What is an intermediary bank?
An intermediary bank (sometimes also called correspondent bank) provides services to another bank, serving as a middleman between the issuing bank and the receiving bank of an international wire bank transfer (also called wire transfer). Banks use intermediary banks as their agent abroad to complete payments that either start or end in other countries.
Adding an intermediary bank when creating a beneficiary describes the precise route a payment should follow to reach a beneficiary bank account.
Adding an intermediary bank also applies to iBanFirst clients, their clients, or their partners make to their iBanFirst accounts.
There is no intermediary bank for local or SEPA payments.
Examples
Exemple 1: Making a USD payment to a supplier in Vietnam
USD funds will go through a US bank. This bank is the intermediary bank
The intermediary bank will use a correspond bank in Vietnam to send USD funds in Vietnam
Once received, the correspondant bank will send USD funds to the beneficiary bank
Once received, the beneficiary bank will credit USD funds to your beneficiary bank account
Exemple 2: Receiving a USD payment from a client in Vietnam
The beneficiary bank account is your iBanFirst account
Your client MUST indicate iBanFirst's partner bank (ie, ING Belgium) as the intermediary bank
What are the risks of not adding an intermediary bank to send a payment?
Not adding an intermediary bank may result in:
Increased processing time
Funds not being received by the beneficiary
Funds being automatically converted to local currency (usually with a poor exchange rate) in case the currency of the payment is different from the currency of the country where the beneficiary bank is located
Where can I find iBanFirst's intermediary bank details?
You can find iBanFirst's intermediary bank on the Account > Account details screen:
