Wire transfer, US Citibank to UK HSBC

[King Herald]

I arranged to have a sum of money wired over from the USA yesterday morning, which is normally almost an instant transfer, but this money has still not arrived in my UK bank yet.

I just phoned Citibank and some 'transfer specialist' informed me he was 'obliged' to tell me that it can take up to 10 working days for a wireless transfer.

I asked him exactly where the money sits when it is in neither of my accounts, and he said probably in some intermediary HSBC account. I fail to see how or why anybody should hang on to the money for any length of time. There was no mention of an intermediary bank when I arranged the transfer.

Citibank cannot tell me exactly where they sent the money either, if not directly to my bank, for some reason I can't fathom. Why would they not send it straight to the Swift code bank I gave them?

I have 3k sent over every month, with no problems, but this was a one-off transfer, a larger sum, but the same banks.


Why could/would/should it possibly take up to ten days for a simple transfer??




Or am I about to get a tap on the door from the money laundering police?

[twinturboz]

I was under the impression CHAPS is same day but usually carries a fee and BACS usually takes 3-5 working days.

[King Herald]

twinturboz said:

I was under the impression CHAPS is same day but usually carries a fee and BACS usually takes 3-5 working days.

Hmm, not too sure what the differences are actually. It usually comes the same day it is sent, on the regular wire, but it seems different this time.

[King Herald]

Money arrived, today, exchange rate of $1.52, which is far better than I'd get if I changed at the UK end through HSBC.

[jeff m]

Depends a bit on who is corrospondant with who.
One would think Citi and HKSB would be direct.

I once cleared a US$ Channel Islands cheque in my local US Bank, I checked the corrospondant bit first....it took three months to clear and collected $283 in charges. Which were refunded after I returned the Bank Managers first born.

(RBS wire to US local bank currently takes 3 days.)