have been told that BDO will not sell customers USD$ in exchange for Pesos. Is this correct? 
_
One last thought, I’ve banked with HSBC in the past and their bank charges and fees were the highest I ever came across. Daylight robbery springs to mind.


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## fmartin_gila (May 15, 2011)

Not sure how this plays into this situation but just for information. Sometime last year I ordered some car parts from a supplier in Japan. I submitted payment through Western Union. I paid in PHP at WU which was converted to USD for transmission and was paid out in Japan as JY(Japanese Yen). Not sure if it was required but that is how WU handled it rather than converting directly from PHP to JY.

Fred


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## pagbati (Apr 9, 2014)

fmartin_gila said:


> Not sure how this plays into this situation but just for information. Sometime last year I ordered some car parts from a supplier in Japan. I submitted payment through Western Union. I paid in PHP at WU which was converted to USD for transmission and was paid out in Japan as JY(Japanese Yen). Not sure if it was required but that is how WU handled it rather than converting directly from PHP to JY. Fred


Thanks Fred. Your transaction makes perfect sense and the OP could also go down that route. One of the issues would be carrying the cash from the bank to WU and as we don’t know how much they're talking about, we don’t know the risk involved. The OP would be advised to approach WU first and enquire if they can transfer to whole amount in one transaction and how much the transfer would cost.

But there are two more fundamental issues here that intrigue me. We use banks because we believe transactions are usually safer with them. I certainly don’t proclaim to know everything about International bank transfers, but I cannot get my head around why BDO would not want to do this business by conducting the said transfer from a Peso account. But HondaGuy is certainly right about the bank not selling USD$ to customers. I've been racking my brain since my last post and I've just recalled that they refused to sell me USD$ for Peso too just over a year ago. I too, was sent to a local money changer. I queried it at the time but I was dealing with other much more important matters so I simply let it go. I wasn't actioning a transfer with the USD$ but completing some other bank work. As has been said before, we’re missing something here re the transfer aspect but by the end of this exercise, I expect I’ll have learnt something new. It’s more fun in the Philippines.


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## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

mabrouk said:


> Thanks Fred. Your transaction makes perfect sense and the OP could also go down that route. One of the issues would be carrying the cash from the bank to WU and as we don’t know how much they're talking about, we don’t know the risk involved. The OP would be advised to approach WU first and enquire if they can transfer to whole amount in one transaction and how much the transfer would cost.
> 
> But there are two more fundamental issues here that intrigue me. We use banks because we believe transactions are usually safer with them. I certainly don’t proclaim to know everything about International bank transfers, but I cannot get my head around why BDO would not want to do this business by conducting the said transfer from a Peso account. But HondaGuy is certainly right about the bank not selling USD$ to customers. I've been racking my brain since my last post and I've just recalled that they refused to sell me USD$ for Peso too just over a year ago. I too, was sent to a local money changer. I queried it at the time but I was dealing with other much more important matters so I simply let it go. I wasn't actioning a transfer with the USD$ but completing some other bank work. As has been said before, we’re missing something here re the transfer aspect but by the end of this exercise, I expect I’ll have learnt something new. It’s more fun in the Philippines.


It may be that because the peso is not an international currency and that no bank outside the Philippines will want to get stuck with a shed load of currency that they can't use.


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## Tukaram (Dec 18, 2014)

Depending on the amount of money involved, I think WU has limits per transaction. They get to charge more fees that way. If it is in the bank, I would think you can do an online WU transfer regardless of the starting currency. I have never sent money out of the PI's. All I did with it was send myself my allowance with it.


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## HondaGuy (Aug 6, 2012)

mabrouk said:


> HondaGuy, purely out of interest and to try and get to the bottom of this one, I’m willing to e-mail my contact at BDO with a query. To ensure we’re on the same page, do the following two questions (_in italics below_) explain a situation you encountered in the past. I think this is still linked to the OP; besides, it's an interesting exercise.
> 
> _Q1. I have been told that it is not possible for a BDO customer to make an international transfer from a Peso account to a USD$ or £ Sterling account. Is this correct?
> _
> ...


Mabrouk, yes, both questions are correct. In my situation, I had about p1M that I wanted to transfer to a bank in Thailand to purchase a condo. I called my rep at my BDO branch who I've known for several years and she told me that for an international wire transfer, they (that BDO branch) could only send US dollars. I told her to just transfer the p1M in my peso account to my dollar account and she told me they dont "sell dollars". When I asked how I was supposed to do that, she said I would need to physically go to the branch, withdraw the pesos, go to an outside money changer, have the money changer change my pesos to dollars, then go back to my BDO branch and deposit the dollars into my dollar account. THEN I would be able to do an international wire transfer by sending US dollars.

I asked her if sending the money to my account in the US (vs Thailand) would change things, she said no.

I also contacted a friend of mine in Angeles who knows a branch manager with Metrobank (not ChinaBank as I said earlier, sorry) and they confirmed that is how they would do it at their Metrobank branch as well due to a Philippine law or BSP Rule (they didnt specify which).

