I?m moving to Spain (I am a Spaniard who went to the UK to go to university and ended up staying a heck of a lot longer than 3 years!) in the next few months and I?d like to know what?s the least expensive way to move my money from my UK account to my spanish one.

I?m currently in Spain and I?ve spent the entire morning going from bank to bank and nothing, I still don?t know how should I do it as I?ve been giving conflicting advice.

How did you do it? Can I do it without losing half of my savings in commission and other charges?

?Muchas gracias!

i?ve just seen this thread http://www.spainexpat.com/spain/forum/viewthread/8998/ would this be the answer to my question?

just so you know , Electronic funds transfer for one uk account to spanish account , need two have online bank accounts , International Bank Account Number (IBAN) is an international standard for identifying bank accounts across national borders .
Jurdy

Hi If you still have your UK bank account and a cheque book and you have a spanish bank account ask your spanish bank how much they will give you for you writing a UK cheque to yourself and placing it into your spanish account. The bank should offer you 1.5% to 2% less then the currant exchange rate ie business web rate NOT tourist rate is 1.14 you should get 1.12 with no other charges from either of the banks, the cheque will clear in about 10 days but some spanish banks will give you access to your money same day.
Make the banks do a deal with you on this as they a desperate for more cash change your bank if necessary.

hope this works it does with me.

There?s now what they call a SEPA transfer, which is between qualified EU banks (you can google for the list of SEPA banks), therefore reduces the fees (14 quid I think) and timeframe. The only thing that sux is that UK banks hardly publish their rates anywhere so best bet is to call around for exchange rate quotes. My Aussie bank always have their rates updated daily on their website.

Though the UK FX solution sounds intriguing… Maybe it?s time to move my pounds! When will it ever go up against the Euro again? Though the 1.14 is actually now a good rate…

I use TORFX to move my sterling to Spain and arrive in Euros.
I believe they offer the best exchange rates, charge the lowest commission 0.7% and it arrives in less than 48 hours as euros in my Spanish account. (no charges at the Spanish end)
Typically this is cheaper and easier than using banks, but I now see LloydsTSB allows you to transfer sterling, via their online banking, from UK sterling account to Spanish account - but I think commissions and exchange rates will mean its less profitable.
http://www.torfx.com/