Multi-Currency Account: A Need for New-Age Students on Career Path

Indian aspirations are growing. We are now investing all over the world. In the US Stock markets, buying stocks of the leading tech companies - like Facebook or Google. We are preparing to send our children overseas to study. We need to save up for their education. But you can’t save up systematically for education in different countries. So, if you are a parent sending your children to the US, you want to save in dollars, if you are sending to the UK, you want to save in British Pounds, and for Australia, in Australian Dollars.

How do you acquire this?

You need a multi-currency account. One account and transactions in over 30 currencies? You would laugh if somebody mentioned this to you a few years ago. Multi-Currency Accounts are not new to Indians. A few foreign banks have been offering these, but they’ve required over 50,000 dollars in deposits. However, those high minimum balances cater only to Ultra-High Networth Individuals (UHNIs). Add to that, heavy documentation and high forex costs.

Foreign currency accounts are offered by institutions like Citi and DBS among others. These have primarily been provided under the RBI’s Liberalised Scheme, which allows Indians to remit up to USD 250,000 each year. No approval is required. But this is no longer only for the UHNIs. As an investor, you can now receive, save, invest and spend globally using one single account.

Investing in start-ups abroad? Use the Multi-currency account to seamlessly invest in them. Investing in Real Estate? Use the account for your real estate deposits and to receive rent. As a parent, you can save for your children’s education in many currencies. As an aspiring migrant, you can start saving in international currencies today. Looking to travel soon? Save up in the countries of your destination. If you are a freelancer, you can use it to receive and repatriate your income more easily and inexpensively.

A Multi-Currency account would make life easier for Indians, as they can now have an MCA of their own, with very low minimum balance requirements. You can use the MCA to transact in currencies like the USD, GBP, EUR, and many others. An MCA will not only save a lot of time, but also many other costs that come with opening a foreign bank account. Customers can save over 75 per cent of their foreign exchange costs by opening a Multi-Currency Account.

As the accounts are part of the local payments network across the US, UK, and the EU, any amounts you are expecting to receive are received in your account within minutes. That’s a multifold efficiency over what you would otherwise have, possibly waiting days to receive it in your Indian account.

Another big advantage is that you can see the FX rate before you convert the currency to other currencies, or back to rupees. You also see these FX Rates against the wholesale interbank rates. You don’t have to worry about how much in FX fees the banks are charging as you see it clearly and transparently, before making the conversion.

With the rise in financial fraud, one needs to be concerned about safety. Opening Multi-Currency accounts with regulated firms would mean that your cash will be safeguarded with large banks.

These banks keep these funds at an arm’s length from their operations and lending, ensuring that your funds remain safe at all times. An example of a Multi-Currency Account is the one run by Winvesta, which became the first Indian company to do so. Individuals can open their own Multi-Currency Account through a one-time setup fee of Rs 399. Payments made from it involve a flat fee of only 1 dollar. The account has a monthly fee of 2.99 dollars while incoming payments are free. Currency conversions have no fixed fee. The Multi-currency accounts are the first step to Indians starting their journey to own the world.

The author is the founder and CEO, Winvesta

DISCLAIMER: Views expressed are the author’s own, and Outlook Money does not necessarily subscribe to them. Outlook Money shall not be responsible for any damage caused to any person/organisation directly or indirectly.