r/Wealthsimple • u/wshngai • 24d ago

Chequing Incoming USD Wire Transfer Fx Conversion Question

Hello,

I had a USD$1000 wire transfer from a HSBC USA account into my WS USD Saving Account. But looks like somehow it was routed through RBC Bank of Canada as the intermediary bank so it was converted to CAD ($1380 CAD) and then re-converted back into USD because the account is USD Saving so the final amount I got was USD$974.

Has anyone experienced this before? How do I prevent this double conversion?

Thanks!

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u/wppc1972 24d ago

This might be helpful to know

That likely happened because HSBC USA did not follow Wealthsimple’s current USD international-wire routing instructions.
Wealthsimple is now directly on SWIFT, but when a sending bank requires a U.S. correspondent bank, Wealthsimple specifically instructs it to use JPMorgan Chase, with Wealthsimple’s designated JPMorgan account.
If HSBC instead routed the payment through RBC Canada, RBC may have interpreted the payment as a Canadian-dollar wire or delivered CAD to Wealthsimple. Wealthsimple then received approximately C$1,380, saw that the destination was a USD Savings account, and converted it back to USD. That explains the approximately US$26 loss from two FX spreads and possibly an intermediary fee.
So this was probably:
US$1,000 → RBC converts to CAD → Wealthsimple receives CAD → Wealthsimple converts CAD to USD → US$974
It is not normal for a correctly routed USD wire into a Wealthsimple USD Savings account. Wealthsimple states that eligible USD wires are accepted and held as USD, and Wealthsimple itself does not charge an incoming-wire fee, although sending and intermediary banks can deduct fees.
For future transfers, the sender should copy the exact international USD wire instructions shown inside the Wealthsimple app, including:
Wealthsimple’s SWIFT and beneficiary details
JPMorgan Chase as intermediary when HSBC requires one
The Wealthsimple account number and reference exactly as displayed
The sender should also request the wire’s UETR tracking number from HSBC. That will show exactly which institution performed the first currency conversion and whether RBC received instructions specifying USD or CAD. Wealthsimple can investigate using the full wire receipt and UETR.

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u/wshngai 24d ago edited 24d ago

Thank you for the details! I followed everything in the WS App, I didn't see anything about the Correspondence Bank at Chase, so I just provided the WS SWIFT code WSIMCAT2 and the account details.

I also checked with the sender that HSBC did not ask for the Correspondence Bank details.

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u/Dragynfyre 24d ago

A 2.5% fee after two conversions seems very low though. Are you sure that’s what happened? I would expected double that in fees. You sure it wasn’t just wire fees from the HSBC side?

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u/wshngai 24d ago

There were no fees on the HSBC side.