An international money transfer moves funds from a sender in one country to a recipient in another, often with a currency conversion. Businesses use these transfers to pay overseas suppliers, move working capital between entities in different countries, and send payouts to sellers or contractors who live outside the business’s home market. The mechanics differ from a one-off customer transfer because many businesses need to move money at volume, on a schedule, and with enough predictability to match payments against invoices or payroll dates.

The cross-border payment market had a value of $194.6 trillion in 2024 and is forecast to reach $320 trillion by 2032.

Below, we’ll explain how the transfer process works, what it takes to send a global money transfer, and what changes with larger transfers.

Key takeaways

• International money transfers have five stages, including a currency conversion step that typically increases the total cost.

• The method a business chooses, from wire transfers to local payment networks, affects settlement speed and how much of the sent amount arrives.

• Large transfers introduce more compliance documentation, transfer limits, and rate exposure that smaller payments don’t have.

What is an international money transfer?

An international money transfer moves funds electronically from a sender in one country to a recipient in another. The money typically passes through multiple correspondent banks, and currency conversion usually occurs during the process.

How do international money transfers work?

A cross-border transfer runs through five stages. Each can affect how long the money takes to arrive and how much of it reaches the recipient.

• Initiation: The sender specifies the amount, the currency, and the recipient's details. The latter includes the recipient's bank account number or International Bank Account Number (IBAN) and the receiving bank's Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) code or business identifier code (BIC).

• Screening: Before funds move, the sending institution checks the transaction against sanctions lists and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) rules. This step can take time, especially for larger amounts or a first-time recipient.

• Currency conversion: If the sending and receiving currencies differ, the funds get converted at a rate set by whichever bank or payment provider is handling the transfer. That rate almost always includes a margin above the market exchange rate. This margin is a major source of revenue for providers.

• Routing: The money must travel from one banking system to another. A payment between banks with no direct relationship usually passes through one or more correspondent banks (institutions that hold accounts with each other and relay the funds in stages instead of sending them straight through). Each intermediary can add a delay and, in some cases, a fee.

• Settlement: The recipient's bank credits the account once the funds arrive, sometimes after running a compliance check.

How do you send an international money transfer?

Businesses that send payouts to sellers or contractors across many countries can automate the process through an application programming interface (API). Stripe lets platforms initiate global payouts programmatically so a business that pays hundreds of recipients in different currencies doesn't have to enter each transfer individually.

If you manage international money transfers manually, here are the steps you'll take:

• Choose a method: Decide between a bank wire transfer, a local payment network in the recipient's country, and a payment platform that handles the conversion and routing on your behalf.

• Enter recipient details: Include the legal name on the account, the account number or IBAN, the bank's SWIFT code or BIC, and, for some corridors, a routing number or sort code specific to the recipient's country.

• Confirm the currency and amount: Decide whether the recipient gets paid in their local currency or in the sender's. This determines who bears the conversion cost and rate risk.

• Review the exchange rate and any disclosed costs: Compare the rate offered against a market benchmark. The spread between the two is part of the transfer's cost, even if it never shows up as a line item.

• Submit and track: Providers typically issue a reference number or transaction ID so you can monitor the transfer's status until the recipient's bank confirms receipt.

What methods can businesses use for an international money transfer?

Each international money transfer method has different trade-offs in speed, reach, and routing. Here's how the methods compare:

• Bank wire transfers: Wire transfers are sent directly from bank to bank, often through the SWIFT network for international routing. They work for nearly any country and any amount, but they can take one to five business days and typically pass through correspondent banks, which add delays and potential deductions from the final amount.

• Local payment networks: Many countries run domestic clearing systems, such as the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) in the eurozone and Faster Payments in the UK, that often settle transfers within their borders in hours. Providers that connect directly to these networks can complete cross-border transfers faster by converting currency once and then routing the final portion of the trip domestically.

