Bowman Offshore Bank Transfers How to Send an International Wire Transfer

Bowman Offshore Bank Transfers: How to Send an International
Wire Transfer
Everything You Need To Know About Wiring Money Overseas
I’m getting a lot of feedback from people trying to send international wire transfers.
A reader wrote this week to say:
“I went to my bank branch to initiate a wire transfer on Monday. The teller had to call over the branch
manager to help with the paperwork. Once the manager saw I was transferring money to Panama, she told
me they wouldn’t be able to do the wire transfer. When I asked why not, she said because investing in
Panama is too risky.”
A similar tale from another reader:
“I tried to wire money to Panama for a property purchase, and the teller told me they couldn’t do the wire
because they didn’t have a branch in Germany. The Panama bank uses a German bank as their
intermediary, but isn’t that what they (an intermediary bank) are there for—to accept international
transfers?”
I share the frustration these and the other readers I’ve been hearing from are feeling. Recently, two Los
Islotes investors tried to wire money for their lot purchases. The first client’s funds never made it because
they were rejected by the Panama bank’s intermediary bank and returned to the client almost two weeks
after the wire had been initiated.
The second client’s funds arrived the next day, after having passed through the same intermediary bank.
The difference? Who knows?
Every Bank Is Different and So Are Their Processes
Every bank has its own way of handling wires, but wiring money from one money-center bank to another
money-center bank should be straightforward regardless of the banks involved as minimal information is
required. However, sending money from a non-money-center bank, as the first reader I quote above was
trying to do, to another non-money-center bank in a foreign country is a different story.