What Bermudian dollar actually arrives in Bermuda when someone sends Australian dollars, at the live mid-market rate. We explain the process; we never recommend a provider.
| They send (AUD) | You receive at mid-market (BMD) |
|---|---|
| 500 AUD | 349 BMD |
| 1,000 AUD | 697 BMD |
| 2,000 AUD | 1,394 BMD |
| 5,000 AUD | 3,485 BMD |
Mid-market equivalents, not transfer quotes - the sender’s provider deducts its margin and any fees before the money reaches you. STRUCK 11:00 AEST · TUE 13 OCT.
Bermuda applies a foreign-currency purchase tax when local currency is converted into another, which is charged on the transaction rather than built into the exchange rate, so it is easy to miss when comparing what a conversion costs. It is one of the few places where the headline rate genuinely is not the whole price.
A continent pretending to be a country - Australia is the only nation that fills an entire continent, with most of its 27 million people clinging to the coast while the red-dirt interior does its own thing.
A blue field with the Union Jack in the canton, a large white seven-pointed Commonwealth Star below it, and the five white stars of the Southern Cross at the fly. Six of the big star's points stand for the states and the seventh for the territories; the Southern Cross marks Australia's place in the southern sky.
Bermuda holds its dollar at one-for-one with the US dollar and the two circulate side by side on the island, so a recipient can generally use either. The Bermudian dollar is not traded outside Bermuda, which means a provider will usually route this transfer through US dollars whatever the quote says.
The exchange rate is set on the sending side - by the service the sender chooses in Australia - so the most useful thing a receiver can do happens before the transfer: share the live mid-market rate on this page so the sender can judge the margin in their quote. How the money arrives in Bermuda determines any local receiving charges - bank-to-bank transfers can pass through intermediary banks that deduct handling fees.
Sending rather than receiving? The sender’s view of this corridor covers the same rate from the other side. Receiving money from overseas explains the process end to end.
Bermuda's foreign currency purchase tax is easy to expect on the wrong transaction. The statute charges it whenever foreign currency is purchased by a resident from a bank, and levies it on every dollar of Bermudian currency paid for that purchase. Receiving a transfer from Australia is the opposite trade: the money arriving is the foreign currency, and nobody is buying any with Bermudian dollars. The tax point comes later and only if the recipient goes the other way. The purchaser is the person liable, with the bank collecting and remitting, and the legislation carries its own schedule of exempted transactions covering the government, the monetary authority, banks, deposit companies and credit unions dealing for their own account.
Whether the tax applies at all turns on a definition worth knowing, because it is not the obvious one. The Act defines resident and non-resident by reference to the Exchange Control Regulations 1973, and the Controller by reference to the Controller of Foreign Exchange under the Exchange Control Act 1972, so it is exchange-control status that decides rather than anything on a passport.
What the bank will want before any of this is set by the Bermuda Monetary Authority, which supervises compliance with the anti-money-laundering regulations and publishes guidance notes under statute. For a natural person the standard identification set runs to the full legal name and any former names, the principal residential address, the date of birth, the place of birth, nationality, gender, and a personal identification number or other unique identifier from a valid government-issued document. Verification is against a valid government-issued document carrying the full legal name and a photograph together with either the address or the date of birth, and the guidance is specific about one thing people commonly offer: a bank or card statement printed from the internet is not among the acceptable supporting documents.
If the money is being collected somewhere other than a bank, the same Authority licenses that too. Money service business is defined by statute to cover money transmission services, cheque cashing and guaranteeing, the issue, sale or redemption of drafts, money orders or travellers cheques for cash, payment services business and operating a bureau de change. Banks licensed under the Banks and Deposit Companies Act 1999 are exempt from that regime.
Sources: Foreign Currency Purchase Tax Act 1975, Bermuda Laws Online · Bermuda Monetary Authority, Guidance Notes for AML/ATF Regulated Financial Institutions, July 2021 · Bermuda Monetary Authority, money service business licensing
How much Bermudian dollar will I receive in Bermuda?
A little less than the mid-market figures above. The service the sender uses in Australia sets the rate and fees; local receiving banks in Bermuda can also apply their own charges depending on how the transfer arrives.
The sender asked for my details - what will they need?
Whatever their transfer service asks for on the receiving side - typically your full legal name and local bank account details in Bermuda. Give the name exactly as your bank records it; mismatches are the most common reason a transfer is delayed.
Why did I receive less than the rate on this page suggests?
A quote is the mid-market rate with the provider’s margin taken out of it. Because that margin is expressed in the rate rather than itemised, it is easy to miss and is usually the bigger half of what a transfer costs. On a bank-to-bank transfer an intermediary bank can also deduct a handling charge in transit.