Payment providers such as Stripe handle the routing decision for the business. A business sends one instruction, and the provider decides whether to route through SWIFT, a local payment network, or an internal ledger transfer, depending on the corridor and where the recipient is located.

What affects the cost of an international money transfer?

The advertised transfer fee is sometimes the smallest part of the transfer's cost. These components determine the total cost:

• The foreign exchange margin: Providers typically set their own exchange rates rather than pass through the interbank rate directly. The difference is where much of their revenue comes from. This margin varies by currency pair and provider.

• Transfer or wire transfer fees: The sending institution charges a flat or percentage-based fee for initiating the transfer.

• Intermediary bank charges: When a transfer passes through one or more correspondent banks, each can deduct a handling fee before it moves the funds. That means the amount that arrives can be lower than what was sent, even when nothing has gone wrong on either end.

• Receiving bank fees: Some banks charge the recipient to accept an incoming international transfer.

How long does an international money transfer take?

Settlement speed depends heavily on the corridor, the method, and the time the transfer is initiated relative to bank cutoff times.

Same-day or nearly instant transfers are possible between countries connected by real-time or nearly real-time payment networks, particularly within regions such as the eurozone via SEPA Instant, or when a provider settles internally between accounts it holds in both currencies—instead of through external banks.

Standard bank wire transfers typically take one to five business days. The timing comes down to how many correspondent banks the transfer passes through, whether it occurs during a weekend or holiday in either country, and whether compliance screening flags the transaction for manual review.

A few conditions can cause delays. Transfers submitted after a bank's daily cutoff time will roll to the next business day. Recipient details that don't match the receiving bank's records can trigger a hold. And transfers that involve countries or entities under sanctions scrutiny take longer—no matter which network carries them.

What should businesses consider when sending a large international money transfer?

Transferring large sums of money internationally introduces new considerations:

• Compliance documentation: Banks and payment providers must verify the source of a large transfer and might ask for invoices, contracts, or other supporting documents before releasing funds, particularly for first-time users or unusually large payments to a given recipient.

• Transfer limits: These vary by provider and corridor. Some cap the size of a single transfer or require extra verification above a certain threshold, and these limits aren't always obvious until a business tries to send an amount that exceeds one.

• Rate exposure: This matters more at scale. A small movement in the exchange rate has a much bigger effect on a $500,000 transfer than on a $500 one. So businesses that move large amounts often negotiate rate terms in advance or time transfers around favorable currency conditions instead of accepting whatever rate gets quoted in the moment.

• Routing choice: A transfer's route affects cost and risk. One large wire transfer that passes through multiple correspondent banks accumulates more fees than a transfer routed through a provider with a direct bank relationship or local presence in the recipient's country. Businesses that move large sums between entities (e.g., intracompany transfers) can often minimize costs and compliance efforts by working with providers that can settle through local payment networks in both jurisdictions.

How Stripe Payments can help

Stripe Payments provides a unified, global payment solution that helps any business—from scaling startups to global enterprises—accept payments online, in person, and around the world.

Stripe Payments can help you:

• Optimize your checkout experience: Create a frictionless customer experience and save engineering hours with prebuilt payment user interfaces (UIs), access to 125+ payment methods, and Link, a digital wallet built by Stripe.

• Expand to new markets faster: Reach customers worldwide and reduce the complexity and cost of multicurrency management with cross-border payment options, available in 195 countries across 135+ currencies.

• Unify payments in person and online: Build a unified commerce experience across online and in-person channels to personalize interactions, reward loyalty, and grow revenue.

• Improve payment performance: Increase revenue with a range of customizable, easy-to-configure payment tools, including no-code fraud protection and advanced capabilities to improve authorization rates.

• Move faster with a flexible, reliable platform for growth: Build on a platform designed to scale with you, with 99.999% historical uptime and industry-leading reliability.

Learn more about how Stripe Payments can power your online and in-person payments, or get started today.