International Payments

To make an International Payment you will need the following information:

• Recipient's name and address (exact full name or company name) and the name and address of recipient's bank.

• Recipient’s account number or IBAN (International Bank Account Number) if applicable.

• BIC or SWIFT code if the country you’re making the payment to does not use IBAN. To find out what countries require a IBAN on International Payments have a look at our country table.

• If you’re sending money to Australia, New Zealand or South Africa you’ll need a clearing code. Or, if you’re sending money to the USA you may also need a routing code.
  
  If you have either a routing code or a clearing code; this can be added to the reference field, with any reference you would like to add to the payment. This field has a 35 character limit. Alternatively, please make your payment via branch or Telephone Banking. Note, to use this service in Telephone Banking you may need a Personal Security Number.  
  

   The beneficiary that you are paying should be able to tell you whether a clearing code is required by their bank.

International payment costs

Our transfer charges for sending an International Payment online for all accounts except Cash accounts are: 

If the payment is in euros to an EEA (European Economic Area) country: there is no charge
All other payments up to £5,000:  the charge is £10 
All other payments over £5,000:  the charge is £17.50 

Our transfer charges for sending an International Payment online for Cash accounts are: 

If the payment is sent in pounds within the EU (European Union) : there is no charge
If the payment is sent in euros to an EEA (European Economic Area) country: there is no charge
All other payments up to £5,000:  the charge is £10 
All other payments over £5,000:  the charge is £17.50

To send or receive money from abroad, TSB will use an intermediary bank. The recipient’s bank may also use an intermediary bank. An intermediary bank means a bank working on behalf of the sending or receiving bank.

Intermediary banks may also impose charges as handling fees for the payment. TSB can’t tell you whether the recipient’s bank will use an Intermediary Bank or not, or what charges they may apply.

The final payment value received could be less than the original amount requested, due to charges and the exchange rate used. When sending money abroad, we recommend that you use the International Payments Calculator, available via internet banking. You can use this calculator to get an estimate of payment values at the current exchange rate.

When you make an international payment online you will pay our transfer charges, and the person receiving the payment pays all other charges. Again, this may result in the person receiving the payment receiving less than you have sent, or these charges may be debited from their account separately. Two other charging options are available in branch and Telephone Banking: 1. where the sender can choose to pay all the fees or 2. the receiver can pay all the fees. Different fees apply – please see our banking charges guide.

How do I send money abroad online?

If you're a TSB Current Account customer log on to Internet Banking to send money abroad.

The amount received will also depend on who converts the currency. If the sender sends the payment in local currency (i.e. Euros or US Dollars) then TSB will convert into Pounds. We do this based on our own daily rates. These rates will be linked to live industry exchange rates. Rates can change by the minute, without the sending bank knowing what our rate is, they won’t be able to tell you what the exchange rate will be. This can make it hard to predict exactly what will arrive in Pounds sterling. 
 
If the overseas sender requests the payment is sent in Pounds sterling then the overseas bank will make the conversion based on their own rates, the sender should be made aware of this at the time they make the transaction. If they choose to pay all the charges they can ensure you receive the Pounds sterling amount you were expecting.
 
All banks should publish the rate that they convert sent payments in.

I wanted to send a payment in Pounds Sterling. Is this possible?

Yes. You can choose to send your payment in Pounds Sterling or local currency.

However please be aware that if you choose the Pounds Sterling option, we’ll ask you if you want to keep the payment in Pounds Sterling. The correspondent bank may convert the payment into the local currency, if the receiving account does not support Pounds Sterling and a conversion fee may be charged.

If you choose local currency, this payment may be converted by our correspondent bank or the receiving bank, depending on whether our correspondent bank supports the currency choice.

How will I know what foreign exchange rate has been used for my transaction?

If you are making an international payment in Pounds Sterling, we recommend you use the calculator to get an up to date estimate of current exchange rates.

We will keep the payment in Pounds Sterling but the correspondent bank may convert the payment into the local currency, if the receiving account does not support Pounds Sterling and a conversion fee may be charged.

If you are making an International Payment in Pounds Sterling and do not request for it to remain in Pounds Sterling; be aware that the payment may be converted by our correspondent bank. We will send the main account holder an SMS to confirm the exchange rate used normally within 24hours of the transaction being requested. However, if the transaction is triggered on a Friday, weekend or some bank holidays the SMS may take 3 days to arrive.

Information confirming the charges applied will also be confirmed on your statement.

The table below tells you the maximum time the payment will take to reach the recipient's bank once we have received your instructions to send an International Payment. The cut-off time for Online International Payments to be sent the same day is 4:30pm for all foreign currencies. Any Online International Payments requested after this time will be processed the next working day.

How do I send money abroad online?

If you're a TSB Current Account customer log on to Internet Banking to send money abroad.

You can make any number of payments up to a total amount of £75,000.

This is a daily limit per customer. The daily limit must not be exceeded and applies to branch, over the phone, TSB App and Internet Banking as a whole.

This limit is for standard retail accounts; under 19s accounts have different daily limits.

Yes. You can make as many payments as you want as long as you don't go over your daily payment transaction limit of £75,000 and you have enough money in your account to make payments.

