We’ve removed charges on EUR SWIFT payments sent via the ‘shared’ charge type. Use this FAQ to find out what this means for you.
Why did we need this change?
Since July 2021, some clients may have seen intermediary bank charges being applied to SWIFT EUR payments sent via the ‘shared’ charge type. These charges were being applied downstream of Currencycloud by the European correspondent bank of one of our payment providers.
While the correspondent bank is legally permitted to apply these charges under EU regulation (Payment Services Directive, or PSD2), we knew that this had caused frustration for you and your customers, as well as the people and businesses they are paying. So we made changes to help improve the process.
What did we change?
We removed this intermediary bank charge to keep providing the best service possible to you and your customers. By instructing all SWIFT EUR payments directly from an EU-based provider, payments now made will no longer be subject to this correspondent banking charge as the provider is a direct member of the euro payment scheme. Your payments may still be subject to other charges throughout the payment network.
Does this change only apply to EU-based clients?
No, the intermediary charge that was being applied by the European correspondent bank of one of our payment providers has been removed for both Currencycloud B.V. and Currencycloud Ltd clients. The beneficiary's correspondent and end beneficiary bank charges may still apply as they differ per bank and destination country.
What about other currencies?
For clients contracting with our European entity, Currencycloud B.V., there are a few extra things you need to be aware of:
- All SWIFT payments in the following currencies are now also sent directly from our EU-based banking provider, removing any downstream charges: AED, AUD, CAD, CHF, CZK, DKK, HKD, HRK, HUF, JPY, KES, MXN, NOK, NZD, PLN, RON, SAR, SEK, SGD, TRY, ZAR. You don’t need to make any changes to benefit from this change.
- On Thursday, 18th November 2021, we’ll make the same change to all SWIFT GBP and SWIFT USD payments .
- Please be aware that when we make this change for SWIFT GBP payments, it will result in a change to the payment cutoff times. This will move from 17:00 (UK time) / 18:00 (EST) to 16:15 (UK time) / 17:15 (EST)*. If you need to make any changes to your process in light of this, we encourage you to do so ahead of the switch.
*This change is to the payment cutoff times and does not take FX timelines into consideration. Visit our FX timelines for more information on these timelines.