Getting details of charges for international payments

Question

I'm trying to understand how costs are calculated when making an international payment via SWIFT, as the whole system seems rather opaque.

If I understand correctly, an international payment might go directly from the sending to the receiving bank, or might involve one or more "correspondent" banks along the way. All of these banks can choose to levy a charge.

Is there any standard way to find out what the charges will be in advance of making a payment? In most cases banks just say things like "We have no control over the fees", e.g. here and here (page 8).

In the particular example I have in mind, I've tried asking the sending bank (of which I'm a customer) and they've claimed they don't know.

If I can't find out before making the payment, is there any way to find out afterwards? i.e. if I send X, and (X-K) arrives, can I find out who charged the K, and perhaps get a proper receipt/invoice for it?

Answer 1

If I understand correctly, an international payment might go directly from the sending to the receiving bank, or might involve one or more "correspondent" banks along the way. All of these banks can choose to levy a charge.

Yes this is right. For a given currency pair, country, the chain of banks is known. More often on websites. For Example if I need to send money from India to UK, If I choose Citi in India, I know Citi's Correspondant is for UK. etc.

Is there any standard way to find out what the charges will be in advance of making a payment?

Only on standard remittance corridors, the price are upfront advised. On a normal SWIFT, few Banks do offer garunteed payment and advise the total fee. However this is slightly more that normal route.

if I send X, and (X-K) arrives, can I find out who charged the K,

Depending on currency pair, you can see who the correspondants are and indirectly find out. Most banks charge similar fee.

Corporate customer do negotiate the fees with some of the correspondant banks.