Monday 27 May 2013

International Money Transfers

I recently had to have some money sent over from England and I thought I would share some of the dramas that were encountered when actually it is all very simple.

I bank with Permata bank and they are, for me a simple and easy bank with easy online and mobile access and fast service in their branches. Money is easy paid in and even easier paid out.

So receiving money to it therefore should not be a problem.

To receive money from overseas to a bank in Indonesia you need to provide the person who is sending you the money with the following 3 things

SWIFT CODE
ACCOUNT NUMBER
POSTAL ADDRESS OF THE BANK ACCOUNT

and thats it.

To find an Indonesian SWIFT code you can do many things:

Click here:  http://www.swiftbic.com/countries-with-I.html  and find your banks code

Or go to a branch of your bank and ask or phone them.

You DO NOT NEED AN IBAN CODE, regardless of what is stated by the banks over seas, especially those in England.

It took the person sending me the money 2 trips to the branch in England and a phone call to their head office to confirm that an IBAN code is not needed. Clearly the bank staff at a  local level are either unaware or too lazy to arrange. If you are told that you need an IBAN code then point that person to the website I have provided and ask them to find Indonesia.

This is from Lloydstsb website:

How do I start an international money transfer?

You'll need to give us accurate information about the person you are sending it to. This includes:

  • Their Bank Identifier Code (BIC), SWIFT code or national bank code.
  • Their bank account number or International Bank Account Number (IBAN).
  • Their full name.
  • Their bank's full address.
  • BIC and IBAN codes are similar to a bank account number and sort code in the UK. They are compulsory for payments to European Economic Area (EEA) countries and other countries around the world where an IBAN is required. You'll need to get these details from the person receiving the payment overseas.
So now you know it is not required.

However being persistent, the money was sent and arrived 3 working days later. Rather too simple actually....


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