International Payments

Your account details

Amount of the payment – you can choose to send in pound sterling or in local currency of the beneficiary bank. The benefits of sending in local currency:

• beneficiary will receive  the exact full amount sent
  
• exchange rate certainty – no fluctuating exchange rates
• payment speed – the beneficiary’s bank won’t need to exchange the rate on receipt of the transfer

The following details about your beneficiary, including:

• full name and address
• bank code – usually known as SWIFT or Business/Bank Identifier Code (BIC), from your beneficiary
• IBAN (International Bank Account Number) or account number – the IBAN is a series of alphanumeric characters that helps to identify accounts held anywhere in the world. Some beneficiaries may hold just an account number depending on their bank

Bank address

Reason for the payment – it’s important to provide an accurate reason for payment to help avoid any potential delays

Payment reference  – any reference you’d like to be included to be sent to the beneficiary.

We’ll send money outside the UK with all the information you provide to us, so it’s important you check they are correct. We’ll do our best to help and make reasonable efforts to recover a payment should incorrect information be provided.

Recurring and future dated international payments are only available online and will be charged £0 for HSBC to HSBC and £4 for HSBC to any another bank unless it is in euros within the EEA when the charge will be £0.

If you’re making a payment to another person in the EEA, you will pay our charges (shown in the table above) together with any intermediary and agency bank charges. You cannot pay charges for the other person.

Since 1 January 2021, the bank receiving the payment may apply higher charges than it did before the UK left the EU. HSBC UK charges have not changed.

Where possible, we recommend you check what charges the receiving bank applies. These charges may be taken from the amount you’ve sent.

For payments to countries or regions outside the EEA you can either pay all of the charges yourself, or share them with the person you’re paying.

The charge(s) applied to the payment will depend on the charging option selected.

• if you opt to pay all the fees, the charges in the table above will apply – together with any intermediary, agency and beneficiary bank charges, which can be applied at a later date
  
• if you opt to share the fees, the charge in the table above will apply – together with any intermediary and agency bank share charges, which can be applied at a later date
• if you opt the beneficiary to pay all fees; no charges will be applied

The above charges will be deducted from the payment before we add them to the beneficiary’s account where applicable. 

If we send money to or receive money from countries or regions outside the EEA, we may use an intermediary bank. This intermediary and the receiving bank may also impose charges. These charges could include payments sent through, or to, another HSBC bank.

Payments to accounts in the EEA¹ in euros or sterling will normally be credited by the next working day.

This is subject to further checks and currency cut-off times. From time to time we may need to make extra security checks or validate payments. If you’re sending the payment to secure an item, for example, a property or for investment purposes, please make sure you allow extra time for the payment to be received.

Payments to accounts outside the EEA¹ could take up to 4 working days. They may take longer, depending on the country or region the payment is being sent to and if the payment falls on a bank holiday.

You can cancel a future-dated or recurring international payment set up online by selecting 'Manage payments - future payments' in Send Money Overseas via online banking.

We will need to have received your request to cancel by 23.59 (UK Time) on the day before the payment is due to be made.

If you've asked us to make a payment immediately you will be unable to cancel it.