Re:There's only one exchange rate
by Dylan16807 on Thursday October 25, 2012 @12:15PM
(#4698150)
You have to slowly ship petrol; that puts a severe damper on the market reacting to supply and demand. Imagine how different it would be if a gas station could instantly buy out the stock of a competitor across town charging three cents less.
Anyway I fully understand the bank being slightly off the middle, but with that big of a spread the bank is either lying or has money bonfires somewhere in back. And I'm not really joking there, look at how much is spent on horrible legacy systems out of fear that replacements will have bugs... or at least different bugs.
Re:There's only one exchange rate
by taavethinrikus on Thursday October 25, 2012 @02:54PM
(#4698950)
All I'm saying is that whoever is offering a service be honest upfront and say the fees they charge. I hate it with a passion when these guys hide their fees in multiple places and layers.
In fact, the bank offers a service where it takes small positions such as 1000 GBP and gives EUR in return. This is the deal. This small transaction does not necessarily change the bank's plans for foreign exchange.
How does the bank set the price ("rate")? To some competitive value where they expect to make a profit or not lose too much, depending on the competition. The assertion that they do not profit from it might very well be true, even though it probably shouldn't be.
Compare, if you will, to gas stations. The current price for petrol is dependent on what it currently costs on the world wide markets, but also dependent on the demand in the specific area, for example. It is complex, is all I'm saying :)