I understand that HSBC offers free transfers internationally if you have an account.
I have a HSBC account back home.
If I go to a HSBC Taiwan branch, can I send money home for free, or do I also need an HSBC account in Taiwan?
In other words, do you need HSBC accounts in both countries you want to transfer between or just in one?
You need to link your HSBC accounts, in other countries you can do this online, but in TW (ofc) u need to go to a branch and fill in a form to link that up. Do yeah, u must have HSBC account at both ends.
Once the accounts r linked, you can access the global view and trasfers of the accounts and send instant free transfers (as long as you have premier status) in major currencies (TWD cannot be transferred outside of TW, so u need to convert into like USD/GBP/EUR/other and then have a corresponding currency account in your other HSBC.
Unfortunately u can’t do global transfer via app in TW, you need to log in on the website
I have linked my HSBC Expat (Jersey) account and my HSBC Taiwan account. I now can select my TW FCY account as a transfer target.
However, I cannot select the target currency for my TW FCY account. When I try to transfer EUR, the online banking directly shows me that a conversion to USD will be performed…
Same when I try to exchange TWD for another currency: I can only exchange TWD for USD…
Do I need to “activate” individual currencies on the TW side? Or do I need to open an additional FCY account for EUR?
yes, u needed to select the currencies of interest on the linkage document at the branch. I put USD EUR and HKD as a default
Let’s hope they can also do this after sending them a secure message and I don’t need to go to the branch again…
One of the great things about HSBC is once you get all this setup you almost never have to go to the bank except maybe to update your ID.
don;t think so, sorry… they want the hard copy signed
u can try though. won’t keep my hopes high though
Is the Jersey account considered Premier?
yes expat jersey account is Premier
Depends, u can have either the premier account or the advance account.
But usually is premier if u get that
Quick update: Adding another currency to the FCY-account was possible using the phone 
However, they warned me that for any transfer I’ll probably need to go to the branch unless I set up some kind of “designated foreign currency” in the branch first (or something like that - I didn’t fully understand on the phone) 
At least now I can select “Taiwan: FCY - EUR” from my HSBC Expat account when doing a transfer. Next, I’ll try to transfer 5€ to Taiwan to see what will happen.
EDIT:
What should I select here…?
return from overseas for tw resident. (if you are indeed resident).
I personally believe I am - but banks and tax offices in Taiwan tend to disagree occasionally… 
If you have an ARC or a tax ID from the NIA you tick the first box.
I send in from my HSBC Premier account all the time like this. Also yes you can sign a form so you do not need to go to the bank for any incoming. Global transfer negates this anyway but if you have incoming from other sources to your account here then forms need to be signed.
I wish the banks would also accept that having an Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) means that one is actually a resident of Taiwan…
And all of that with zero fees! *
* well, at least after the money was already in the Expat account…
Meanwhile, I have also applied for an HSBC UK account (which should hopefully support free SEPA transfers). If I get approved for that (they still want to have a 20min phone conversation first… 
), I might finally be able to send my EUR to Taiwan for free…
Well as you see its done instantly. You click send then it’s in your account in Taiwan immediately. No fees.
just applied for HSBC UK too, however from HSBC expat you can already send for free to SEPA area in EUR, already done a few time. it’s free, 1 business day usually
Yeah, if the money is already on an another HSBC account, that’s true. However, I want to transfer money from an non-HSBC account, I still need to pay…
At first, I thought that the HSBC Expat account in combination with the Global Money account would accept (free) SEPA payments.
However, they (currently) only support outgoing SEPA transfers, not incoming ones…
So in the end, I still need to do a SWIFT transfer to fund my HSBC Expat account (which last time cost me €35 in intermediary bank fees…) - then I can transfer for free to HSBC Taiwan. With that cost, however, it’s still cheaper to directly make a SWIFT transfer to Taiwan directly. That’s why I am hoping that the UK account would be able to fully participate in SEPA and allow me to receive EUR for free…
ah, sorry, missed the mention of incoming ok.
