Fnb Global Account

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piranha786

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Seeing as the rand dollar exchange rate continue dropping, has any1 thought abt investing in a global account? Whats the pros n cons?

Say for example a person intent to go to the US in a year or 2. Having a $ account may help, i.e

At R16, $1500 =R24000

Based on another article the rand may slide to R19 end 2016, which will already see a R4500 +- gain.

2000 additional points on ebucks, may even boost some people to a next level.
 
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Bernie

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I started about 8 months ago, I put R1000 a month minimum plus any additional surplus that I have. I currently have about R25K at todays rate. You will need to be registered for tax. Personally I am not looking to invest for returns so to speak, I just want as many dollars as possible, so it depends on why you want the account. Each deposit is R60. The transfer is not instant. You get 0.4% interest as well on a USD account, its negligible, but its what you get. Other currencies pay more, but may not make as much on ZAR depreciation. You request a transfer and it can take up to a day to finalise. I havent transferred back into ZAR yet, so not sure on cost or timing, and you will get less than the official quoted rate.

Happy transferring :)
 
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piranha786

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Bernie said:
I started about 8 months ago, I put R1000 a month minimum plus any additional surplus that I have. I currently have about R25K at todays rate. You will need to be registered for tax. Personally I am not looking to invest for returns so to speak, I just want as many dollars as possible, so it depends on why you want the account. Each deposit is R60. The transfer is not instant. You get 0.4% interest as well on a USD account, its negligible, but its what you get. Other currencies pay more, but may not make as much on ZAR depreciation. You request a transfer and it can take up to a day to finalise. I havent transferred back into ZAR yet, so not sure on cost or timing, and you will get less than the official quoted rate.

Happy transferring :)
Click to expand...

Was also wondering what will happen if you want to "withdraw" dollars. But then again the commission or transaction fees may be insignificant relative to the returns realised.
 
whatwhat

whatwhat

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piranha786 said:
Say for example a person intent to go to the US in a year or 2.
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For holiday or permanent?

The global account is used to store cash in a foreign currency, and you can also receive foreign cash into that account (using the account number and FNB swift code). Since it's free there is no reason not to have one and put some cash away.

I have accounts in EUR and GBP though.
 
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Diplos

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I'm busy trying to open the equivalent account with Nedbank. I have funds in rand in Investec at 6.77% interest, but if you consider that the rand depreciated by more than 30%, you can see that a USD account would have been a better investment.

I'm due to receive some funds soon and I plan to put some in a USD account and some in Allan Gray Orbis which is also USD denominated and offshore and the remainder in Investec for sundries.

I wish I'd done this sooner.
 
whatwhat

whatwhat

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Diplos said:
I'm busy trying to open the equivalent account with Nedbank. I have funds in rand in Investec at 6.77% interest, but if you consider that the rand depreciated by more than 30%, you can see that a USD account would have been a better investment.

I'm due to receive some funds soon and I plan to put some in a USD account and some in Allan Gray Orbis which is also USD denominated and offshore and the remainder in Investec for sundries.

I wish I'd done this sooner.
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Allan Gray Orbis USD is closed for investment at the moment.
 
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Diplos

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whatwhat said:
Allan Gray Orbis USD is closed for investment at the moment.
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If you are an existing Orbis investor you can continue to invest. My suggestion is to keep an eye on these funds (or speak to AG directly) as it would be a good idea to get in to some of these when they are open. That way you are always able to add funds when they become available later.
 
whatwhat

whatwhat

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Diplos said:
Not sure. I think they just reach a level of funds that they are comfortable managing and they are not interested in adding to it - just my speculation, but I have no idea really...
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They can only keep a certain % of their investments overseas, and that cap has been reached. Until that is reduced you cannot invest as a new investor. On their site have they have a better description, else I can check what they sent me when this happened. This is the 2nd or 3rd time since I've had the account they've closed it off but normally was just a few months - now it's been almost a year I think.

Existing investors can still have their debit orders etc go into the account, but you cannot change the debit order or do lump sum payments.
 
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Praemon

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Bernie said:
I started about 8 months ago, I put R1000 a month minimum plus any additional surplus that I have. I currently have about R25K at todays rate. You will need to be registered for tax. Personally I am not looking to invest for returns so to speak, I just want as many dollars as possible, so it depends on why you want the account. Each deposit is R60. The transfer is not instant. You get 0.4% interest as well on a USD account, its negligible, but its what you get. Other currencies pay more, but may not make as much on ZAR depreciation. You request a transfer and it can take up to a day to finalise. I havent transferred back into ZAR yet, so not sure on cost or timing, and you will get less than the official quoted rate.

Happy transferring :)
Click to expand...

When depositing/withdrawing, is it an internal account transfer (ie. free), or is it a SWIFT transfer which attracts quite a high fee?
 
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Bernie

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Denouncer said:
When depositing/withdrawing, is it an internal account transfer (ie. free), or is it a SWIFT transfer which attracts quite a high fee?
Click to expand...

It is internal. No international SWIFT transactions. Use internet banking. Its not free, every transfer costs R60 so always try and transfer as much as you can each time.
 
RustyPrincess

RustyPrincess

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I opened a GBP account, but for the life of me, I can't transfer money into it. Is there a magical trick that I need to know. I keep getting an error.

Edit: I figured it out, I was picking the wrong reason for transfer. It's 512-04: Deposit into a foreign currency account and you need to fill in your tax number :)
 
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