Kiwibank vs Wise: International Transfer Fees Compared

Kiwibank or Wise: the widest gap of the five majors

Kiwibank is the most expensive of New Zealand's five major banks for sending money overseas, and it is the only one that still charges a fee on every online international payment. Third-party comparison data put a NZ$5,000 transfer to the United States at NZ$108.39 through Kiwibank against NZ$16.37 through Wise — 6.6 times the cost, and a NZ$92 difference on one transfer. Strip out Kiwibank's NZ$10 online fee and the implied exchange rate margin is about 1.97%, the highest of the three New Zealand banks that have been measured. There is also a card fee here that catches people who never leave the country.

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.

Kiwibank's published international payment fees, itemised

From Kiwibank's foreign exchange rates and fees page.

What you're doing	Kiwibank fee
Send via internet banking, shared charges (SHA)	NZ$10 equivalent
Send via internet banking, you pay all charges (OUR)	NZ$20 equivalent
Send in branch or by email, shared charges (SHA)	NZ$25 equivalent
Send in branch or by email, you pay all charges (OUR)	NZ$35 equivalent
Receive an international payment into a Kiwibank NZD account	NZ$12
Receive an international payment into a Kiwibank foreign currency account	NZ$12 equivalent per transfer
Investigation, amendment or cancellation	NZ$25 each
Stop an international bank draft	NZ$15 per stop
Electronic transfer between a Kiwibank foreign currency account and an NZD account	NZ$0
Foreign currency account monthly fee	NZ$0
Exchange rate margin	Not published

The SHA/OUR choice is the most useful thing in that table and most Kiwibank customers do not use it deliberately. SHA means charges are shared: you pay Kiwibank's NZ$10 and any bank in the chain can deduct its own fee from the amount travelling, so your recipient may get less than you sent. OUR means you pay everything up front — NZ$20 online — and the recipient gets the full amount. Kiwibank is explicit that "banks involved in processing the transfer may deduct fees along the way" and that recipients may get less than sent. If you are paying a tuition invoice, a rent bill or a supplier to the cent, the extra NZ$10 for OUR is money well spent. If you are sending pocket money to family, SHA is fine.

Also worth noting: Kiwibank's foreign currency accounts have no monthly fee and no charge to move money between them and your NZD account. That is a better structure than BNZ's, where monthly maintenance runs from NZ$5 for a GBP account upwards. The weak point at Kiwibank is not the account, it is the conversion rate applied when you use it.

Where the NZ$108.39 goes

Take the measured total of NZ$108.39 and subtract Kiwibank's NZ$10 online SHA fee. That leaves NZ$98.39 of exchange rate margin on NZ$5,000 — about 1.97%. So roughly 91% of what a Kiwibank transfer costs you is the rate, not the fee.

Kiwibank does not publish that margin. Nothing on its foreign exchange rates and fees page quantifies the markup on its displayed rates. Independent surveys put New Zealand bank margins at 1.5–3% for major currencies and up to 5% for Pacific currencies, so 1.97% on a US dollar transfer sits in the upper half of the normal band rather than being an outlier.

The comparison that matters: on the same NZ$5,000 benchmark, BNZ came in at NZ$77.46 and ASB at NZ$84.58. Kiwibank is roughly NZ$24–31 dearer than the other measured New Zealand banks and roughly NZ$92 dearer than the cheapest specialist. If you bank with Kiwibank purely out of loyalty to a New Zealand-owned institution — which is a legitimate reason — it is worth knowing that this particular loyalty costs about 2% of every dollar you send abroad. The full NZ bank international transfer fee comparison sets all five side by side.

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 apply Kiwibank's implied 1.97% margin and each provider's measured percentage, so treat them as indicative.

Provider	NZ$1,000	NZ$5,000	NZ$20,000
Kiwibank online, SHA	~NZ$29.70	NZ$108.39	~NZ$404
Kiwibank online, OUR	~NZ$39.70	~NZ$118	~NZ$414
Kiwibank in branch, SHA	~NZ$44.70	~NZ$123	~NZ$419
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

The NZ$1,000 row is the one that should give a Kiwibank customer pause. About NZ$29.70 on NZ$1,000 is 2.97% — and NZ$1,000 is the most common transfer size for anyone supporting family overseas. Sent monthly, that is roughly NZ$356 a year in transfer costs against roughly NZ$60–96 through a specialist. On NZ$20,000, the gap widens to about NZ$338 on a single transaction.

