Kraken SEPA deposits are "extra-SEPA" now

[DavideBaldini]

I tried to deposit euros to Kraken via SEPA. Their new bank coordinates now identify a bank account in the United Kingdom, and the money transfer is considered "extra-SEPA". I remember that years ago Kraken accepted deposits into a bank in Germany, and the SEPA transfers were free. Now with their bank in the UK, my bank (ING) charges 30€ plus a 1.5% fee for currency conversion from EUR to GBP.

Is there a cheaper way to deposit?

[1715483392]

1715483392

[1715483392]

1715483392

[TryNinja]

With my bank (N26, from Germany), I can send EUR just fine without any fee. I have no idea how this works for other banks as I’m not european nor live in Europe, but maybe you can somehow specify that you’re sending EUR and not GBP (which is what’s causing the expensive conversion)?

[DavideBaldini]

The problem with the UK bank is that ING would send the euro payment via SWIFT instead of SEPA, and that's expensive. I discovered that to deposit on Kraken it's possible to select a different beneficiary bank in Liechtenstein and the whole process remains in euro and goes over SEPA, for free.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

maybe you can somehow specify that you’re sending EUR and not GBP (which is what’s causing the expensive conversion)?

Wait, what are you sending Kraken, GBP or EUR?  I just wanted to clarify that, since from what you wrote it sounds like the opposite of what TryNinja said--not that it matters much to you problem of banks being a gigantic pain in the ass and milking their customers dry at every opportunity.

It's obviously the conversion that's costing you and I'm not sure why you have to convert anyway.  Doesn't Kraken accept both EUR and GBP?  If not, is it possible for you to open a bank account denominated in whatever currency Kraken does accept?  I can't see an obvious solution to your problem aside from switching to a bank that won't gouge you when you transfer funds to Kraken.  And I'll admit that I've only used them a handful of times and that was years ago, so I haven't a clue what their business policies are nowadays.

That fee your bank is charging you sounds pretty damn high, especially if you're not depositing large sums of money.  I shake my head in disbelief and wish you luck.

[DavideBaldini]

With my bank (N26, from Germany), I can send EUR just fine without any fee. I have no idea how this works for other banks as I’m not european nor live in Europe, but maybe you can somehow specify that you’re sending EUR and not GBP (which is what’s causing the expensive conversion)?

From the little I understood, the fees that ING would charge to me are:

• 30€ for the SWIFT payment alone. This British bank that Kraken uses to receive deposits does not accept SEPA payments, so ING would use SWIFT instead.
• 1.5% for conversion from EUR (my balance) to GBP (recipient bank's balance). The British bank has its account denominated in GBP, so currency conversion is done automatically upon depositing EUR.

The easy solution that I couldn't find earlier is to select a different beneficiary bank, in Liechtenstein, to send the EUR deposit to.