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Receiving international payments

Payments received in a foreign currency will be converted into Sterling and credited into your company’s account. Foreign account holders will have the payment converted into the currency the account was opened in.

Options for receiving money from abroad include:

Electronic transfer
The fastest and most secure way of transferring funds into your account is through an electronic transfer. In order to receive a payment, you will need to provide your customer with the following information:

  • Our name in full - The Co-operative Bank plc
  • Our S.W.I.F.T. address - CPBKGB22A
  • Your business account name, IBAN and Foreign account number

We will send you a letter confirming receipt of any payments made through our cross-border payments system, showing the amount received and any deductions made from the original amount requested.

Cheques
Although we do not recommend that you receive paper-based payments from abroad, we can arrange to clear these on your behalf. Should you receive a cheque in a foreign currency, please send it to our Foreign Services Team and we will credit your account accordingly.

Make sure the cheque is made payable to you, sign the back of the cheque and post to:

Foreign Services Team
The Co-operative Bank
PO BOX 200
Skelmersdale
WN8 6YA

We will choose to process foreign cheques in one of two ways; negotiation with recourse or collection.

Negotiation with recourse
This is where we will credit your account on receipt of the cheque by our Overseas Financial Services team, before we actually receive the funds from the issuing bank. We will endeavour to credit your account within five working days and can only send a cheque for negotiation if it is issued in the same currency as the country that the cheque is drawn on.

Fees will be payable depending on the value of the cheque and you can view these in our International Banking Tariff below. If your cheque is returned unpaid, your account will be debited on the date of its return in addition to any other charges. The cheque will be returned to you with reasons and charges for non-payment.

Collection
Cheques which are high value, originate in high risk countries or are drawn in a currency different to that of the country it is drawn on will be sent for collection. Payment is credited to your nominated account after we have received the funds or are sure the cheque will be paid. How long this takes will depend on the country the payment is coming from and the foreign bank, however normal timescales are six to eight weeks.

Cheques sent for collection will also incur fees which can be found in the International banking Tariff below. Please note, the issuing bank may also charge for cashing the cheque and remitting the funds

Please note that we reserve the right to decide whether a cheque can be sent for negotiation or collection, and we can only negotiate a cheque if your account is being operated fully within the terms and conditions.

View our International Banking Tariff

For more information please call our Foreign Services Team on 08457 588 888 Find out about our call charges (lines are open 8am to 4pm, Monday to Friday).