Preface - Why RMB Goes Overseas
If you have a lot of money and are a bit sensitive (>500,000 RMB), it is absolutely necessary to go overseas with RMB for risk avoidance. However, there are also many people who want to speculate in US stocks, cryptocurrencies, overseas investments, or capital outflows. In these cases, having an offshore account is also necessary.
As for me, well, I just want to save some pocket money and earn some interest. 🤑
Opening an Overseas Bank Account
Opening an overseas bank account can be divided into two parts: online opening and physically going to Hong Kong.
For online opening, people generally choose Wise and OCBC; for offline processing, they choose Hong Kong banks such as HSBC.
Advantages and Disadvantages
The advantage of online opening is convenience, but the disadvantage is that Wise has some mysterious risks of account closure for large transactions, while OCBC only waives the fees for the first year.
Moreover, Wise's current interest rates for USD and GBP are as high as around 4.5%, and OCBC's USD six-month fixed deposit interest rate is around 4.68%, which is incomparable to mainland banks.
Both Wise and OCBC can be linked to Alipay for card binding, and OCBC has no fees for small amounts under 200 RMB (with exchange rate loss).
On the other hand, opening an account offline in Hong Kong requires a lot of time and accommodation expenses. However, the fees for RMB → Hong Kong banks → overseas transactions are very low, only in terms of exchange rate loss.
This article focuses on Wise and OCBC.
Account Opening Methods
Wise and OCBC only require a passport. There are many tutorials available on YouTube for reference, so I won't go into detail here.
RMB Going Overseas
There are two methods: telegraphic transfer and virtual currency. Let's introduce them separately.
Telegraphic Transfer
It takes about 5 hours in total. The handling fee for ICBC telegraphic transfer is the lowest in China. Testing the remittance to OCBC Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation, the handling fee is 40 RMB, and the intermediary bank deducts 8 SGD, totaling about 80 RMB. This is the preferred option for regular large remittances.
Virtual Currency
Binance C2C → Kraken Exchange → Wise
- Buy 15 USDT on Binance for 108.3 RMB (USD exchange rate of 7.14 on the day, Binance price of 7.22);
- Transfer USDT from Binance to Kraken Exchange, deducting 1 USDT handling fee;
- Exchange USDT to fiat currency Euro on Kraken Exchange;
- Transfer Euro to Wise, deducting a handling fee of 0.9 Euro;
- Receive 11.89 Euro in Wise;
- Simulate the conversion of Wise to RMB, with a balance of 91.07 RMB.
In total, the total loss of this money is 17.23 RMB, which includes 1 USDT, 0.9 Euro, and exchange rate loss.
Among them, it takes 24 hours for Binance C2C to purchase USDT and transfer it out. Each step in Kraken and Wise only takes about 3 minutes to arrive.
There is no handling fee for Wise's Singapore dollar remittance to OCBC.
To be supplemented:
Transfer Euro to Wise, deducting a handling fee of 0.9 Euro;
Is this a flat fee of 0.9 Euro per transaction, or is it a percentage?
Conclusion
For bringing USDT back to China, it is recommended to choose Kraken → Wise. It is advisable to do it in medium amounts multiple times, rather than small amounts multiple times or a large amount all at once (for risk control).
As for going overseas with RMB for stock investment or overseas shopping, choose the method that suits you best based on the advantages and disadvantages of the two methods. The virtual currency method does not use up personal foreign exchange quotas.
For those who really need to go abroad, my suggestion is to apply for a local bank card and choose Wise, so you don't have to worry about being asked for proof of address later.
For example, if I plan to go to Japan, I can apply for a Wise account in the Japanese region after staying there.