Receiving Foreign Currency Payment and Fees

RacingDriver

I was sent a payment of 259.24 CHF however only received 216.85 CHF.  Both the sending and receiving currency was CHF, no conversion to GBP occurred.  I would like to know why the amount differs and any fees that have been deducted.

I asked the sender to confirm the amount sent and any fees deducted by their bank and they said "we confirm that we paid the amount of CHF 259.24 on [date] and that our administration does not charge any expenses".

I also asked the receiving bank, Fineco, who said "we kindly inform you that Fineco never applies any charges for incoming bank transfers of any kind".

I believe that intermediary banks can also deduct fees.  Who would be able to provide the information about these fees, should I be asking the sending or receiving companies?

retiredbanker1

Your only recourse is to the person or company who sent it. It is probably a bank charge somewhere in the payment chain.

HobgoblinBT

Ask for a copy of the incoming swift message.  You can find a guide to the code lines from a Google search.  One of the code lines gives instructions about charges.  If not explained by this, the charges will have been taken by the intermediary bank.

RacingDriver

I received a copy of the SWIFT message from Fineco Bank.

Instructed amount: CHF259.24

Interbank settled amount: CHF216.85

Sender charges: CHF25, CHF17.39

I couldn't see anything in the message about which intermediary banks where involved in the transaction?

Is it possible to know whether two banks can pay directly or whether an intermediary is required before sending a payment?  I want to know whether if I had the payment made to a different account of mine in the future I would be able to reduce the charges?

If I have the sending and receiving banks SWIFT codes is it possible to check if they are direct participants or the route the payment will take?

HobgoblinBT

OP, I am probably stating the obvious here. It looks like the remitter has sent the payment as requested and that any charges are for the beneficiary, so the CHF 25 charge is probably from the remitting bank and the CHF 17.39 charge is for the beneficiary bank, but taken by the remitting bank to pass on to them. Hence the net payment being what you received.  As no intermediary was referenced in the swift message, it looks like the payment was sent direct, without an intermediary bank involved.

RacingDriver

Both the sender and the beneficiary bank have confirmed that they have not deducted any fees.

retiredbanker1

OP I think you will just have to take this on the chin and move on.

Many years ago when part of my job was to make International payments we used to send all $ via Citibank even though we had a presence and a branch in New York (different bank).

RacingDriver

I agree that it is unlikely I will get any of the fees back, but it would be nice to know who the fees were paid to.

Without this information how can I make an informed decision about future payments, e.g. if I had used a different beneficiary bank would the fees have been different?

RacingDriver

From the SWIFT message:

71A: SHA
71F: CHF25, :71F:CHF17,39

My understanding is that SHA means shared charges, with the sender paying sending fees and the beneficiary paying intermediary fees and beneficiary bank fees.  71F is sender's charges, so should these have been paid by the sender rather than the beneficiary?

Also 32A states interbank settled amount CHF216,85 but no 56 field is present so no intermediary bank was used.