Funds

Bank accounts

In theory banking in Sicily is straight forward and there should be little difference from other countries due to pan-European agreements. However, in practice the mentality and structure of former monopolies, the general lack of competition and the lack of a borrowing culture which normally provides a bank’s profits all combine to mean poor limited services that cost more!

The fundamental difference in Italy for British people is that similar to the practice in many European countries and the rest of the world, Italian banks charge for traditional core services such as withdrawals and paying in, etc. There is also less competition here and a smaller range of services. The combination of these factors means that Italians tend to have a more cynical view of banks and have less desire to seek loans from them.

There are also some uniquely Italian peculiarities here such as online banking, which actually saves the banks money, costing more than the equivalent normal account!


Money transfers
Considerable savings can be made when sending money to Sicily. There are no legal restrictions on money transfers, but if bringing in more than €10,000 you have to declare it.

As anywhere, banks tend to offer poor exchange rates; using specialist currency companies who have access to the ‘wholesale’ exchange rates means you can save considerable sums. We can recommend such companies.

There are two main types of currency purchase;

1. Spot. Buying currency immediately.
2. Forward. Buying a fixed rate now for a future transaction, normally up to two years later. Normally a 10% deposit is required if buying forward.

This graph illustrates the movement of sterling against the Euro over the last four months. For a transfer of £100,000, the maximum difference would be approximately £6000.

Exchange Rate Graph