CABLE TRANSFERS, the immediate transfer of money from one country to another by the use of cablegram. A person in New York for instance, wishing to put in the hands of a per son in London a certain sum of money at once, can do so by procuring a cable transfer from a foreign exchange banker. Upon the deposit by the transferor of the proper amount of money the New York bank will cable its London branch or correspondent to pay the designated sum at once to the payee in that city. The payee is notified, generally by the London agent, occasionally by cable by the New York bank, as to where and when to call for his funds.
The cable rate of exchange is so arranged as to be sufficient to enable the bank to procure the necessary funds and also to allow a slight profit on the transaction. It is higher than the cheque or time rate because the bank selling the cable transfer expects its correspondent to pay it at once, whereas, in the case of a cheque transfer or time transfer it may still have the use of its foreign funds for some time after the transfer is sold. Cable transfers are payable upon the arrival of the cable ; between the United States and England, owing to difference in time and the interim necessary for notifying the payee, they are usually paid on the day after the sale.