Detailed Description of Foreign Currency Savings Account

Name of product

Foreign currency savings account

Eligible customers

Customers aged 15 years old or above who are living in Japan and have a Yen savings account with Sony Bank.
However, some limitations may apply to transactions carried out by customers under 20 years old.

Transactions related to customers under the age of 20

Available foreign currency transactions :

• Opening of a foreign currency savings account (*1)
• Cancellation of a foreign currency savings account (*2)
• Outgoing foreign currency remittance (from Sony Bank) (*3)
• Incoming foreign currency remittance (to Sony Bank)

Sony Bank WALLET Visa Debit function :

• Local currency withdrawal at overseas ATMs
• "Yen Account Assistance" function
• Settlement in foreign currency

• Opening of an account in Brazilian Real or Chinese Yuan (CNH) is not available.
• The principal and unpaid interest at the time of account cancellation will be deposited into the savings account of the customer in yen.
• Outgoing foreign currency remittances are only available to customers physically located in Japan.

Unavailable foreign currency transactions :

• Purchasing of foreign currency
• Selling of foreign currency
• Application for time deposits in foreign currency
• Application for structured deposit in foreign currency

Available currencies

US Dollar, Euro, British Pound, Australian Dollar, NZ Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Swiss Franc, Hong Kong Dollar, Brazilian Real, Chinese Yuan (CNH), South African Rand, and Swedish Krona

Maximum deposit amount

No limit

Minimum deposit amount/deposit unit

US Dollar savings account

1 US Dollar or higher in 1-cent increments (1/100 US Dollar)

Euro savings account

1 Euro or higher in 1-cent increments (1/100 Euro)

British Pound savings account

1 British Pound or higher in 1-pence increments (1/100 British Pound )

Australian Dollar savings account

1 Australian Dollar or higher in 1-cent increments (1/100 Australian Dollar)

New Zealand Dollar savings account

1 New Zealand Dollar or higher in 1-cent increments (1/100 New Zealand Dollar)

Canadian Dollar savings account

1 Canadian Dollar or higher in 1-cent increments (1/100 Canadian Dollar)

Swiss Franc savings account

1 Swiss Franc or higher in 1-centime increments (1/100 Swiss Franc)

Hong Kong Dollar savings account

1 Hong Kong Dollar or higher in 1-cent increments (1/100 Hong Kong Dollar)

Brazilian Real savings account

1 Brazilian Real or higher in 1-centavo increments(1/100 Brazilian Real)

Chinese Yuan (CNH) savings account

1 Chinese Yuan (CNH) or higher in 1-fēn increments (1/100 Chinese Yuan (CNH)

South African Rand savings account

1 South African Rand or higher in 1-cent increments (1/100 South African Rand)

Swedish Krona savings account

1 Swedish Krona or higher in 1-öre increments (1/100 Swedish Krona)

See here for minimum deposit amount/unit for limit order application.

Interest unit

US Dollar savings account

In increments of 1 cent (1/100 US Dollar)

Euro savings account

In increments of 1 cent (1/100 Euro)

British Pound savings account

In increments of 1 pence (1/100 British Pound)

Australian Dollar savings account

In increments of 1 cent (1/10 Australian Dollar)

New Zealand Dollar savings account

In increments of 1 cent (1/100 New Zealand Dollar)

Canadian Dollar savings account

In increments of 1 cent (1/100 Canadian Dollar)

Swiss Franc savings account

In increments of 1 centime (1/100 Swiss Franc)

Hong Kong Dollar savings account

In increments of 1 cent (1/100 Hong Kong Dollar)

Brazilian Real savings account

In increments of 1 centavo (1/100 Brazilian Real)

Chinese Yuan (CNH) savings account

In increments of 1 fēn (1/100 Chinese Yuan (CNH))

South African Rand savings account

In increments of 1 cent (1/100 South African Rand)

Swedish Krona savings account

In increments of 1 öre (1/100 Swedish Krona)

No interest applies when the balance is less than 10 currency units.

Deposit term

No term specification.

Interest rates

Floating interest rate
The interest rate shall be determined in accordance with fluctuations in market interest, and the interest rate indicated on the service website shall be applied.

Method of interest payment

We will settle the accounts as shown below in February and August every year.

