ATM foreign currency arbitrage

I went to withdraw 3000nt cash from my U.K. bank using Taipei bank, Taipei ATM.
All seemed good “please wait dealing with request “ this went on for 3 minutes or so,
U.K. bank sends a message saying 3000nt £80.41 withdrawal. No money had come out of machine or my card! Another minute or so says “error” transaction cancelled. Card is ejected.
U.K. sends new message saying £80.83 withdrawal returned.
So in that 5 minutes i profited 42pence because exchange rate had changed.

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You probably want to wait a couple of days before going on a spending spree with your 42 pence. Don’t know about your particular bank, but for mine the shown amounts aren’t final until the transaction is settled.

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Bet you wish you’d been withdrawing 3 million NT$. You’d have made enough money from exchange-rate arbitrage to treat your friends back home to a day’s worth of electricity.

Realistically, I think this is some sort of error due to the difference in buy/sell prices and will be adjusted away.

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1 minutes worth!

Not sure what to treat myself to with 1.? nt before it’s reclaimed by the bank.

Works out to an hourly rate of about five quid. If you keep doing this for 18 hours a day 6 days a week, you can earn a handsome 540 pounds per week.

Sadly, 540 pounds will probably be worth about 540 TWD a week later, given the constant depreciation of the GBP…

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Sadly this has just happened

My prosperous New Year has had its first disappointment. :smirk:

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