Santanduh has held a SWIFT transfer to Ukraine - how long?

theburningcat

My business has been working with a contractor in Ukraine. Options for sending money to contractors in Ukraine are very limited (mainly due to legal restrictions their side). We agreed to send periodic SWIFT payments as the least bad option.

18/11/16: Sterling SWIFT payment for £385 sent from Santanduh business account and £25 fee incurred. I am advised it should only take 1 day (consistent with other recommended timeframes).
23/11/16: I call "customer service", suggesting that it should have arrived. I am told it has left and the official timescale is 3-5 working days, and I should call back 25/11/16 in the afternoon.
25/11/16 (4pm): I call their numpties again and they say that, although business has closed in Ukraine, I should wait until 5pm local time, which conveniently means they've fobbed me off until Monday
28/11/16: I call the kidergarten again, telling them that it is now past the third timeframe they gave. They don't give out SWIFT references but agree to put a SWIFT trace on it, which can take a week. They send me an SMS to say a case has been opened.
29/11/16: I receive another SMS saying the case is complete (great!) so I call them again (why did nobody call me?) and after more hold music, I am told, actually, they still have the money as it's being held for security reasons. They are unwilling to give me any more information. I tell them that I am aware of money laundering regs and don't need to know anything about their checks but I do need a tiny bit of information about their procedures to figure out if I need to send a payment via another route to make sure that my suppler is paid. I made a fuss and the supervisor is trying to get a bit more information tomorrow. I offered to send them paperwork to support the payment.

I understand that banks have to do these checks, I understand that I've been unlucky on this occasion and I understand that they can't give me a lot of information. What I don't understand is why they are unwilling to give a business some indication of what to do (i.e. wait - it shouldn't be that long, send a payment via another route if you need it this week...) to ensure their supplier is paid.

And of course it highlights the usual level of customer service at Santanduh.

Does anyone have experience of this? Is it likely to drag on for weeks or months?

jonesMUFCforever

You have answered your question in your first paragraph.

Any Western union outlets there.

theburningcat

How have I answered my own question?

I think they have Western Union. That would probably be the next step.

PeacefulWaters

Is the money going to Crimea, western Ukraine or eastern Ukraine?

theburningcat

The SWIFT code is PBAN2AUX which is Privatbank in Dnipropetrovsk so I guess eastern Ukraine? Why is that relevant?

PeacefulWaters

theburningcat wrote: »

The SWIFT code is PBAN2AUX which is Privatbank in Dnipropetrovsk so I guess eastern Ukraine? Why is that relevant?

I'm fairly sure there are sanctions arrangements in place against Crimea.

While I'm fairly sure there are no such sanctions against eastern Ukraine it's a high risk area from an arms dealing / money laundering perspective.

My guess is the bank have slowed things up for that reason. But it is a guess.

theburningcat

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

I'm fairly sure there are sanctions arrangements in place against Crimea.

While I'm fairly sure there are no such sanctions against eastern Ukraine it's a high risk area from an arms dealing / money laundering perspective.

My guess is the bank have slowed things up for that reason. But it is a guess.

Thanks. It sounded like it was being held for money laundering checks (obviously they won't say it but when it's a SWIFT payment being held for security reasons and they refuse to give any more information, I guess it's safe to assume it's money laundering checks).

Has anyone had any experience with this, especially at Santander? Does it tend to drag on for weeks?

theburningcat

They held it for roughly 10 days then sent it. It was an odd experience though. I was repeatedly told it had left Santander when it hadn't and continued to battle with them after it had arrived with the recipient because neither me nor their "customer service" reps knew it had cleared security, after we had established it was with their security team.