• We will calculate the interest for the period from the day following the third Sunday of February to the third Sunday of August in the same year and incorporate the interest amount to the balance of the deposit the following day.
• We will calculate the interest for the period from the day following the third Sunday of August to the third Sunday of February in the subsequent year and incorporate the interest amount to the balance of the deposit the following day.

Interest calculation method

Considering 365 days as one year, the rate is calculated daily from the day of deposit to a day before payment.

Foreign exchange cost

Foreign exchange cost at Sony Bank means the difference between the foreign exchange rate (TTS: Telegraphic Transfer Selling Rate) applied when foreign currency is bought with yen or US dollar for depositing and the reference rate (TTM: Telegraphic Transfer Middle Rate), as well as the difference between the foreign exchange rate applied to withdrawal (TTB: Telegraphic Transfer Buying Rate) and TTM. Since you need to bear foreign exchange costs yourself, even if there is no fluctuation between the foreign exchange rates at the time of deposit and that at the time of withdrawal, the amount you receive upon withdrawal may be below the deposited amount.

Sony Bank exchange fees

Exchange fees for buying and selling foreign currency using yen

Euro, British Pound, Australian Dollar, New Zealand Dollar: Indication in US Dollar per currency

Other currencies: Indication in original currencies per US Dollar

About Club S rewards program

You may be eligible for preferential exchange fees in the month after the next, depending on your Club S level, if your balance satisfies predetermined requirements at the end of each month.

• Exchange fees are subject to change due to fluctuations in the foreign exchange market, etc.
• Normal exchange fees (not campaign exchange fees) are indicated.

Applied exchange rates

When buying foreign currency (with Japanese yen or US Dollars) to deposit it in an account, or when selling foreign currency in a foreign currency savings account (foreign currency to yen or US Dollar) to make a withdrawal, the target currency will be exchanged at an exchange rate determined by Sony Bank.

See here for the exchange rate (limit order transaction rate) applicable to limit order purchase/sale of foreign currencies (Japanese language only).

Rounding of transaction amount

• Transactions against the yen
  • Buying amount when you buy foreign currency:
    • If "specified in yen", amounts below one subunit shall be rounded down.
    • If "specified in foreign currency", amounts below one yen shall be rounded up.
  • Selling amount when you sell foreign currency:
    • If "specified in yen", amounts below one subunit shall be rounded up.
    • If "specified in foreign currency", amounts below one yen shall be rounded down.
• Transactions against the US Dollar
  • Buying amount when you buy foreign currency
    • If "specified in U.S. Dollar", amounts below one subunit shall be rounded down.
    • If "specified in any currency other than U.S. Dollar", amounts below one subunit shall be rounded up.
  • Selling amount when you sell foreign currency:
    • If "specified in U.S. Dollar", amounts below one subunit shall be rounded up.
    • If "specified in any currency other than U.S. Dollar", amounts below one subunit shall be rounded down.

Risks corresponding to foreign exchange fluctuation

When buying foreign currency (with Japanese yen or US Dollars) to deposit it in an account, or when selling foreign currency from a foreign currency savings account (foreign currency to yen or US Dollar) to make a withdrawal, the target currency will be exchanged at an exchange rate determined at the time of the purchase/sale. Note that there is a potential risk of principal loss due to foreign currency market trends since the principal changes when converting amounts deposited and withdrawn in the same currency.
In addition, when you buy or sell foreign currency, you will bear the amount of the difference between TTB (rate when you sell foreign currency) / TTS (rate when you buy foreign currency) and TTM (reference rate) as the foreign exchange cost, respectively. Therefore, even when the foreign exchange market price does not fluctuate between the time of deposit and the time of withdrawal, the amount you receive as withdrawal may be below the amount you have deposited.

Taxation category

Interest

Interest shall be subject to separate withholding taxation including special income tax for reconstruction 20.315% (national tax: 15.315% and local tax: 5%) through December 31, 2037.

Foreign exchange profit

Taxation on total income (it is necessary to submit a tax return by declaring profit as miscellaneous income). However, in the case of salaried workers whose yearly income is less than 20 million yen, if his/her income other than income from employment or retirement income is not more than 200,000 yen per year (including foreign exchange profit), it is not necessary to file a tax return.

Foreign exchange loss

Foreign exchange loss may be deducted from miscellaneous income.

