A new survey has indicated that expatriates may have lost up to 168 billion GBP as a result of currency exchange losses.
The survey, which was completed by Barclays bank in association with ExpatForum.com, included 10,000 expats and established that up to 84% of them claimed to have lost between 500 GBP and 1000 GBP as a result of entering into currency exchanges at the wrong time. Of the remaining 16%, 7% said that they had lost less than 500 GBP and 9% said that they had lost over 1000 GBP in one year.
For the purposes of the survey, a loss was determined to be any amount of money that was deducted from the value of an expat’s wealth as the result of an unfavorable currency exchange transaction. Such losses can affect expats of all types, including overseas retirees, expats who have purchased property overseas, overseas workers who are paid in an alternative currency to their host country.
One method of preventing losses as a result of unfavorable currency exchange rates is to continually track exchange rates and ensure that currency exchanges are only transacted when the conditions are favorable. However, many expats may ultimately be forced to make the change, even if the exchange rate is not where they would like it to be, because they have run out of money on one currency and need further reserves.
For information on how you can stop currency fluctuations negatively impacting your financial wellbeing, see: http://www.expatinfodesk.com/blog/2012/10/09/understanding-how-currency-movements-can-impact-expat-life/
Read the full article: http://www.expatforum.com/banking/survey-reveals-only-1-in-4-expats-using-mobile-banking-services-abroad.html
