ASB vs Wise: International Transfer Fees Compared

ASB or Wise: the measured difference

ASB is the only one of the five major New Zealand banks that still charges a visible fee on every online international transfer, and it is also the one where we have a hard third-party measurement of the total cost. On a NZ$5,000 transfer to the United States, third-party comparison data put ASB at NZ$84.58 all-in against NZ$16.37 through Wise. That is a difference of NZ$68 on a single transfer — 5.2 times the cost. This page shows where that NZ$84.58 comes from, and the four or five situations where you should still walk into an ASB branch.

We earn a commission if you open an account with some of the providers listed on this page. It never changes the rate or fee you pay, and it never changes our rankings — our comparison figures come from each provider's published pricing.

ASB's published international transfer fees, itemised

What you're doing	ASB fee
Send an international money transfer via FastNet Classic	NZ$5–15 (see note)
Send with staff assistance — branch or phone	NZ$30
Optional "sender to pay" other bank fees — USD	NZ$5
Optional "sender to pay" — AUD to a CBA account	NZ$7.50
Optional "sender to pay" — AED, CAD, CNY, FJD, INR, NOK, PHP, SEK, TOP, WST, ZAR	NZ$10
Optional "sender to pay" — AUD to a non-CBA account, CHF, DKK, EUR, GBP, PGK, THB	NZ$20
Optional "sender to pay" — HKD, JPY, NZD, SGD, VUV, XPF	NZ$25
Receive an international payment settled to an ASB NZD account	NZ$15
Receive an international payment credited to another bank in NZD	NZ$25
Receive a payment of NZ$100 or less	NZ$0
Transfer between an ASB foreign currency account and an NZD account	NZ$0
Exchange rate margin	Not published

An honest note on ASB's online fee. ASB's live fee table loads dynamically and we could not read the values from it, and its Guide to Fees PDF is blocked to automated readers. Third-party sources disagree: NZ$5 has been reported as at late 2025, while older surveys of New Zealand bank international service fees recorded NZ$15. The NZ$30 staff-assisted figure is consistent everywhere. So we are giving you a range and telling you why rather than a confident number that might be wrong. Check it in FastNet Classic before you send — the amount appears on the confirmation screen.

The "sender to pay" table is worth understanding because it is a real choice ASB gives you, not a hidden charge. If you select it, you pre-pay the receiving bank's fee so your recipient gets the full amount. If you don't, the receiving bank deducts its own charge and your recipient gets less. Note that ASB corrected the AUD-to-non-CBA fee to NZ$20 effective 3 July 2026 after a system error had been undercharging it — worth knowing if you send to Australia regularly and budget from an older figure.

Where the NZ$84.58 actually goes

Take the measured total and subtract the fee. If ASB's online fee is NZ$15, the margin is NZ$69.58 — 1.39% of NZ$5,000. If the fee is NZ$5, the margin is NZ$79.58, or 1.59%. Either way, between 82% and 94% of what an ASB transfer costs you is the exchange rate, not the fee.

ASB does not publish that margin. Its foreign exchange page says its displayed rates "do not constitute a quote" and "may differ from any rate previously displayed," and its own help content is unusually candid about the structure: "the cost of an International Money Transfer is made up in part through the exchange rate, and in part through fees." That is a correct description. It just stops short of the number.

The practical consequence is that comparing ASB's NZ$5–15 fee against Wise's fee tells you almost nothing. You have to compare the amount that lands. On NZ$5,000 to the US the difference was NZ$68. Scale it up and the fee becomes irrelevant: on NZ$50,000, a 1.5% margin is NZ$750 and the fee is 2% of your cost. The full NZ bank international transfer fee comparison runs the same decomposition across all five banks.

Worked comparison: NZ$1,000, NZ$5,000 and NZ$20,000

Total cost, fee plus margin, sending to US dollars. The NZ$5,000 column is measured third-party data. The other two columns extrapolate from it using a 1.4–1.6% ASB margin and each provider's measured percentage, so treat them as indicative.

