Bank fails to confirm exchange rate with customer before international money transfer

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Bank fails to confirm exchange rate with customer before international money transfer

Categories:

Bank accounts, Instructions not followed, Fees, charges & rates,

Summary:

In January 2026, the bank processed an international money transfer for Carla of $NZ1.34 million. She complained that the bank did not contact her to confirm the exchange rate before making the transfer, as agreed, thereby denying her the opportunity to make a fully informed decision about when to exchange her money. The bank agreed that it should have contacted Carla and sought her confirmation before processing the transfer. It offered compensation of $10,000, but Carla said her loss was $28,000 based off an exchange rate from her bank overseas.

Published:

June 2026

Our investigation

The bank said this rate was an interbank rate and not available to her as a retail customer. We asked Carla to supply a screenshot of the closing exchange rate that day, which she did, and these confirmed the rates were available to retail customers. The bank accepted the rates were indeed available to her and increased its offer to $28,128.