Shinsei Bank will launch Go Remit Overseas Remittance Service, a new service for transferring funds overseas, from March 4.
On June 12, 2012, Shinsei Bank reached an agreement with Lloyds TSB Bank in which Lloyds TSB will transfer ownership of its Japanese overseas remittance business to Shinsei Bank. The transfer process will be finalized on March 1. Following the transfer, Shinsei Bank will launch Go Remit as a new overseas remittance service for individual and business customers from March 4, further enhancing the bank’s remittance service offering.
Go Remit will offer all the convenience of the service provided hitherto by Lloyds TSB’s Tokyo branch under the Go Lloyds Overseas Remittance Service brand. Using the Go Remit service, customers will be able to make payments in Japanese yen and a selection of foreign currencies to a pre-registered beneficiary account overseas simply by transferring yen funds into a designated domestic account via an ATM or Internet banking service. As with the Go Lloyds service, the service fee is 2000 yen regardless of the amount remitted, and customers may make remittances to over 170 countries in 12 major currencies.
In anticipation of growth in the number of foreign residents living in Japan and the country’s burgeoning economic interaction with surrounding Asian nations, Shinsei Bank is building out its overseas remittance offering to meet growing customer demand for foreign currency related services.
© Japan Today
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nath
Japan banking system still archaic in so many ways. Shinsei is still a disaster in so many ways.
taj
Cleo, just to give you some ideas: Long ago I used to send big chunks of cash back to my bank account in my "home" country every few months to pay off my student loans. Now once or twice a year I send a big chunk back to put towards a small mortgage. Last year I sent money to friends in South Asia and the USA. (one was a personal loan and one a tax refund).
2000 yen would be very expensive for small purchases that could be made by credit card, but if you're looking at thousands of dollars at a go, the exchange rate is probaly more important than the single fee when chosing the remittance bank.
Ah_so
No doubt the FX margins where hefty, but it is a big margin on a small value. I did not know about the FSA influence, but as Lloyds is 41% owned by the UK government, government agencies are obviously having a big say in its restructuring and its strategy going forward. Lloyds is now a domestic UK bank and should concentrate its efforts on recapitalizing itself.
Akula
Lloyds Remittance Service was quite profitable, you'll soon work that out if you saw their FX margins which were quite hefty. The reason Lloyds stopped retail banking in Japan relates to the FSA scuppering some of their retail business plans right at the last minute after they had spent millions preparing for a new product launch.
Lunchbox
Anybody used Currency-Online. com to send money from Japan? I've used them to send money to Japan and they were by far the best option.
cleo
Pardon me if I'm having a thicky moment here, but I don't understand this. Am I right in thinking that Shinsei are going to charge ¥2000 for sending money overseas? Who's going to use that? If you're paying for goods or services, a credit card charges nothing; if you're transferring money, Shinsei have long had a system where money in an account in Japan can be accessed overseas, with a minimal handling charge. So this is only for folk sending money to other folk who don't accept credit cards and don't have access to the Japanese account? And will it work the other way around, ie having money sent to Japan from overseas?
sighclops
We're in 2013 and it still costs me 4,000 yen a pop to send money overseas. Absurd!
Gobshite
Been waiting for this for ages, good news.
Ah_so
This is more to do with Lloyds Bank offloading its barely profitable foreign operations. Goodness knows why a British domestic bank basically had the retail overseas money transfer service in Japan all sewn up. The fact that there have not been competitors shows the slim margins Lloyds have operated with.
wtfjapan
anticipation of growth in the number of foreign residents living in Japan, yeah with the ease of getting a visa and the healty state of the economy & large salaries I can definatley see this happening. then again with the huge demand for Chinese trainees "cheap labour" they could be correct. know of a J company that i do business with sometimes, they have 3 chinese trainees, when I asked them how much they get a month 40hr week, they replied 70-80k no BS