How long each takes

Kiwibank quotes one to three business days for international payments, with transfers to Australia often arriving same-day. That is a fair and typical timeframe for a bank SWIFT payment, and the Australia performance is genuinely useful for the busiest corridor out of New Zealand — covered in full in our send money to Australia from NZ guide.

Wise settles many major-currency transfers within hours, and near-instantly where it holds local payout rails, though first transfers and larger amounts can be held for verification. In practice the difference is often a single banking day, and the cut-off time you submit by affects the arrival date as much as the provider does.

When Kiwibank is genuinely the better choice

• When the recipient must get an exact amount. Kiwibank's OUR option — NZ$20 online — guarantees no downstream deductions. For a tuition invoice, a visa fee, a rent payment or a supplier bill that must arrive to the cent, that certainty is worth more than a cheaper rate. Kiwibank makes the choice explicit at the point of payment, which not every bank does well.
• Free foreign currency accounts. No monthly fee, and no charge to move money between an FCA and your NZD account. If you hold foreign currency and convert on your own timing, you have already sidestepped the worst of the margin. Structurally this beats BNZ's monthly maintenance model.
• Same-day to Australia. Kiwibank's own guidance puts Australia transfers at same-day, which for the largest corridor out of New Zealand is a real advantage over a multi-day SWIFT payment.
• Bank drafts. Kiwibank issues international bank drafts and will stop one for NZ$15. Some visa applications, foreign universities and court filings accept nothing else. No digital provider issues drafts.
• Destinations Wise cannot reach. Wise does not support Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea or the Cook Islands. Kiwibank's SWIFT network does. For those corridors the bank is the only option of the two. Fiji is supported by both.
• Large transfers where you want a named contact. On a property settlement or a business payment, someone at Kiwibank who can trace and escalate a stuck SWIFT message is worth more than 2%. Pay the NZ$25 branch fee and get it documented.
• Existing Kiwibank lending on a package. Check whether moving your FX volume affects your relationship pricing before you move it.
• You need banknotes. Wise cannot hand you cash. See currency exchange near me, and do I need cash overseas for how much is worth carrying.

The Kiwibank card fee that catches people who never travel

This is the most important thing on this page for most Kiwibank customers, and it has nothing to do with international transfers.

Card / action	Kiwibank fee
Kiwibank credit cards (Zero Visa, Platinum Visa) — transaction processed overseas	1.85% of the total amount
Kiwibank Visa Debit — international transaction	2.50% of the NZ dollar amount once converted
Overseas ATM cash withdrawal	NZ$6 per withdrawal
Overseas ATM balance enquiry	NZ$1
Overseas ATM declined transaction	NZ$1
Overseas cash advance, ATM or staff-assisted	NZ$6 per transaction
Wise debit card	No foreign transaction fee; conversion from 0.25% at the mid-market rate; ATM free to NZ$400/month then 2.69%

Note the trigger on the credit card fee. Kiwibank's own wording is that the 1.85% applies when "you use your credit card for a transaction that is processed overseas" — not when you spend in a foreign currency. A Consumer NZ investigation published on 17 July 2026 found this means Kiwibank charges the fee on purchases billed in New Zealand dollars if the merchant processes offshore, catching services like Airbnb and Spotify, and that none of the other major New Zealand banks surveyed had an equivalent charge on NZD transactions. If you hold a Kiwibank credit card and pay for overseas-hosted subscriptions in NZD, you are paying 1.85% on them without ever leaving the country.

On the debit side, 2.50% is the highest debit card foreign transaction fee of the five majors, and the NZ$6 overseas ATM withdrawal fee is also the highest — Westpac charges NZ$3 and ANZ and BNZ charge nothing of their own. On a trip with six ATM withdrawals that is NZ$36 in Kiwibank fees before any conversion cost. Our best card to use overseas from NZ guide covers the alternatives, and travel money cards in NZ the prepaid options.

What Wise doesn't do

Wise cannot hand 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 reaches 80 countries, and it cannot send to Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea or the Cook Islands.

On regulation, the honest version: 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, and customer funds are safeguarded rather than covered by a deposit guarantee. Kiwibank, by contrast, is a New Zealand-registered and New Zealand-owned bank, which for some people is the whole argument — and it is a coherent one. New Zealand has no retail deposit guarantee scheme covering Kiwibank balances at the time of writing either, so the difference is about regulatory oversight and ownership rather than a government backstop.

Three things to do if you bank with Kiwibank

1. Use internet banking, not the branch. NZ$10 against NZ$25 for identical execution, and the rate does not improve at the counter.
2. Choose SHA or OUR deliberately. OUR costs NZ$10 more online and guarantees the recipient gets the full amount. On an invoice that must be paid exactly, take it. On a gift, SHA is fine.
3. Audit your card statements for the 1.85%. Look for it on NZD subscriptions to overseas-hosted services. If you find it, that is a recurring charge no other major New Zealand bank applies, and it is a good reason to move that spending to a card without it. Then compare a transfer quote using our currency converter to check the real rate.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a Kiwibank international payment cost?

Kiwibank charges NZ$10 equivalent to send via internet banking with shared charges, NZ$20 if you pay all charges, NZ$25 in branch or by email with shared charges, and NZ$35 in branch paying all charges. On top of that is an undisclosed exchange rate margin. Third-party testing put the all-in cost of sending NZ$5,000 to the US at NZ$108.39.

Is Kiwibank international transfer expensive?

Yes, relative to both the other New Zealand banks and the specialists. The measured NZ$108.39 on NZ$5,000 to the US was the highest of the three New Zealand banks in the benchmark — above ASB's NZ$84.58 and BNZ's NZ$77.46 — and 6.6 times Wise's NZ$16.37. About NZ$98 of it was exchange rate margin, an implied 1.97%.

What exchange rate margin does Kiwibank add?

Kiwibank does not publish one. Working backwards from the measured NZ$108.39 total and subtracting its NZ$10 online fee gives an implied margin of about 1.97% on a NZ$5,000 US dollar transfer. Independent surveys put New Zealand bank margins at 1.5–3% for major currencies and up to 5% for Pacific currencies.

What is Kiwibank's international transaction fee on cards?

1.85% of the total amount on Kiwibank credit cards, including the Zero Visa and Platinum Visa, and 2.50% on Kiwibank Visa Debit. The credit card fee is triggered by the transaction being processed overseas rather than by the currency, so it can apply to purchases billed in New Zealand dollars — a Consumer NZ investigation in July 2026 found no other major New Zealand bank had an equivalent charge on NZD transactions.

Why was I charged a fee on a New Zealand dollar purchase?

Because Kiwibank's 1.85% international transaction fee applies when a transaction is processed overseas, regardless of the currency it is billed in. Overseas-hosted services that bill in NZD — streaming subscriptions, accommodation platforms, some software — can therefore attract the fee. Check your statement; if you find it recurring, moving that spending to a card without the charge is the fix.

What is the difference between SHA and OUR at Kiwibank?

With SHA, charges are shared: you pay Kiwibank's fee and banks in the chain may deduct their own from the amount travelling, so your recipient can receive less than you sent. With OUR you pay all charges up front and the recipient gets the full amount. Online, SHA costs NZ$10 and OUR costs NZ$20. Choose OUR whenever the amount received has to be exact.

Does Kiwibank charge to receive money from overseas?

Yes, NZ$12 equivalent per inward international payment, whether it goes into a Kiwibank NZD account or a Kiwibank foreign currency account. Kiwibank does not publish a waiver threshold, unlike ANZ at NZ$300 and ASB and Westpac at NZ$100.

Should I use Kiwibank or Wise?

Use Wise for ordinary transfers to supported countries — the measured saving on NZ$5,000 was NZ$92, and about NZ$25 on NZ$1,000. Use Kiwibank when the recipient must receive an exact amount and you want the OUR guarantee, for bank drafts, for same-day transfers to Australia, for Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, PNG or the Cook Islands, and for large payments where you want a named contact. Kiwibank's free foreign currency accounts are also genuinely well structured. Most people end up using both.

Related comparisons

Compare the other majors in ANZ vs Wise, ASB vs Wise, BNZ vs Wise and Westpac vs Wise, or see all five in the NZ bank international transfer fee comparison. For the general picture, send money overseas from NZ, and for cash, the cheapest way to exchange money in New Zealand.