This is our upfront charge to you for making an international payment. Please note that while you will pay our transfer charges, the person receiving the payment pays all other charges. This may result in the person receiving the payment receiving a lesser amount than you have sent, or these charges may be debited from their account separately. Other charging options are available in branch or via telephone banking please see our banking charges guide. Our international payments calculator is available to you after you've logged into Internet Banking to demonstrate how much each payment will cost. Please see International Payment costs.

For Payments made in foreign currency before 4:30pm on a business day, your account will be debited the same working day. For payments made on or after 4:30pm on a business day, your account will be debited the next working day. Payments submitted on or after 4:30pm on a Friday (as long as Friday is a working day) will be debited the next working day, please note Saturdays, Sundays and Bank holidays are not classed as working days.

Yes. You can choose to send your payment in Pounds Sterling or local currency.

However please be aware that if you choose the Pounds Sterling option, we’ll ask you if you want to keep the payment in Pounds Sterling. The correspondent bank may convert the payment into the local currency, if the receiving account does not support Pounds Sterling and a conversion fee may be charged.

If you choose local currency, this payment may be converted by our correspondent bank or the receiving bank, depending on whether our correspondent bank supports the currency choice.

This is a requirement in some countries. Without this information, your payment may not process or could be delayed.

BIC stands for Bank Identifier Code. It is a unique code that identifies a particular bank in a specific country. It helps us process transactions efficiently and quickly and is used worldwide for international transactions.

SWIFT code is another name for BIC code.

Please check with the person receiving the money if a BIC or SWIFT code is needed to make a payment.

You'll need to ask your recipient for the BIC/SWIFT code of their bank.

IBAN stands for International Bank Account Number. It is a unique code that identifies an individual bank account. We won't be able to process your payment to the EEA (European Economic Area) and EU (European Union) countries as well as a number of other countries globally without a BIC or IBAN.

If this information is not included it may delay your payment being sent. Please check with the person receiving the money if an IBAN or BIC is needed to make a payment. 

You can check which countries need an IBAN for a payment to be processed in our country table. – see "Which countries require an IBAN on International Payments?" below.

To make payments to the countries with an asterisk*, you will still need a BIC/SWIFT code.

A clearing code is needed for making a International payment to an account that doesn't have an IBAN. 

The beneficiary that you are paying should be able to tell you whether a clearing code is required by their bank.

If a clearing code is required, please add  to the reference field, with any reference you would like to add to the payment. This field has a 35 character limit. Alternatively, please make your payment via branch or telephone banking.

A routing code is a countries version of a sort code. A routing code is not always required but may be required if you are sending a payment to USA. If a routing code is required, please add to the reference field, with any reference you would like to add to the payment. This field has a 35 character limit. Alternatively, please make your payment via branch or telephone banking.

If you are making an international payment in Pounds Sterling, we recommend you use the calculator to get an up to date estimate of current exchange rates.

We will keep the payment in Pounds Sterling but the correspondent bank may convert the payment into the local currency, if the receiving account does not support Pounds Sterling and a conversion fee may be charged.

If you are making an International Payment in Pounds Sterling and do not request for it to remain in Pounds Sterling; be aware that the payment may be converted by our correspondent bank. We will send the main account holder an SMS to confirm the exchange rate used normally within 24hours of the transaction being requested. However, if the transaction is triggered on a Friday, weekend or some bank holidays the SMS may take 3 days to arrive.

Information confirming the charges applied will also be confirmed on your statement.

The sender can either choose to pay all the charges themselves, share the charges with you or for you to pay all the charges. This will affect how much you receive. Please see International Payment costs. 
 
The amount received will also depend on who converts the currency. If the sender sends the payment in local currency (i.e. Euros or US Dollars) then TSB will convert into Pounds. We do this based on our own daily rates. These rates will be linked to live industry exchange rates. Rates can change by the minute, without the sending bank knowing what our rate is, they won’t be able to tell you what the exchange rate will be. This can make it hard to predict exactly what will arrive in Pounds sterling. 
 
If the overseas sender requests the payment is sent in Pounds sterling then the overseas bank will make the conversion based on their own rates, the sender should be made aware of this at the time they make the transaction. If they choose to pay all the charges they can ensure you receive the Pounds sterling amount you were expecting.
 
All banks should publish the rate that they convert sent payments in.

The vast majority of payments are made successfully. If there is a reason TSB can’t make the payment, we will contact you. However, payments can be rejected by the receiving bank. This is normally where details provided for the payment are incorrect, missing (for example, the clearing code or routing code) or the receiving bank has some other reason to reject the payment.

It's important to note that due to fluctuations in the Foreign Exchange Rates, you may get back less than you sent. Therefore, it’s really important to check the details being used for the payment thoroughly.

Returned payments can take up to two weeks to get back to TSB; particularly if the money is being sent outside of the SEPA region. SEPA is the Single Euro Payments Area. For further details please see Section 5 of the Personal Banking Terms and Conditions.  Personal Banking Terms and Conditions.

EEA (European Economic Area) and SEPA countries are listed in Section 5 of the Personal Banking Terms and Conditions.

All EU (European Union) countries are part of the EEA. The only countries which are part of the EEA; but not part of the EU are Iceland, Norway and Lichtenstein.

An FX International Payment Margin is the difference between the rate TSB buys a foreign currency at, and the rate you buy it at when you convert sterling to that currency at TSB. You need to know about Payment Margins when you trade international currencies at TSB. You can see our current Payment Margins for several foreign currencies here.