Bank recommendations

Yes you can. Even online here hsbc to uk you can stipulate online to send it in GBP. Or you can send rupiah and every major bank in UK / europe will just convert it themselves on arrival

The days are long gone when the currency had to match the destination account
Nowadays most banks will convert into the account currency when any transfer arrives

I work in finance
 
Yes you can. Even online here hsbc to uk you can stipulate online to send it in GBP. Or you can send rupiah and every major bank in UK / europe will just convert it themselves on arrival

The days are long gone when the currency had to match the destination account
Nowadays most banks will convert into the account currency when any transfer arrives

I work in finance
Fine then :)
 
I had no problem opening accounts at BNI and BCA with KITAS. I prefer BNI of the two, their mobile app is far better, and there are far more BNI ATMs in my area. ATM, bank branch, mobile app, and online banking are the main ways to interact with a bank, if you will mostly do just one or two of those I would recommend focusing on which bank is best in that regard. You can search and observe for yourself which bank has the most branches and ATMs near you, and if you're interested in mobile app or online banking experience, some people here who have used multiple banks can probably offer valuable insight.

Since there are no monthly admin fees, I think I will give Danamon a try :)
 
I opened up a HSBC account in Indonesia and have three accounts in IDR, USD and AUD. I can transfer between the three instantly but found that much better for larger transactions to use transferwise.
 
Similar, I opened HSBC Premier join account (with my wife) in IDR, USD, GBP, Euro and Yen.
My salary in Euro is transferred to our Euro account - then my wife will transfer to another account as if needed or to gain on exchange rate based on advise from Bank Forex officer; and my wife will WA to buy or sell. Very convenient.
We can also easily transfer to my daughter HSBC bank account in UK and USA.
According to her, the exchange rate is not bad - still gain but not much.
However, if we are in Jakarta, we exchange to IDR in a small shop in Ambassador mall and transfer to BCA account. According to her, the exchange rate is much better than HSBC.
 
Yes that infamous money changer PT Valuta Arta Mas with about 6 hijab teenagers working there and always 20 ibu2 exchanging bricks of US$ lol the best money charger for sure, give them cash and they transfer to my BCA in minutes with a very good rate, they have my passport etc on file so I don't even queue (sorry)
And all that just for some donuts once a month ;-)
 
The Transferwise rates don't seem that great. My bank's rates (sinarmas) are better.
Transferring $10,000 here via Transferwise, I would receive Rp140,171,880.
Using Sinarmas I would receive Rp 141,125,350.
[both amounts calculated as of today's date/rates/charges]
The headline rate currently showing for transferwise is 14,116, whereas for sinarmas it is 14,155. (although for sinarmas you cannot fix it, it could still go up or down by the time the money arrives after 1 day)
 
I have been using Transferwise, but guess I will be checking out Sinarmas. By the way, what is the fee Sinarmas extracts for a $10,000 transfer and conversion, USA to Indonesia?

I checked the Sinarmas website and do not find any link to their process for transferring from a US bank account into a Sinarmas account in Indonesia. All I came up with their processes to transfers from Sinarmas to foreign accounts or transfers to accounts within Indonesia. What am I mission?
 
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I always transfer from Singapore, so I don't know if it would be the same from the US. I just did a transfer a couple of years ago, to see what I would get, and it was way ahead of BCA and Mandiri, so I have just continued with it since then. I just put in the Sinarmas bank details into my Singapore bank app (US$), click send, and then the money arrives here 1 or 2 days later in rupiah. They always call me when the money arrives to check I accept their proposed rate, but the rate is publicised here, and is adjusted about 3-4 times daily:
 
I just set up a transfer wise account. The money hasn't come through yet (2-3 days, they said), but the setup was dead easy.
 
I just set up a transfer wise account. The money hasn't come through yet (2-3 days, they said), but the setup was dead easy.
Normally i get the transfer here around 5 minutes , sometimes it has been delayed until the next day has been the latest , if your concerned they have a pretty good customer service .
 
Transferwise offers options for forwarding transfers. The fastest is Polri and costs, as I recall, about $1 more. Funds are in my bank here usually in about 5 minutes. Slower options may take a day.

When making a transfer from my Westpac bank I receive a code on a little gadget that Westpac provided. Then I enter the code otherwise the transaction cannot proceed. It may well be that your home bank is the cause for the delay so I suggest check the procedure with them. Once the first transaction is completed, thereafter it should proceed without problems.
 
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Yes, my Transferwise transaction times are measured in days, not hours and certainly not minutes. A good share of the time is due to slow processing by my originating USA bank and if I am transferring into my Indonesian USD account, the receiving Indonesian bank takes a couple of days to complete their part of the journey. I don't care much, as transactions are never of an emergency nature.
 
The transfer wise transfer hasn't actually come through yet... though I have passed the eta. It isn't an emergency, just a Christmas gift from my family to my son. But, I do hope it will go through soon. I don't relish the idea of driving to town just to stand in a queue and tell the bank that, "yes, I do want to accept this money."
 
If we could get in-country, I would happily volunteer to collect it for you.
 
Ok so interesting little test I did

Had to send 2500gbp from here to Lloyds GBP in Uk

I sent 1250 GBP at lunchtime noon Friday, with BCA online klikbca, cost me in total 24,859,xxx rupiah and the money was there around 5pm Indo time so basically UK morning SAME DAY when it opened

I sent 1250 GBP at the same time, noon Friday, through my old usual way HSBC online etc, cost me in total 24,901,xxx and arrived also yesterday morning UK time (specifically I don't know but I checked in the evening Jakarta and it was there already)

So basically now from an IDR account I can send GBP from BCA and or HSBC from Jakarta to UK and it arrives within a few hours at pretty much the same cost

On XE the straight 1250 gbp to IDR was about 24,600,xxx at the time

So for everyone always raving about transferwise etc, just goes to show traditional banks nowadays are just as quick and cheap as these third party apps but obviously a lot safer and more secure.
I was pretty impressed to see it arrive first thing UK morning time, not even on the lunchtime system update but pretty much when the bank opened the BCA one was showing and when I checked later the HSBC one was also there before noon UK time
 
That’s good to know. I’ll have to try that with klikBCA. I thought all Int’ transfers were in person only, I normally just go into branch in Bandung and fill in the little blue form.

That should also work for sending to an investment platform ?
 
It's a relatively new feature on the left menu. Outward remittance. Need to "register" the account first
Yes used to have to go to branch but finally now can do it online
Not only easier but for my case surprisingly fast. Already there as soon as the bank opened.
I thought maybe maybe by end of day it might be there but yes early morning the BCA was there

As long as you have the swift etc it should work fine
 

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