Originally Posted by Sunny Day
Thanks for your response. It is more complicated than she had imagined. Buying a HKD bank draft in Canada drawn on a HK bank will not be possible in her case as she is already in HK. HSBC Canada and HSBC HK has no relationship which rules out speeding up the process.
Ask your friend about HSBC’s Premier Account if she qualifies. The only true international banking service. Click the following link to find out more:
http://www.hsbc.ca/public/canada/per.../en/index.html
Originally Posted by Sunday Day
Wire transfer seems to be best way - although it appears there are conflicting info on whether 1) possible for a HK dollar bank account to receive a CAD wire transfer; 2) whether the receiving bank will charge a fee for receiving the wire transfer? 3) is it better to open a CAD account and a separate HKD account so she can receive the wire transfer first in CAD and transfer to HKD when she needs it?
1. Yes but the receiving bank will likely convert the C$ into HK$ to deposit into a HK$ account. The best is to open a C$ account, which is available, at most banks in HK. You friend will simply convert as much as needed from time to time. I don’t think the HK bank can hold C$ in a HK$ account. It must be a C$ account.
2. Depends on the individual bank and the service package that your friend has with the bank, very much similar to banks in Canada. They have different service packages.
3. See #1 above. For the existing C$ bank draft that she has already bought, I suggest to open a C$ account, deposit it and let it takes its course to clear. Treat the service charge as “tuition” to learn the lesson on how to do next time. Select a bank that has good correspondent banking arrangements with Canadian banks – Ask the Canadian bank where she bought the C$ bank draft for the name of their correspondent bank in HK. Banks that have correspondent arrangements between each other will be able to clear the bank draft faster and more efficiently. If there is no arrangement and must therefore clear through a third party intermediary, it will only mean extra time and fees. Alternatively, save the bank draft and receipt until her next trip back to Canada to take it back to the bank where she bought it for refund.
Good luck!