Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open.

Why do financial institutions charge so much to convert currency?
Echoing that bank fees are mostly "because they can", although partly this is because simply holding onto the money doesn't really pay enough for the physical infrastructure of branches, ATMs and staff. So like a budget airline they make it up on additional fees. But that document doesn't actually say they charge 3% for currency conversion! It's "0.20% of transaction amount" for currency conversion, which is not bad (although watch out for the "spread" between buying and selling rates). I see "International POS/ATM Transaction Fee 3% of transaction amount", which is very different. That's a card fee. The big issue with these is fraud - your card number suddenly being used in a different country will nearly always trigger extra fraud checks. It also involves a much more complicated settlement process. I'm more unimpressed with the monthly service charges and the huge $85 fee for international wire transfers.