Making international payments
Choose from a variety of payment options in all major currencies, to most destinations in the world. Select from the following options:
Banker’s Draft – a Bank cheque made payable to a named overseas beneficiary. It can be drawn in any major currency and is ideal when a paper record is required, as it provides physical proof of payment.
SWIFT – a fast, secure payment option for transferring urgent or high value funds overseas. Payments can be completed in any major currency in 2-4 days. Funds can be paid into an overseas bank account or a cheque issued by an overseas bank. With SWIFT, the correspondent/intermediary bank can also make a charge. We usually can't send the payment direct to the beneficiary bank, so correspondent / intermediary banks are used to move the money. The total charge depends on the amount, currency, destination and correspondent / intermediary used. There is also a possibility of other agents being involved who could also apply a charge. These can be charged back to the account at a later date.
Structured Payments – cost-effective option for transfers of less than €50,000. Cheaper than SWIFT and more economical for non-urgent transactions. Funds received within 3-5 days and available to all Eurozone countries as long as Bank Identifier Code (BIC) and International Bank Account Number (IBAN) are supplied for the beneficiary account details.
Please note, all Structured Payments have to be sent in Euros with the exception of payments to Sweden.
To request a foreign payment, please fax your request on business letter head, to 0161 872 0850. On this fax, please state the debiting sort code and account number, the amount you'd like to transfer, the currency you would like to transfer the funds in and all bank details (including IBAN if applicable, BIC/SWIFT code, receiving bank name and address, beneficiary's name, reference number and any available payment routing information the beneficiary has supplied). This has to be signed in accordance with the bank mandate we hold.
If you prefer, you can write to us to request a transfer, our address is as follows:
Foreign Services Team 607
Co-operative Bank
PO BOX 200
Skelmersdale
WN8 6YA
Please be advised we may call you back to confirm the details of the payment.
View our list of international banking tariffs.
For more information please call the Foreign Services Team on 08457 55 88 88.