Provider	NZ$1,000	NZ$5,000	NZ$20,000
ASB online	NZ$21–31	NZ$84.58	NZ$285–335
ASB in branch	NZ$46	~NZ$110	~NZ$310–360
Wise	~NZ$5–8	NZ$16.37	~NZ$66
XE Money Transfer	~NZ$8–12	NZ$30.18	~NZ$120
OFX	~NZ$20 (NZ$12 fee + margin)	NZ$39.02	~NZ$156
TorFX	~NZ$12–16	NZ$50.51	~NZ$202
Western Union	Quote only	Quote only	Quote only

Look at the NZ$1,000 row. ASB's fee is a large share of a small transfer, so the proportional damage is worst there — NZ$21–31 on NZ$1,000 is 2.1% to 3.1%. That is the case where switching pays back fastest, and it is also the most common transfer size for anyone sending money to family. On NZ$20,000 the absolute number is bigger but the percentage is better, because the fee gets diluted.

How long each takes

An ASB international money transfer usually takes one to two business days to arrive, which is at the faster end for a New Zealand bank; ASB advises raising a search if funds have not landed within ten business days. Wise settles many major-currency transfers within hours, and often near-instantly on corridors where it holds local payout rails, though first transfers and larger amounts can be held for verification.

For most people the difference is one banking day, and the cut-off time you submit by matters as much as the provider. If your payment is genuinely time-critical — a settlement date, a visa deadline — build in a buffer regardless of which you use, and if it is a large irreversible payment, the phone number attached to a bank is worth something.

When ASB is genuinely the better choice

• Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea or the Cook Islands. Wise does not support any of them. ASB does — its fee schedule prices WST, TOP, VUV and PGK explicitly. For those corridors the bank is not a compromise, it is the only option of the two. Fiji is supported by both.
• You want a bank draft, a documentary credit or a letter of credit. Some visa applications, foreign universities, court filings and trade counterparties will accept nothing else. ASB issues them; no digital provider does. ASB charges NZ$60 per cheque or draft on collection, so it is not free — but it is available.
• A large transfer where you want a person accountable for it. On a property settlement or a business payment in the hundreds of thousands, having an ASB contact who can trace a SWIFT message and escalate it is worth more than the margin. Pay the NZ$30 for staff assistance on that one.
• You already run an ASB foreign currency account. Transfers between an ASB FCA and your NZD account are free, and if you hold, say, USD or AUD balances and convert on your own timing, you have already sidestepped the worst of the margin. The account works — the retail conversion rate is the weak point, not the structure.
• Your ASB lending is priced on a relationship package. Check what moving your FX volume does before you move it. Usually nothing; occasionally it matters.
• Forward contracts and rate locks. If you need to fix a rate for a payment months ahead, that is a dealing-desk product. ASB, OFX and TorFX will do it. Wise will not.
• You need cash. Wise cannot hand you banknotes. If what you actually want is euros in your hand before you fly, see currency exchange near me — and note that ASB's own branch network no longer makes this simple either.

ASB card fees overseas

ASB calls its card FX fee an Offshore Service Margin. It is charged "when you make a transaction in a currency other than New Zealand Dollars," and it sits on top of the Visa scheme conversion rate.

Card	Offshore Service Margin
ASB Visa credit cards	2.10%
ASB Visa Flex	0% — no Offshore Service Margin applies
ASB Visa Debit	2.10%
ASB FastCash / Cashflow card	1.10% on each cash transaction
Wise debit card	No foreign transaction fee; conversion from 0.25% at the mid-market rate

Two things to take from that. First, 2.10% on NZ$4,000 of holiday spending is NZ$84 — the same order of magnitude as the transfer margin, and paid over and over across a trip. Second, the ASB Visa Flex is the exception and it is a genuinely good travel card: no Offshore Service Margin at all, which puts it alongside ANZ's 0% personal credit cards near the top of what New Zealand banks offer. If you hold one, use it. If you hold any other ASB card, the 2.10% is worth avoiding. Our best card to use overseas from NZ guide compares the options, and should I pay in NZD or local currency covers the dynamic currency conversion trap that costs more than any of these fees.

What Wise doesn't do

Wise cannot give you banknotes. It does not issue bank drafts, documentary credits or letters of credit. It does not lend, and it does not assign you a dealer for large transactions. It cannot send to Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea or the Cook Islands.