I'm not saying this is how every branch is. From my other experiences, branch managers have a lot of leeway in how they operate their own branch, so maybe my branch was just overly strict. I just thought it was strange that both a BDO branch and a Metrobank branch said they wouldnt wire out pesos.

If you (Mabrouk) are able to get clarification on this issue, I think all of us would be glad to know more.


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## hogrider (May 25, 2010)

There is the option to use WU and its probably not necessary to carry cash to them, they would probably accept a cheque drawn on the customers bank, but of course the funds would not be transferred before the cheque clears.
What is intriguing and puzzling me is the issue of not being able to make an international transfer from a Philippines bank. As I said in my earlier comment, no business in Philippines could conduct any sort of international trade if it is not permitted by banks to make international transfers.
I regularly transfer fairly large sums from Dubai and just about any local bank will transfer funds to Philippines, however, most will transfer the funds in $ hence some additional costs involved in exchange rates. International banks will transfer to pesos directly.
WU and several other exchange houses here in Dubai will also transfer directly in pesos.
I really don't understand how a bank in Philippines can refuse to make an international transfer for a customer from his pesos account.
I also bank with HSBC and agree that their charges are not the most competitive....! I don't use them for TT's.
Gary, its not a case of the bank being stuck with pesos, they don't actually receive pesos in the transfer process. In the same light though, Spikelee certainly doesn't want to try to change pesos in UK, she would be seriously out of pocket even if she could find somewhere to exchange them.
We still don't know how much we are talking about, not sure if that could be a factor.


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## pagbati (Apr 9, 2014)

HondaGuy said:


> Mabrouk, yes, both questions are correct. In my situation, .... If you (Mabrouk) are able to get clarification on this issue, I think all of us would be glad to know more.


HondaGuy, thanks for the feedback. I've sent our query to BDO head office in Manila. It'll be interesting to read their feedback. I'll post the relevant details on the forum when I get a reply.


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## pagbati (Apr 9, 2014)

hogrider said:


> ...... What is intriguing and puzzling me is the issue of not being able to make an international transfer from a Philippines bank. As I said in my earlier comment, no business in Philippines could conduct any sort of international trade if it is not permitted by banks to make international transfers. I regularly transfer fairly large sums from Dubai and just about any local bank will transfer funds to Philippines, however, most will transfer the funds in $ hence some additional costs involved in exchange rates. International banks will transfer to pesos directly. WU and several other exchange houses here in Dubai will also transfer directly in pesos. I really don't understand how a bank in Philippines can refuse to make an international transfer for a customer from his pesos account.
> 
> We still don't know how much we are talking about, not sure if that could be a factor.


hogrider, thanks for that. Like most GCC countries, as you know, the UAE has pegged its currency to the dollar so it makes sense to transfer USD$ from there. With so many Filipino OFW's in Dubai, it's no surprise that WU etc transfer directly in pesos. As for the other stuff i.e. how a bank in the Philippines can refuse to make an international transfer for a customer from their pesos account, I'm as confused as you are. Hopefully BDO can shed some light on the matter. If the OP is reading this, still hasn't resolved his/her problem and is still looking for a solution, I agree it would be helpful to know how much we're talking about. No need to be precise and of course we understand if they don't wish to divulge details.


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## jon1 (Mar 18, 2012)

In the past I have been able to buy back $ from my BPI in Subic. I would try one of the BPIs in Angeles that has a large expat customer base. Also, maybe check in at the VFW VFW Post 2485 or maybe the RAO in Angeles welcome and see if they can recommend a bank willing to do this for you. 

Typically, if the bank doesn't have a large amount of USD (larger than $1000) on hand, they have to coordinate with a central branch for delivery of the proper amount.


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## pagbati (Apr 9, 2014)

*International Bank Transfers*



HondaGuy said:


> Mabrouk, yes, both questions are correct. In my situation, I had about p1M that I wanted to transfer to a bank in Thailand to purchase a condo. I called my rep at my BDO branch who I've known for several years and she told me that for an international wire transfer, they (that BDO branch) could only send US dollars. I told her to just transfer the p1M in my peso account to my dollar account and she told me they dont "sell dollars". When I asked how I was supposed to do that, she said I would need to physically go to the branch, withdraw the pesos, go to an outside money changer, have the money changer change my pesos to dollars, then go back to my BDO branch and deposit the dollars into my dollar account. THEN I would be able to do an international wire transfer by sending US dollars. I asked her if sending the money to my account in the US (vs Thailand) would change things, she said no. I also contacted a friend of mine in Angeles who knows a branch manager with Metrobank (not ChinaBank as I said earlier, sorry) and they confirmed that is how they would do it at their Metrobank branch as well due to a Philippine law or BSP Rule (they didnt specify which).
> 
> If you (Mabrouk) are able to get clarification on this issue, I think all of us would be glad to know more.


Further to my earlier post, BDO have now responded to my questions. For easy reference, here are the questions I submitted to them and the initial reply.

