Chinese Yuan to Hong Kong Dollar exchange rates aren't all the same.
The total cost you are charged by your bank or foreign exchange provider consists of a margin from the interbank mid-rate plus fees.
These margins and fees vary significantly for International Money Transfers and Travel Money transactions as shown below.
When determining the best time to make a foreign exchange transaction, in this case the CNY vs HKD, you should pay attention to the recent market trends for both currencies.
Chinese Yuan (CNY)
Increasingly, the yuan is being used as a barometer for progress made on US-China trade talks. For that reason, it fell sharply in the weeks leading up to this report (May-17).
Trade tensions were ramped up in May after President Trump announced higher tariffs on Chinese goods, after China retaliated with tariffs of its own, and then after Trump placed Huawei on the "entity list," thereby making it impossible for the tech giant to do business with US firms.
Between May-6 and May-17, the yuan weakened in the offshore market by 3 percent (a considerable amount for a government-controlled currency) to a 5-month low of 6.95 per USD. Onshore yuan, which is more easily controlled by the PBOC, reached towards 6.92.
All eyes now are on the 7.0 exchange rate. Will the PBOC allow the yuan beyond that? An RBC strategist believes that’s unlikely in the short term because a weaker yuan would create more friction between China and the US. Trump often alleges that China purposefully weakens its currency to gain a trade advantage.
“A rapid conclusion to the US–China trade deal and … complete rollback of tariffs ... would be an effective catalyst to drive RMB higher,” Citibank said.
Hong Kong Dollar (HKD)
The Hong Kong dollar has gained value in 2019 despite a serious escalation in US-China trade tensions, mainly because the US dollar, to which HKD is pegged, is attracting safe-haven inflows. By May-17, against a basket of important currencies, HKD was worth 2 percent more year-to-date, and was only 0.5 percent away from making a 2-year high.
HKD was doing particularly well against the Australian dollar. It was, at the time of writing, valued 18 percent higher than 2018 lows against AUD and needed only a further 2.3 percent to reach a 10-year high. Though HKD was meeting significant resistance in mid-May at the 5.4 per AUD level, a break of this could spark significant appreciation.
Why can't I just get the CNY/HKD market rate I see online or in the media?
The mid-rate is the rate you will see quoted online or the news. It is actually just the half-way point (hence mid-rate) between
the last rate at which the CNY / HKD was traded (bought or sold) in the international markets.
All foreign exchange providers charge a fee for providing their service and this fee is usually contained within the exchange rate margin (or difference to the mid-rate).
Some providers such as Transferwise will quote you the mid-rate (or close to) and charge a separate percentage fee.
Getting a good market rate is mainly about timing however the transaction margin
you end up being charged can be considerably reduced by around a few percent (of total amount being exchanged) for
travel money and possibly over 5% to 6% when sending money.
The exact potential savings depends on the currencies being exchanged and the amount you are transferring and if you are willing to shop around.
WorldRemit