Service hours

Any time of day except during periods of foreign currency transaction suspension or system maintenance

See here for more details on foreign currency transaction suspension time

Foreign currency remittances

Foreign currency remittances to Sony Bank will be deposited in the foreign currency savings account denominated in the same currency as the remittance (for more details, see Incoming foreign currency remittance).
The foreign currency savings in a Sony Bank account can be remitted to domestic or overseas banks (for more details, see Outgoing foreign currency remittance).

Chinese Yuan (CNH) and Brazilian Real cannot be remitted.

Handling cash in foreign currency

Cash in foreign currencies and traveler’s checks cannot be handled.

Applicability of Deposit Insurance

Foreign currency deposits are not covered by deposit insurance.

Transactions of emerging market currencies

• Brazilian Real, Chinese Renminbi (CNH) and South African Rand, which are known as emerging-market currencies, are generally more likely to experience liquidity decline compared with those of developed countries, market function decline or large fluctuations in currency value due to change in political, economic or social circumstances, change in market environment or change in financial policies. In some cases, we may significantly revise the interest rate or suspend transactions.
• When you carry out transactions of emerging-market currencies, please understand that they involve higher risks than transactions involving developed country currencies.

Application for limit order purchase/sale of foreign currencies

You can apply for limit order purchase/sale of foreign currencies

• Limit order applications must be for yen only.
• Limit order price transaction is only available on our Japanese website.

Types of the limit order price

Ordinary limit order price: Buying, selling

You may apply for two limit order prices for one currency

Composite limit order price: There are two types: "OCO" (One Cancels the Other) and "IFD" (If Done).

• OCO: Buying or selling, buying, selling
• IFD: Selling after buying
• You may apply for one limit order price for one currency.

Note that you may not apply for a combination of ordinary limit order price and composite limit order price for one currency at the same time

Limit order price specification range

You may specify a limit order price within the specification range predetermined by us for the foreign exchange rate (TTS in case of an application for buying and TTB in case of an application for selling) of Sony Bank at the time of application.

Minimum application amount and application unit for limit order

US Dollar

100,000 yen or higher in 1-yen increments; or 600 US Dollar or higher in 1-cent increments (1/100 US dollar)

Euro

100,000 yen or higher in 1-yen increments; or 600 Euro or higher in 1-cent increments (1/100 Euro)

British Pound

100,000 yen or higher in 1-yen increments; or 400 British Pound or higher in 1-pence increments (1/100 British Pound)

Australian Dollar

100,000 yen or higher in 1-yen increments; or 1,000 Australian Dollar or higher in 1-cent increments (1/100 Australian Dollar)

New Zealand Dollar

100,000 yen or higher in 1-yen increments; or 1,250 New Zealand Dollar or higher in 1-cent increments (1/100 New Zealand Dollar)

Canadian Dollar

100,000 yen or higher in 1-yen increments; or 1,000 Canadian Dollar or higher in 1-cent increments (1/100 Canadian Dollar)

Swiss Franc

100,000 yen or higher in 1-yen increments; or 1,000 Swiss Franc or higher in 1-centime increments (1/100 Swiss Franc)

Hong Kong dollar

100,000 yen or higher in 1-yen increments; or 5,000 Hong Kong Dollar or higher in 1-cent increments (1/100 Hong Kong Dollar)

Brazilian Real

100,000 yen or higher in 1-yen increments; or 2,000 Brazilian Real or higher in 1-centavo increments (1/100 Brazilian Real)

Chinese Yuan (CNH)

100,000 yen or higher in 1-yen increments; or 8,000 Chinese Yuan (CNH) or higher in 1-fēn increments (1/100 Chinese Yuan (CNH))

South African Rand

100,000 yen or higher in 1-yen increments; or 8,000 South African Rand or higher in 1-cent increments (1/100 South African Rand)

Swedish Krona

100,000 yen or higher in 1-yen increments; or 8,000 Swedish Krona or higher in 1-öre increments (1/100 Swedish Krona)

If the total amount of application for buying (*1) exceeds the balance in your Yen savings account at the time of application, or if the total amount of application for selling (*1) exceeds the balance in your foreign currency savings account denominated in that currency at the time of application (*2), you may not make an application.

• For OCO (buying) and OCO (selling), the total application amount shall be calculated based on the larger application amount.
• For IFD, this amount shall be calculated by adding the application amount for buying to the balance in your foreign currency savings account denominated in that currency.