*Q1. *I have been told that it is not possible for a BDO customer to make an international transfer from a Peso account to a USD$ or a £ Sterling account. Is this correct and if so, why not?
_*Ans:* The conversion of your peso to usd or sterling pounds entails selling of USD and we are restricted in selling USD. Please let us know the purpose and provide us documentary requirements so we can make the transfer._

*Q2.* I have been told that BDO will not sell customers USD$ in exchange for Pesos. Is this correct and if so, why not?
_*Ans:* We sell USD to customers but we qualify the reason for the sale.
_
These answers only created more questions so I re-submitted my questions seeking clarification on the restrictions, acceptable purposes and documentary evidence etc. I received a call back from the branch manager who explained the following: 
When it comes to Filipino citizens and residents, the Central Bank of the Philippines (BSP) has placed restrictions on local banks with regard to the selling of USD$. The same restrictions do not apply to businesses, therefore it does not affect international trading.

The bank is only permitted to sell USD$ to residents & citizens for specified purposes. Some of these purposes include the following:
•	Medical expenses abroad
•	Educational expenses abroad
•	Foreign travel
•	++
Clearly this is not a finite list and when I asked for one, the bank said it wasn’t available. When it comes to terminology, the bank said that when they refer to selling USD$, this includes physically handing over dollars at the bank or international transfers. They also said that documentary evidence was required before they could sell USD$ and this could be in the form of photocopies of certificates or other documents from the hospital / educational facility etc. When I pressed further, asking what would happen if I was leaving the Philippines for good and still had funds here, I was told that that was also an acceptable reason for selling USD$ to customers. Similarly, if you wanted to transfer funds from the proceeds of an asset sale, that too would be acceptable. 

Reasons deemed to be unacceptable included the following:
•	Purchasing a property outside the Philippines
•	Lending to family / friends
•	++

Summarising the answers to our questions:
(1) it is possible to make an international transfer from a BDO Peso Account to a USD$ or a £Sterling account, subject to specific requirements, some of which are explained above.
(2) BDO will sell customers USD$ in exchange for Pesos, subject to specific requirements laid down by the central bank, some of which are listed above.

Whilst I felt that much was gleaned during my conversation with the bank representative, I appreciate that it still generated more questions. However, there's only so much info one can get out of a single phone call whilst aiming to maintain a harmonious relationship. One obvious query/ gripe would be, _“Providing the purpose is legal, why can’t I transfer money out of the Philippines for whatever reason I want? It’s my money after all”. _ Perhaps it's as simple as the dollar being king and they want to hold on to theirs!

In fairness to the local bank, it’s not up to them to explain the policies of the central bank. By the way, BDO responded fairly quickly to me and as always, were extremely polite, which always helps. As there are so many different scenarios under which one would want to ‘buy dollars’, I suggest members requiring further clarification contact their own bank well in advance of any planned transaction. Likewise, different banks may have different policies. Armed with the info provided in this post, at least you'll have a better chance of success. For those who want to do a little more research of their own, you may want to check out the central bank’s website and attached pdf’s. The pdf's are particularly useful.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas


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## hogrider (May 25, 2010)

mabrouk said:


> Further to my earlier post, BDO have now responded to my questions. For easy reference, here are the questions I submitted to them and the initial reply.
> 
> *Q1. *I have been told that it is not possible for a BDO customer to make an international transfer from a Peso account to a USD$ or a £ Sterling account. Is this correct and if so, why not?
> _*Ans:* The conversion of your peso to usd or sterling pounds entails selling of USD and we are restricted in selling USD. Please let us know the purpose and provide us documentary requirements so we can make the transfer._
> ...


Well done and thanks to Mabrouk for his work in trying to get to the bottom of this.
Whilst there are still a few questions that maybe need some additional clarification, in the most part the policy is clear now.

This is good news for Spikelee, as one of the acceptable reasons for transferring US$ and £ is leaving for good.

One obvious conclusion for me is, Don't Keep Too Many Funds Here.


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## galactic (Dec 2, 2014)

And with the Senate hearings on money laundering charges against an RCBC bank manager and top officials will surely make any difficult transaction even more problematic.


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## pagbati (Apr 9, 2014)

*International Bank Transfers*



hogrider said:


> Well done and thanks to Mabrouk for his work in trying to get to the bottom of this. Whilst there are still a few questions that maybe need some additional clarification, in the most part the policy is clear now. This is good news for Spikelee, as one of the acceptable reasons for transferring US$ and £ is leaving for good. One obvious conclusion for me is, Don't Keep Too Many Funds Here.


hogrider, appreciate the comments, thanks. As you say, a very good reason for not keeping too many funds here. There may be occasions of course when members feel the need to have ready access to larger amounts of funds, when purchasing assets for example. For such scenarios, it's worth considering having a USD account alongside your Peso account. That way, USD's transferred in to the USD account stays in USD's. You then withdraw dollars as and when you need them, at a time of your choosing when the exchange rate is at its best. There would be no problem in making International transfers from the USD$ account either as you are not buying dollars. Purely food for thought. Having said that, I still agree with the concept of only keeping what you need here.


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