Money transfers in the 1930s

How hard would it have been for a person to take say £2000 from the UK to Canada, when moving to Canada?

How hard would it be to make payments of the order of £25-£100 from Canada to an account in the UK in 1938?
 
How hard would it have been for a person to take say £2000 from the UK to Canada, when moving to Canada?

How hard would it be to make payments of the order of £25-£100 from Canada to an account in the UK in 1938?
Good question.


There were capital controls in place in the '30s to stop major flows of capital out of countries, but how strict they were in Britain, and how much they applied to the Dominions, I don't know. (It was probably a lot easier to take money to Canada than Argentina, say.)

25-100£? I'd guess you go to your Post Office, get a Postal Money Order for that amount, and mail it.
 

Ramp-Rat

Monthly Donor
Derek Jackson.

For a person wishing to move monies from Briton to Canada in 1938 in the amount you specify the process would have been fairly simple. Unlike other members of the British Empire, Canada while on a fixed exchange rate wasn’t on a one to one rate, i.e. one British pound equalling one Canadian dollar. So what you would have done, is arrange for your bank in the UK to raze ether a cashiers cheque or bank draft in Canadian dollars, for which they would have charged a fee. You would then have taken this with you to Canada and depending on the bank you intended to use there, ether cashed it for cash, or deposited it into an account set up there. Note you could have just taken cash in pounds sterling with you, and again for a fee exchanged them for Canadian dollars once you were in Canada. At this time there were no exchange controls on moving money in to or out off the UK.

In regard to the movement of the smaller amount the other way, it depends on what you want to do. As Dathi THorfinnson has already said, you could at that time have brought a Postal Order, and posted it to the recipient in the UK. While it would have probably cost more to have a Sterling one issued than a Canadian dollar one, I am reasonably sure it was possible. As a young man I used to receive postal orders from New Zealand as Christmas and birthday presents from my uncle out their.

Or you could have arranged for a Wire Transfer, from an account in Canada to an account in the UK. Alternatively you could have brought an international money order, and sent that.

Regards RR.
 
leaving aside political factors

speed would be the main factor - 'wire' transfers would have been possible especially between banks with agreements to do them - a telegram, telex or telephone call is near instant assuming there is a system to facilitate this and there is the requisite security between the banks either end - if actual signed documents were in involved it would be as below.

posting or couriering a draft / money order / counter cheque would be less than a week assuming you could pay to have it taken on a fast transatlantic ship ...

the likes of Western union etc are built on 'fast' international funds transfers
 
I don't know about Britain, but one reason the US got ris of their large demonination banknotes was because organised crime was using them to move large sums around. In an era when the $20 gold coin was considered to be a large enough sum the $5000 and $10,000 bills were serious money.
 

BlondieBC

Banned
How hard would it have been for a person to take say £2000 from the UK to Canada, when moving to Canada?

How hard would it be to make payments of the order of £25-£100 from Canada to an account in the UK in 1938?

In the USA, we had bills up to $100,000 or about $10,000,000 adjusted for inflation. So it would be very easy, if the UK is similar. Now obviously if you are carry 20 notes of $100,000 or $200,000,000 in today's money, you would have an armed guard or other special arrangements.

You could also do this with gold which was done by both merchant ships and warships. When WW1, there were multiple German ships at sea with over $1,000,000 (50,000 ounces) of gold on board. One ended up interned at Bar Harbor, Maine.

You can also use a bank with offices in both Canada and the USA. Or you could use a letter of credit.
 
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