What Actually Happens When You Tap ‘Send’ On an International Transfer?

Sending money abroad can feel deceptively simple. You enter the recipient’s details, choose how much you want to send, consider the exchange rate and any possible fees, then send the money off. But what happens next? 

Behind that single action, your payment will have begun a journey involving payment instructions, compliance checks, currency conversions, and intermediary banks. International payments aren’t simply money moving through the world, they rely on networks and infrastructure designed to connect and protect financial institutions across borders. 

For customers, however, the most important question is far simpler; how can that journey be made faster, clearer, cheaper, and more convenient? 

This guide gives an in-depth exploration of how exactly international payments are made, and how iFAST Global Bank helps you make them easier. 

Step One: The instruction 

When you initiate an international transfer, your bank first receives the payment instruction. The information provided–such as the recipient, destination, amount and currency–all help determine how the payment should be routed. In traditional international banking, a transfer may use the SWIFT network, which enables financial institutions to exchange secure payment messages. Depending on the specific currencies and institutions involved, the payment may travel through one or more connector banks before reaching its final destination. 

Step Two: The checks 

Before a payment can continue on its journey, financial institutions carry out rigorous operational and regulatory checks.  

This is why the initial information entered at the start is so important. Any gaps in information, or inaccurate details, could create delays or require more investigation. In the international financial world filled with different payment systems and currencies, structured and accurate data is more important than ever. 

Step Three: The route 

With a standard international bank transfer, the route is not always direct. A sending bank may have to communicate the message to the receiver bank through one or more intermediary banks. Depending on the number of intermediaries, the journey could be seriously affected by extra delivery periods and extra fees, before finally reaching its destination. The receiver bank might also charge a fee to take the money, meaning that a simple international transfer could mean a serious loss at the receiving end. 

The different route 

While conventional international transfers take days to complete, and almost always mean the recipient gets less than what the sender gave, it doesn’t have to be this way. With iFAST Global Bank, customers are able to send cross-currency international payments faster, and fee-free. EzRemit allows customers to send international payments to more than 160 countries, in 30+ currencies, with transfer times that take minutes instead of days. With EzRemit, cross-currency international transfers are faster, cheaper, and easier, ensuring peace of mind for both the sender and receiver. Even if the recipient uses an e-wallet instead of a bank account, EzWallet is built on similar principles to allow anyone to send and receive money fee-free. 

The smarter journey 

So what really happens after you tap “Send”? 

Your payment instruction begins a carefully coordinated journey, passing through international payment networks, financial intermediaries, and information checks, before finally arriving at its destination. 

But the way your money travels matters. Traditional routes involve long processing times, expensive hidden fees, and worrying about when your money will reach its destination. 

With iFAST Global Bank, EzRemit and EzWallet provide an alternative to traditional cross-currency international transfers, ensuring that you can send money across the world faster, easier, and cheaper. No matter if you’re sending money to family overseas, managing international commitments, or simply moving money across borders, the destination might be thousands of miles away, but the way you pay doesn’t have to reflect that. 

Transfer time is subject to receiver country. Same currency international transfers will incur fees. Refer to our Fees and Charges here for up to date figures.