How many kinds of fees are taken from an overseas bank transfer from Japan?

SMBC explains its own fees in three parts. They are the "remittance fee" (送金手数料) for sending the payment instruction to the recipient's bank, the "lifting charge" (リフティングチャージ) when you pay in the same currency as the transfer, and the "related bank fee" (関係銀行手数料) when the sender bears the fees that arise at the recipient's bank and intermediary banks. On top of these comes the exchange cost when yen is changed into a foreign currency.

The remittance fee at the top of the fee table changes depending on whether you apply online or at a counter, and whether the destination is the bank's own overseas office or another bank.

Even when the remittance fee is low, the total changes if the other costs are large. For example, Rakuten Bank's remittance fee is ¥750, but when you send in yen as it is, a yen remittance fee (円貨送金手数料, lifting charge) of ¥3,000 is charged separately. At MUFG Bank and SMBC too, sending in yen as it is adds a fee of at least ¥2,500. Banks' costs cannot be compared from the remittance fee line alone.

When you send Japanese yen as it is without changing it into a foreign currency, the sending bank does not change yen into a foreign currency, but a different fee is charged in its place. The name and the amount differ by bank.

• MUFG Bank: when sending in yen, a yen exchange handling fee (円為替取扱手数料; 0.050% of the transfer amount, minimum ¥2,500) in addition to the remittance fee.
• SMBC: when sending in yen, a yen exchange handling fee (0.05% of the transfer amount, minimum ¥2,500). When sending a foreign currency in the same currency, a lifting charge (0.05% of the transfer amount, minimum ¥2,500 or USD 25).
• Rakuten Bank: when sending in yen, a yen remittance fee (円貨送金手数料, lifting charge) of ¥3,000.

Even under the same name "lifting charge", at SMBC it means the fee when a foreign currency is sent in the same currency, and at Rakuten Bank it means the fee when sending in yen. When you read a fee table, look at the explanation of "for which way of sending the fee is charged" more than at the name.

When you change yen into a foreign currency and send it, the bank exchanges at its own rate. MUFG Bank calls the rate for changing yen into a foreign currency TTS (telegraphic transfer selling rate, 電信売相場), and states that for online overseas remittance it uses the TTS at the time the transfer is executed, not at the time you apply. If the rate moves between applying and execution, the amount you pay in yen changes too.

SMBC publishes, by currency, the exchange fee it applies to online overseas remittance. Examples are ¥1 per US dollar, ¥1.4 per euro and ¥4 per British pound. For example, if you send USD 1,000, the exchange fee comes to ¥1,000 (a calculation example by this site). This fee is separate from the remittance fee in the fee table, and you pay it in the form of being included in the rate.

Rakuten Bank's rate is a general interbank exchange rate plus Rakuten Bank's exchange fee. In addition, from around 17:00 on a business day to around 10:00 on the next business day a night rate of 1.0075 times applies, and from around 17:00 on the business day before a non-business day to around 10:00 after the holiday a holiday rate of 1.015 times applies. Rakuten Bank itself describes these as "higher-priced rates" (割高なレート). This means the cost also changes with the time of day you apply.

According to the Japanese Bankers Association (全国銀行協会), an overseas remittance may pass through one or more intermediary banks depending on the currency and the way it is sent, and at the time of acceptance a Japanese bank cannot know whether there is an intermediary bank, or its name and location. Since the route is not known, the fees deducted on the way are not fixed at the time of sending either.

Each bank lets you choose whether the sender or the recipient bears these fees (in some cases there is no choice). When the sender bears them, the handling is as follows.

When the recipient bears them, the intermediary bank fees are deducted from the transfer amount. Rakuten Bank says that the amount differs by intermediary bank and that the total can be ¥1,000 or more. MUFG Bank writes that overseas intermediary banks, including its own overseas branches and local subsidiaries, may deduct fees. Wise explains that intermediary bank fees differ by bank, are generally the equivalent of USD 15–50 and sometimes more, and cannot be avoided for SWIFT transfers.

On who pays the intermediary bank and receiving bank fees, SBI Remit explains with the words OUR and SHA. OUR is the method where the sender bears these fees and the recipient can receive the specified amount. SHA is the method where the recipient bears them and the amount received may differ from the amount sent. In Japanese banks' fee tables these are written as "borne by the sender" (依頼人負担) and "borne by the recipient" (受取人負担).

When you want a fixed amount to reach your family, check whether you can choose "borne by the sender". However, in some cases only "borne by the recipient" can be chosen, as with MUFG Bank's online remittance, and even with "borne by the sender" the receiving bank may deduct a fee. Whether the fixed amount reaches the recipient depends, in the end, also on how the receiving bank handles it.

Listing the costs so far, these are the points to check when you compare.

1. The remittance fee (it changes with how you apply and which bank you send to).
2. Whether you send after changing into a foreign currency, or in yen as it is. In yen as it is, a yen exchange handling fee or similar is charged.
3. The fee included in the exchange rate. Compare by the gap from the mid-market rate. Which point in time the rate is taken from, and whether it changes with the time of day you apply, also differ by bank.
4. Who bears the intermediary bank and receiving bank fees. If the sender bears them, the conditions under which a difference is charged later.
5. The amount the recipient actually receives. In the end, compare by this amount.

Remittance services other than banks (funds transfer service providers, 資金移動業者) show fees and the amount received in a different way from banks. Differences such as the amount that can be sent at one time are in the article on the 1 million yen per-transfer cap, fees when a transfer does not arrive are in the article on transfers that do not arrive or come back, and each provider's total cost can be checked in the remittance cost comparison table.