How Long Do International Wire Transfers Take?

There are times when you have to initiate a cross-border bank transfer to one of your friends, relatives, or a business abroad. But how long does it take for an international bank wire transfer to reach the recipient?

We have created this article to explore the topic and get an answer to the above question.

At the same time, we will also show a handy method to avoid the increased fees and slow processing times of cross-border transactions.

What Is a Bank Wire Transfer and How Does it Work?

A bank wire is an electronic transfer of funds via a financial institution's service.

To initiate a bank transfer, the sender has to provide the following details:

• The recipient's personal details (e.g., name and residential address)
• The recipient's bank account number
• The amount to send
• The recipient bank's address (only in some cases)
• A bank identifier, such as a SWIFT/BIC code for international transactions
• Further, nation-specific transaction details (e.g., the recipient's routing number for US bank transfers)

Bank wire falls into two categories: local and international transfers.

While they are based on the same process, the two bank wire types are very different in nature, which we will explore in detail in the next sections.

What Is a Local Bank Wire Transfer?

A local bank wire transfer goes through a nation's domestic payment network without any intermediaries.

To initiate the transfer, the sender uses their financial institution's internet banking platform or physically visits a bank branch (in most cases, the latter option comes with higher fees).

After providing the necessary information for the transaction, the financial institution sends the details of the transfer and the instructions to execute the payment to the receiving bank.

Upon approval, the beneficiary bank carries out the transfer and credits the funds to the recipient's account.

What Is an International Bank Wire Transfer?

In the case of an international bank wire, the sending financial institution doesn't transfer the funds directly to the beneficiary bank.

Instead, international bank wire transfers usually go through the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) network, a secure messaging system for financial institutions. While SWIFT has global coverage in over 200 countries, not all banks participate in the network.

Whether it's a local or an international transaction, a direct connection must be established between the sending and the beneficiary bank. While banks are directly linked when sending local transfers, they lack this connection for international wire transactions.

For that reason, the sending bank distributes the transaction to a correspondent (or intermediary) financial institution responsible for connecting the sender with the recipient.

However, when the correspondent bank is not able to achieve that, it hires another intermediary.

The same process goes on until a direct connection is built, which allows the last correspondent bank to transfer the funds to the recipient.

How Long Does it Take for Local Wire Transfer to Arrive?

Since the sending financial institution sends the money directly to the recipient, local bank wire transfers usually take 1-2 working days to arrive with many of the transactions being processed on the same day.

The actual time it takes to process the transaction is usually based on the domestic banking network itself, the type of the transfer, and the financial institution that carries out the transaction.

For example, in India, citizens can choose from three types of bank wire transfers.

While standard National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) transactions are only processed on working days between 8AM and 7PM, Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) transfers can execute between Monday and Saturday.

On the other hand, Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) transactions provide 24-hour coverage to citizens with the funds typically credited on the beneficiary's account within a few seconds.

Similarly to the IMPS, the UK's Faster Payments Service (FPS) provides citizens access to instantaneous wire transfers within the country's domestic banking network.

How Long Does an International Wire Transfer Take?

The more correspondent banks participate in the chain, the longer international bank wire transfers take to reach the recipient.

For that reason, it's hard to provide a precise estimate for the processing times of international bank wire transfers.

However, in most cases, they reach the recipient's account in 3-5 working days, but it can take longer if more intermediary institutions are involved.

Also, there are multiple factors that could delay one's transfer:

• Error in a transfer's details: Filling out a form with inaccurate details about the beneficiary can cause some problems with your international wire transfer. If you are lucky, the transaction only gets delayed. However, in the worst-case scenario, your bank is not able to execute the transfer and returns it back to you, which can take several days and come with further charges.
• Bank holidays: Bank holidays are among the most common factors that could delay your international transfer. Financial institutions – both in the nations where the sender and the recipient are located – refuse to process transactions during a bank holiday.
• Weekends: Banks only operate on working days during business hours, meaning that they will only process your transfers in the timeframe when they are open. However, business days vary by nation. For example, in the United States and Europe, citizens work between Monday and Friday. However, banks operate between Sunday and Thursday in Middle Eastern countries like the UAE, while financial institutions are open in Hong Kong between Monday and Saturday.
• Timezone differences: It also crucial to take timezone differences into account when sending an international transfer. For example, while a transaction can get processed by your financial institution in London at 11AM, as there is a seven-hour difference in time, a Beijing-based correspondent bank won't execute it on the same day.
• Currency exchanges: Delays can also occur when you send funds internationally in a different currency than your recipient's national currency.
• Destination problems: Banking networks vary greatly by country. While some infrastructures allow payments to go through financial institutions fast, others require banks to complete further anti-fraud checks that could slow down the process.
• Regulatory checks: Financial institutions worldwide have to follow strict rules to crack down on fraudulent and illegal transactions (e.g., cybercrime- and terrorism-related payments). If a bank flags your transfer, it won't disburse it to the recipient's account until it can confirm that your money is not involved in any illicit activities. Such a process can take some time, and your bank may ask you to provide additional information or documents related to your transaction.

Is There a Better Way to Send Funds Internationally?

Since they feature decreased costs and faster processing times, local bank wire transfers are a better choice to send funds electronically than their international counterparts.

However, you can't use local bank wire if the recipient resides outside your country.

To solve this issue, the award-winning e-wallet service STICPAY has integrated local bank wire deposits and withdrawals into its solution to provide convenient, cost-efficient, and rapid transactions to its customers in selected nations.

Due to its partnerships with financial institutions in several Asian nations, STICPAY's local bank wire service is currently available in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, China, South Korea, and Japan.

However, the company is working on expanding the coverage for the service with further countries and regions shortly to fulfill the increased demand for local bank wire transactions.

The local bank wire service allows STICPAY customers to send funds to other members even across borders while avoiding the slow processing times and expensive costs of international transactions.

Besides local bank wire, STICPAY users can utilize the following payment methods to deposit and withdraw funds from their accounts:

• Visa
• MasterCard
• UnionPay China
• International bank transfers
• Cryptocurrency (Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum)

After funding their accounts, STICPAY customers can send instant transfers to other members at a competitive 1% fee via the e-wallet solution's internal network. Alternatively, users can spend their money directly on products and services offered by the company's merchant partners.

Furthermore, STICPAY customers can apply for the prepaid STIC Card to spend or withdraw their funds conveniently with limited fees.

In addition to global coverage in over 190 nations, STICPAY allows users to open multi-currency accounts in 29 local currencies to save money on conversion fees.

For a more convenient user experience, STICPAY has recently redesigned its iOS and Android mobile applications, which are available in 19 languages along with the company's web platform.

While convenience is important, STICPAY takes the safety of its customers seriously. For that reason, the e-wallet solution features advanced security and anti-fraud measures as well as strict Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks for both merchants and end-users on the platform.

Transfer Funds Internationally in a Smart Way With STICPAY

In addition to featuring high costs, international transfers can take too much time to reach the recipient.

However, with STICPAY's domestic bank wire service, e-wallet customers can transfer funds across borders like a local inexpensively and rapidly.

Are you ready to transfer funds in a smart way?

Open an account at STICPAY now!

Have questions? Reach out to STICPAY's rockstar customer support team to get your queries answered 24 hours a day.