When you are thinking about sending money abroad, an international money transfer provider is a great option. They can help you with the whole process, provide useful online tools and most importantly bank-beating exchange rates and low or zero fees.
| Foreign Transfer Providers Ratings & Reviews | Receive GBP(£) | Exchange Rate | Fee AUD | Total Cost | Transfer Services | Transfer Speed | Deal Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
  TorFX provide no fee transfers with good exchange rates and excellent customer service. More info▾ | 5,284 GBP Best Overall | 0.5284 | 0 | 1.4% | Bank Transfers - Online & Phone | 1-2 days | |
 OFX exchange rates are highly competitive for global money transfers, great customer service. ^Zero transfer fees for BestExchangeRates customers. More info▾ | 5,289 GBP 5 GBP | 0.5289 | 0^ | 1.31% | Bank Transfers - Online & Phone, Foreign Currency Accounts | 1-2 days | |
Banks - Average Rate         Average rate from selected banks. Click icons for each bank's costs. More info▾ | 5,146 GBP 138 GBP | 0.5156 | 15 | 3.98% | Online, Branch, Bank Transfers | 2-3 days |
This is a chart showing the change in the AUD-GBP mid-market exchange rate over the last week. The Total Cost of each foreign transfer in the above table is calculated as the sum of all fees and the exchange rate margin, which is the difference between the provider's exchange rate and the mid-market AUD-GBP exchange rate.
Whenever you are interested in an exchange rate you are actually interested in two currencies due to the fact that the value of a currency must always be quoted in comparison to a second currency.
So it follows that if you are determining the best time to transact, in this case the AUD vs GBP, you should pay attention to both Australian Dollar and British Pound Sterling news and forecasts.
Following a flash crash in early January, which saw the Australian dollar briefly trade at a 10-year low of $0.674, the Aussie recovered to $0.73, but then, as it had done before the flash crash, it commenced with a slow and steady decline, and it was back at $0.705 in mid-March and was predicted to fall further.
In February, HSBC predicted a year-end AUD/USD rate of $0.66. In March, Westpac and JP Morgan were slightly more upbeat and argued for $0.68.
Fuelling lower exchange rate forecasts is the Australian economic story, for which major themes include a housing market slump, Chinese growth and the US-China trade spat. The RBA slashed growth forecasts in February and markets are now pricing in 1-2 interest rate cuts this year.
Another Aussie exchange rate worth mentioning is AUD/GBP, which sank in mid-March to its lowest level in nearly 3 years, at just £0.53. The Australian dollar has been unable to compete with the pound of late, since the latter benefits every time the British government fails to make a decision on how to deliver Brexit (every time Brexit appears less likely or to be delayed).
The Brexit debacle continues, as does above-average volatility in the British pound. Until now, the UK government’s inability to make any decisions has been to sterling’s advantage, since this casts doubt on the delivery of Brexit and/or makes a softer Brexit more likely.
Sterling’s uptrend is evident from recent peaks against the dollar, coming in at $1.322 on January-25, at $1.335 on February-27, and at $1.338 on March-13. Sterling had been as low as $1.237 in early January. It was at $1.32 at the time of this report.
Increasing the risk of a no-deal Brexit (potentially very bad for sterling) was the statement made on March-20 by EU Council President Donald Tusk, who said that the EU would agree to the Article 50 extension sought by the UK government only if British MPs first backed the current withdrawal agreement—the one that had twice been defeated by large parliamentary majorities.
Pound forecasts are futile given uncertainties over Brexit but estimates can be made for different outcomes. Currency analysts at HSBC said in February that sterling would be valued at levels near $1.10 in the event of no-deal, near $1.45 with a deal and at $1.55 if Brexit is cancelled.