On regulation, the version worth knowing: Wise Payments Ltd operates in New Zealand as a foreign entity and is not licensed by a New Zealand regulator. It is supervised by the Department of Internal Affairs for anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism-financing purposes. Funds are safeguarded rather than covered by a deposit guarantee. If that is a dealbreaker for you, stay with ASB — but decide it on the facts, not on a vague unease, and note that New Zealand has no retail deposit guarantee scheme covering ASB balances either at the time of writing.

If you get paid from overseas, fix that first

ASB charges NZ$15 to credit an inbound international payment to your NZD account, or NZ$25 if it is settled to another bank, waived only at NZ$100 or less. If you invoice overseas clients monthly, that is NZ$180 a year in fees on money that is already yours, before any conversion margin.

The structural fix is local receiving details in the currency you are paid in. If your US client pays into local USD account details, that is a domestic payment in the US — there is no inbound SWIFT wire for ASB to charge for, and you convert to NZD when the rate suits you rather than when the payment happens to land. That is the core of what a Wise Business account for NZ freelancers and exporters does, and it applies equally to personal income.

Frequently asked questions

How much does an ASB international money transfer cost?

ASB's own fee is NZ$5–15 online through FastNet Classic and NZ$30 with staff assistance, plus an undisclosed exchange rate margin. In third-party testing the all-in cost of sending NZ$5,000 to the United States through ASB was NZ$84.58, meaning roughly NZ$70–80 of it was the exchange rate rather than the fee.

Is ASB international transfer expensive?

Compared with specialists, yes. The measured NZ$84.58 on NZ$5,000 was 5.2 times Wise's NZ$16.37, 2.8 times XE's NZ$30.18 and 2.2 times OFX's NZ$39.02. Compared with other New Zealand banks it is mid-field: cheaper than Kiwibank's NZ$108.39 and dearer than BNZ's NZ$77.46 on the same benchmark.

What exchange rate does ASB use?

ASB does not publish a margin. Its foreign exchange page states that displayed rates do not constitute a quote and may differ from rates previously displayed. Its own help content confirms the cost "is made up in part through the exchange rate, and in part through fees" without quantifying the first part. Working backwards from the measured NZ$84.58, the implied margin on a NZ$5,000 USD transfer is about 1.4–1.6%.

What is ASB's Offshore Service Margin?

It is ASB's foreign transaction fee: 2.10% of the converted New Zealand dollar amount on ASB Visa credit cards and Visa Debit cards, charged whenever you transact in a currency other than New Zealand dollars. The ASB Visa Flex is exempt and carries no Offshore Service Margin. ASB FastCash and Cashflow cards are charged 1.10% on each cash transaction.

Does ASB charge to receive money from overseas?

Yes. NZ$15 to credit an inbound international payment to an ASB NZD account, or NZ$25 if the payment is settled to another bank in NZD. Both are waived for payments of NZ$100 or less. The fee is deducted from the amount that arrives, so the recipient bears it.

How long does an ASB international transfer take?

Usually one to two business days, which is at the faster end for a New Zealand bank. ASB suggests raising a search if the money has not arrived within ten business days. The cut-off time you submit by affects the arrival date as much as the destination does.

Should I choose "sender to pay" on an ASB transfer?

Choose it when the recipient needs an exact amount — a tuition invoice, a rent payment, a supplier bill. It costs NZ$5 for USD, NZ$7.50 for AUD to a CBA account, NZ$10 or NZ$20 for most other major currencies, and NZ$25 for HKD, JPY, SGD, NZD, VUV and XPF. If you leave it off, the receiving bank deducts its own charge and the recipient gets less than you sent.

Should I use ASB or Wise?

Use Wise for ordinary transfers to supported countries — the measured saving was NZ$68 on NZ$5,000 and scales with the amount. Use ASB for Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, PNG and the Cook Islands, for bank drafts and documentary credits, for large transfers where you want a named contact, and if you already actively use an ASB foreign currency account. If you hold an ASB Visa Flex, keep using it overseas — its 0% Offshore Service Margin is one of the better card deals in New Zealand.

Related comparisons

See ANZ vs Wise, BNZ vs Wise, Westpac vs Wise and Kiwibank vs Wise for the other four majors. For specific corridors, try send money to Australia from NZ or the general send money overseas from NZ guide, and the cheapest way to exchange money in New Zealand for the cash side.