Hi
I am trying to send a payment to a person in Russia. They have asked for payment in USD and provided a BIC and SWIFT code.
But I can only find the option to send to a swift/bic number under the Euro option.
Would be grateful on advice on how to make this payment to someone living in Russia in USD.
Regards
Suraj
I don’t think you can.
Most of the advice around this sort of transfer is to use Transferwise.
Many banks know how to do SWIFT in USD to non-US country.
But very few do it to Russia.
I.e. whilst starling & TransferWise know how to USD SWIFT they do not offer it to Russia.
Sanctions compliance is hard.
Try Citi Bank, Barclays, HSBC if they can help you.
Expect ripoff exchange rate and like £25 fee.
If the amount is small, look into alternative methods. Does the person receiving money have accounts in Europe and/or US?
I asked. They said euro is fine also. Is that still a problem when sending to Russia using bic/swift?
Ie sending euro to the swift account provided to a person in Russia
yes, still a problem… because the bank sending things to a Russian bank branch must comply with US sanctions that may have been imposed against the recipient. Otherwise the sending bank may be cut off from access to global payments.
Does the recipient have accounts outside of Russia? Because then it implies they have passed sanctions checks already.
I am sending it from the UK. Does matter.
I will enquire about the bank.
Could PayPal work?
I have successfully sent euros to Russia via PayPal - to an academic institution, effectively paying an invoice. ( I added my transferwise card to PayPal to do this) When I needed to send euros to a Russian bank I ended up using HSBC who were very helpful.
Would that work if I add my monzo card to PayPal to transfer euros?
Not sure tbh. I’ve not sent to an individual. When I did it the Russian institution sent me a PayPal link to pay the invoice.( this was in 2019) . Can they raise a payment request to you from their end via PayPal?
It does not matter that you are sending it from the UK, US sanctions apply through the UK’s sanctions on Russia. It is possible to send money, it is just harder than it used to be.
Seems I will need to look into HSBC, PayPal etc.
The bank account i am sending to is SBERBANK. Anyone any experience with that?
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