Missing Swift transfer

Pip73

Hi, - am stuck in a loop, so would welcome any advice. I recently inherited a property in North Cyprus which I have just sold. The solicitor had their bank transfer the completion funds and said it might take a day or two. After six days and no funds, I went back and queried it and the solicitor sent me a MT103 form which I understand is a swift payment confirmation. I've checked and all the details such as IBAN and name are correct. I phoned Lloyds, the receiving bank and gave them the unique swift payment transaction ID. They said "we can see the request on our system, but we cannot provide you with any details as until the money reaches your account, you are not the legal owner". I said has the money arrived ?. "we can't tell you that". Has the money not arrived ?, "we can't tell you that". They've advised me to go back to the sending bank (who have already provided me with the payment confirmation). And ask them what I said ? " we can't tell you that". Needless to say I am banging my head against the wall!

eDicky

It's likely that your transfer from North Cyprus is undergoing anti-fraud and anti money laundering checks by Lloyds and they are legally obliged not to tell you anything. At some point you may be asked to produce verification of source of funds, so it would be best to have this ready. If Lloyds take too long over it you should probably begin complaint procedure.

Pip73

Thank you, didn't think of that. Being North Cyprus is very likely!

Ballard

The previous response is very likely to be the reason but it could also be that Lloyds haven’t received the money themselves yet. There are two ways of sending customer payments by Swift.

The remitting bank can either send the MT103 to their GBP correspondent with all of the details or if an agreement is in place they can send an interbank message to them (Mt202COV) and an MT103 to Lloyds. If they’ve gone this route then Lloyds might have received the MT103 but the MT202COV is being held up.

Pip73

Hello, just a quick update and still no closer to resolving this but a lot closer to the end of my tether.

On the advice of LLoyds, I went back to the sending bank (Turkish Bank and asked to them to open an investigation and trace the funds. The Turkish bank claim they have done an investigation and the money has been received by Natwest (their UK relationship partner) and they can't trace it beyond that but can see no reason why it hasn't reached our account and there are no outstanding messages.

I've gone back to Lloyds who are adamant that it is nothing to do with them (although can't answer useful questions like, can you confirm that you definitely have not received the money), although they did say, if it was under suspicion for money laundering, they would have sent a swift message back to Turkish Bank (via Natwest) or rejected the funds, but they can't confirm or deny that is the case. Basically according to Lloyds, Turkishbank remain responsible for the funds whereabouts until they are received into my account, Lloyds say they don't have the functionality to trace the payment and all responsibility sits with Turkish bank for proving the funds reached their destination. Meanwhile, I'm going slowly insane, stuck between two banks (or 3 if you count Natwest), neither of whom will help me and missing the proceeds of a house sale. Someone isn't telling me the truth, but I don't know who it is.. Any help would be so so welcome!

PeacefulWaters

Any trace is down to the sending bank.

agrinnall

The problem is that if it is undergoing AML investigation none of the banks involved will be allowed to tell you that, and I suspect that if it's being done at NatWest then they wouldn't be able to inform either the Turkish bank or Lloyds, so the two entities that you have contact with may well be completely in the dark.

MarcoM

Ask the sending bank for a trace transcript.
I don't doubt they have checked the transfer but for your own peace of mind aske them for said transcript. IT should take one minute for them to give you this. This will have a lot of software code but you should be able to read the bank names of where the money is held.
It may be held at Lloyds or an intermediary bank for the Turkish bank.


I tend to agree with the other posters, looks like AML. Welcome to the UK and its civil liberties.....guilty till proven innocent...


Anyway, count yourself lucky they have not frozen the account all together.

18cc

Maybe I am wrong but isn't your query with the Cypriot solicitors?

they sent the money and I assume only they can query where it went to

you need possibly to complain to the solicitors that you have not received the money and ask them for it it's not your problem but it's stuck somewhere it is their problem to get it to you

just saying they sent it is not good enough answer

Is there a solicitors complaints process over in Cyprus