Foreign Exchange

Most currency providers advertise zero commission. Very few make less money because of it.

The cost is in the spread — the gap between the mid-market rate you can look up on any financial site, and the rate you are actually given. A provider quoting "0% fees" on a transfer at two per cent off the mid-market rate has charged you two per cent. On a AED 5 million property purchase, that is AED 100,000, and it never appears as a line item.

Spreads also widen quietly where they are least visible: on smaller retail transfers, on less liquid currency pairs, and on payments made outside market hours. The same provider can be genuinely competitive on one pair and poor on another.

The questions worth asking are simple, and the answer is rarely on the pricing page:

• What is the all-in rate for my amount and my currency pair, quoted against the mid-market rate today?
• Does that rate change with the size of the transfer, or the time of day?
• Who is regulated to hold my funds between the time I send them and the time they arrive?
• What does a forward contract cost if I need to fix a rate for a purchase completing in three months?

None of this makes currency transfer complicated. It just means the advertised price and the real price are different numbers, and only one of them affects what arrives.