John R. Yamamoto-Wilson wrote:
> n$a wrote:
> > I don't think you can walk in a bank with 5M¥ in cash in hand and
> > have it wired overseas.

>
> It is possible, or it was ten years ago; there's a Japanese bank just
> across the road from where I work where I did just that. It took a bit
> of paperwork, and their commission, etc., was higher than Lloyds, but
> they sent it for me.

Rules on cash transactions have drastically changed. Indeed, years ago,
you could basically settle by cash anything. First the securities
industry abolished that, will only accept wires from/to the client's
bank account (or through an ATM for small amounts). Then the banks
severely dropped all limits on cash transactions. Haven't you noticed
you can't get as much from an ATM as you could in the past ? Limit
dropped from 3M¥ to 500k¥ daily, generally. Banks won't handle any
large sum transaction unless you have an account in their books, and
will request a lot more info than they used to, require you to go to
the counter for what used to be possible through an ATM, or have a chat
with the manager when the amount is "large".

>
> > A ¥2000 commission is fair, i think it was ¥2500 minimum at Mizuho,
> > anyway it is an extremely small amount compared to the rate
> > difference you may have from one day to the next (or even one minute
> > to the next if the quote is live) on a large wire.
>
> Right. That was why I was impressed when sending money via the Post
> Office. They just checked the rate for that day and sent it at that
> rate, with no spread at all. Again, that was a few years ago now.
>
> John

I think the Post Office may have charged zero flat commission but used
the same spread (built into the rate) as everywhere else, especially if
it was years ago that spread may well have been imposed identical to
all financial institutions by the MoF.