International bank transfers and hidden / surprise fees

[cat3appr]

I recently made a transfer oversea from my HSBC account, in USD and I've chosen to pay for the commission.* In the transfer page it was written the amount in GBP, 400, and the amount in USD, 494$ .So, since I've chosen to pay for the transfer fee, 4GBP, I was sure that the recipient was indeed going to receive 494$ . In the transaction page there was no reference of any other extra fee.To my surprise, the recipient received 463$.

I contacted HSBC and they explained that the intermediary bank took its cut of about 40$ .

My question is: why can't a bank be clear about extra hidden fees on these types of transfers?* Why can't they specify that there will be an extra fee* of about 40$ taken by the intermediary bank?

Also, does anyone know if these fees are fixed or as a percentage over the amount transferred? I wasn't able to find any info anywhere. For example, I paid 40$ to send approx 500$ ... what if I send 5000$ will I still pay approx 40$* ?

many thanks for the help!

Alex

[Law Student 6]

Hello,
From looking at HSBC's website, they have mentioned that:

'The charge(s) applied to the payment will depend on the charging option selected.

• If you opt to pay all the fees; the charges in the table above will apply together with any intermediary, agency and beneficiary bank charges
• If you opt to share the fees; the charge in the table above will apply together with any intermediary and agency bank charges
• If you opt the beneficiary to pay all fees; no charges will be applied'

Whether or not that fee is fixed or is a percentage of the money transferred, is probably dependent on the intermediary bank and their specific fees for receiving international payments.*