Limit order price reached

In the following cases, it shall be deemed that the limit order price has been reached respectively.

• If the limit order price assumes a stronger yen rate than the foreign exchange rate of Sony Bank at the time of application (TTS in cases of application for buying and TTB in cases of application for selling), the limit order price is deemed to be reached when the foreign exchange rate of Sony Bank (TTS in cases of application for buying and TTB in cases of application for selling) is identical to that limit order price or has a stronger yen value.
• If the limit order price assumes a weaker yen rate than the foreign exchange rate of Sony Bank at the time of application (TTS in cases of application for buying and TTB in cases of application for selling), the limit order price is deemed to be reached when the foreign exchange rate of Sony Bank (TTS in cases of application for buying and TTB in cases of application for selling) becomes identical to the limit order price or has a weaker yen value.

No limit order should be reached during the time transactions of the target currency are suspended.

See here for more details on when foreign currency transactions are suspended.

Transactions with order price

When the limit order price is reached, we will immediately process the transaction as follows in accordance with the type of transaction you have applied for. Completion of processing below constitutes the closing of the transaction with the limit order price.

(1) Buying foreign currency

We will withdraw the application amount (if the application amount is specified in foreign currency, the amount in yen converted at "Limit order price transaction rate") from your yen savings account and deposit the amount converted at "Limit order price transaction rate" (if the application amount is specified in foreign currency, the specified amount as is) to your savings account for that currency.

(2) Selling foreign currency

We will withdraw the application amount (if the application amount is specified in yen, the amount converted to the applicable currency at "Limit order price transaction rate") from your savings account for the applicable currency and deposit the amount converted at "Limit order price transaction rate" (if the application amount is specified in yen, the specified amount as is) to your Yen savings account.

• The limit order transaction will not be closed and the application will be invalid if withdrawal fails due to an insufficient balance in your savings account (including cases in which the balance is insufficient due to a changed transaction amount).
• If two or more limit values are reached at the same time, the above procedure will be taken in order of application date, whichever is earlier.
• The above procedure will take a certain amount of time. Therefore, the date on which the price reaches the limit value and the date the application closes may not be the same.

Ordinary limit order price

If the limit order price is reached during the effective term (but only when the limit order price is reached for the first time after application), we will process the transaction in accordance with the type of the limit order price transaction.

Composite limit order price (OCO)

Only for the limit order price first reached during the effective term (but only when the limit order price is reached for the first time after application), we will process the transaction in accordance with the type of the limit order price transaction.

For OCO (buying) or OCO (selling) in cases where several limit order prices are reached at the same time, we will process the transaction in accordance with the type of the limit order price transaction only for the limit order price nearer to the foreign exchange rate of Sony Bank at the time when the limit order price is reached. In addition, for OCO (buying or selling), we will process the transaction in accordance with the type of the limit order price transaction only for the limit order price specified at the time of application.

Composite limit order price (IFD)

When the limit order price for buying is reached during the effective term (but only when the limit order price is reached for the first time after application), we will conduct buying processing. If the limit order price for selling is subsequently reached during the effective term (but only when the limit order price is reached at the same time as the limit order price for buying or for the first time after the limit order price for buying is reached) and the buying transaction has been established, we will conduct processing for selling.

Even when a buying transaction is concluded, a selling transaction is not necessarily executed.

Limit order price transaction rate

"Limit order price transaction rate" shall be calculated with the limit order price (our foreign exchange rate presented first in cases where the limit order price is reached after the end of transaction suspension time for the given currency). If preferential treatment is given, however, the preferential amount shall be deducted from the reference foreign exchange cost.

Effective application term with limit order price

You may specify the end of the term to be any time (in one hour units) on any date during the 30-day period from the date of application. If no specification is made, the effective term shall end at 11:59 p.m. on the date of application.

Cancellation of application with limit order price

You may cancel the application any time up until the limit order price is reached.

Except for hours during system maintenance

Notes

Please ensure you fully understand how foreign currency buying/selling limit orders work before applying, and apply based on your own judgment.

The designated dispute resolution body contracted by Sony Bank

Japanese Bankers Association ("JBA") Customer Relations Center
Telephone number: 0570-017109 or 03-5252-3772