Why does sending money from a U.S. bank to a European bank take so long?
Banking
Asked by Question Bot10/Jan/20141 answer
1 Answer
F
Faisal Khan
Answered 10/Jan/2014
You have the archaic US banking system to partially blame for this, along with the complexity of an international transaction.
Usually the Bank in the US will send money to Europe via SWIFT (most likely via a correspondent bank out of New York, unless they themselves are a correspondent bank themselves).
If the transaction was made during banking hours, you would see a straight through in usually a day or two at max. However, if the initial transaction was batch processed it may have missed it cut-of-time and hence another day could have been added.
On the receipt side, the US correspondent bank is most likely dealing with another correspondent bank in the country your bank is. So the transaction might be something like this:
US Bank -> US Correspondent Bank (NY) -> Correspondent Bank in Europe -> Your Bank Account in Europe.
If you give an average of 1 day for each transaction piece, you're looking at 4 days as it is before the money gets routed to your account.
Typically this is a 1-2 days transaction at best. Your bank could be holding the money for an additional day due to currency float.
You may also want to read up on this: Faisal Khan's answer to What exactly happens when a wire transfer is made? How does the money travel from the sender's account to the recipient's account? How much time does each step take? What regulatory measures are in place, if any?
Usually the Bank in the US will send money to Europe via SWIFT (most likely via a correspondent bank out of New York, unless they themselves are a correspondent bank themselves).
If the transaction was made during banking hours, you would see a straight through in usually a day or two at max. However, if the initial transaction was batch processed it may have missed it cut-of-time and hence another day could have been added.
On the receipt side, the US correspondent bank is most likely dealing with another correspondent bank in the country your bank is. So the transaction might be something like this:
US Bank -> US Correspondent Bank (NY) -> Correspondent Bank in Europe -> Your Bank Account in Europe.
If you give an average of 1 day for each transaction piece, you're looking at 4 days as it is before the money gets routed to your account.
Typically this is a 1-2 days transaction at best. Your bank could be holding the money for an additional day due to currency float.
You may also want to read up on this: Faisal Khan's answer to What exactly happens when a wire transfer is made? How does the money travel from the sender's account to the recipient's account? How much time does each step take? What regulatory measures are in place, if any?