Why Did the Recipient Get Less Than I Sent? SWIFT Intermediary Fees

What a correspondent bank actually is

When your bank and the recipient's bank don't have a direct relationship, the payment doesn't travel in one hop — it passes through one or more intermediary banks that do have relationships with both ends. Wise's own help centre describes it well: "if the sender's bank and the recipient's banks don't have a direct relationship, the money will also travel from bank to bank. These banks are usually called correspondent banks" (Wise Help Centre, "What are Swift correspondent fees when sending and receiving money?", fetched September 2026). Which banks form that chain isn't fixed — it can differ transfer to transfer, even between the same two countries.

How much these banks typically deduct

Per Wise's own published estimate: "the amount that other banks charge will vary, but we estimate anywhere between 15 and 50 USD or equivalent. The fee might be higher depending on the banks." This is charged by the intermediary bank itself, not by the provider or bank that originated the transfer — and it can happen at more than one point in the chain if multiple correspondent banks are involved.

The three fee arrangements: OUR, SHA, BEN

This is the part that actually determines who absorbs the cost, and it's set at the point the payment is sent — usually a setting your own bank asks you to choose, or defaults to, when you send an international wire.

Wise's own explanation of the three standard options ("Paying by Swift", fetched September 2026):

- OUR: your bank covers all transfer fees upfront, so the full amount arrives with the recipient exactly as sent. Wise: "To make sure Wise receives the exact amount for your transfer, ask your bank to cover all transfer fees when you set it up. This is called an OUR Swift transfer."
- SHA (shared): the default on many bank wires. Wise: "If your bank charges a shared fee (SHA), the intermediary banks will deduct their charges from your sending amount, and we will receive less money." This is the arrangement most likely to produce the "I sent $2,000 but they only got $1,960" experience.
- BEN: the recipient bears all the fees, deducted from what they receive — used less often for personal transfers but is the third standard option.

Which transfers this actually applies to

Correspondent bank fees are a SWIFT-specific phenomenon. Wise's own guidance is explicit about when it uses the SWIFT network at all — automatically for USD sent to accounts outside the US, GBP outside the UK, EUR outside the SEPA zone, and JPY payments over 1 million yen — and separately confirms Swift payments "usually take 1–6 working days to reach us," longer than a domestic or same-provider transfer.

It does not apply to transfers that never touch SWIFT: many app-to-app transfers, and transfers into local payment rails such as Australia's own PayID/OSKO network, don't pass through a correspondent-bank chain at all — the intermediary-fee risk described here is specific to bank wires and SWIFT-routed payments, not to every kind of international transfer.

What providers can and can't do about it

Wise states directly that it doesn't set these fees and can't guarantee against them: "Wise doesn't set these fees. We've built a prediction tool based on the correspondent banks' historical fees and speed. If our tool suggests your payment might charged a correspondent fee, we'll include it when calculating your transfer cost. Unfortunately, some banks still end up charging their own fees, so we can't guarantee that our tool will work with each payment." In other words, a provider can estimate and disclose the likely deduction upfront, but it can't force a correspondent bank it doesn't control to waive its own fee.

If you're the sender and want the recipient to get the full amount

The most direct lever is the OUR/SHA/BEN choice at setup, if your bank or provider offers it — choosing OUR shifts the correspondent cost to you upfront instead of leaving it to be deducted from the transfer in transit. Some providers also offer their own version of this as an add-on so the intermediary fee is billed separately rather than taken out of the amount sent. If you've already sent a SHA transfer and the recipient received less than expected, check your transfer receipt — it typically shows whether the payment went via SWIFT, which is the first thing to confirm before raising it with support.

Why did my recipient receive less money than I sent?

The most common cause on an international wire is a correspondent (intermediary) bank fee — banks along the SWIFT route deducting their own handling charge, commonly in the tens of dollars, before the payment reaches the recipient.

What do OUR, SHA and BEN mean on an international transfer?

They're the three standard SWIFT fee arrangements. OUR means the sender's bank covers all fees so the full amount arrives. SHA (shared, the common default) means intermediary banks deduct their fee from the amount in transit. BEN means the recipient bears all the fees.

Does this apply to every international money transfer?

No. It's specific to payments that travel via the SWIFT network, typically bank-to-bank wires. Transfers that stay within one provider's own network, or that land on local payment rails like Australia's PayID/OSKO, generally aren't exposed to correspondent-bank deductions.

Can my provider guarantee my recipient won't lose money to these fees?

Generally no. Providers can estimate the likely correspondent fee in advance and build it into your quoted cost, but they don't control what a correspondent bank they have no relationship with actually charges.

How do I avoid this on my next transfer?

Ask whether an OUR arrangement is available when you set up the payment — it shifts the fee to the sender upfront rather than letting it be deducted from the amount that arrives.