When you send money to a bank account outside of its originating currency, for example sending USD to the UK, it usually goes through the Swift network. This is a network of banks that help process the payment until it gets to your destination country.
Sending money via Swift is a bit like travelling from one airport to another — it’s not always possible to take a direct flight to the city you're traveling to, so you may need to take connecting flights. Swift works the same way.
What are correspondent fees?
Correspondent fees are fees that correspondent banks charge you in the Swift network.
The money will travel from one country to another. And if the sender's bank and the recipient's banks don't have a direct relationship, the money will also travel from bank to bank. These banks are usually called correspondent banks. The banks often charge their own fee, which we call correspondent fees, and these will impact the amount the recipient gets. The banks in this network change, so they might not be the same banks every time.
How much can I be charged in correspondent fees?
The amount that other banks charge will vary, but we estimate anywhere between 15 and 50 USD or equivalent. The fee might be higher depending on the banks.
You’ll see you’ve been charged when:
you check this in the transfer receipt
you or your recipient receives less than what you expected
How can I avoid losing money due to correspondent fees?
Unfortunately, correspondent fees are just part and parcel of Swift payments. But we’re taking action to make sure you and your recipients aren’t left short-changed.
Sending money with Swift
This is how it looks when you set up a transfer with Swift — for example, if you want to send USD outside of the US, GBP outside of the UK, or EUR outside of Europe.
You set up a transfer to your recipient with your bank or your financial provider
If the bank or financial provider doesn't have a direct connection to the recipient’s bank, the money will go through a network of correspondent banks — these banks help move the money
The money lands in the recipient’s bank — the recipient's bank might also charge an own incoming transfer fee
The correspondent fee can be deducted at any stage of this process. It could be an outgoing transfer fee charged by your own bank, an intermediary fee from a correspondent bank, or even an incoming fee charged by the recipient’s bank. Wise doesn't set these fees.
We’ve built a prediction tool based on the correspondent banks’ historical fees and speed. If our tool suggests your payment might charged a correspondent fee, we’ll include it when calculating your transfer cost. Unfortunately, some banks still overlook this and charge their fees, so we can't guarantee that our tool will work with each payment.
Returned payments
If the recipient's bank doesn’t accept your transfer, the money will be returned to you. But you might not receive the full amount you originally sent. This is because correspondent fees, and any other charges incurred during the processing of your transfer, will have been deducted.
The specific fees and the amount deducted can vary depending on the banks involved and the terms of the transaction.
You’ll see if the payment was made via Swift on your transfer receipt.
Receiving money with Swift
Correspondent banks that help send money can sometimes deduct their own fees from the sender's amount — Wise can't change this. You can ask your sender to opt for the OUR charges — this option allows the sender to cover all the correspondent charges.