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International transfers paid from Spendesk

Updated this week

Feature Overview

Spendesk now offers you the ability to pay your international invoices directly from the Spendesk product, allowing you to centralise your invoice payments (and expense claims on a later stage) in one single tool. To enable that, Spendesk has partnered with Wise, a worldwide payment service provider offering global payments infrastructure for banks and enterprises. This partnership with Wise allows Spendesk to natively embed the international wire transfer capability into the platform for a seamless and fully integrated invoice payment experience.

Note: available to customers with € wallets only.

Key Benefits

  • Global Reach — Spendesk supports transfers to up to 71 countries and 31 currencies. Check out the list of supported currencies and countries.

  • Faster transfers — 65% are instant, 95% are completed within the day.

  • Cost-competitiveness — Exchange rates at mid-market price sourced from Reuters and competitive pricing.

  • Full transparency — up to date rate, no hidden fees, and visibility on processing time.

  • One central dashboard — to manage and track everything in one place.

  • Quick setup — just a few clicks to get started.

  • Efficiency — Save time with a payment experience that integrates seamlessly with your existing Spendesk invoice (and soon expense claim) payment workflows.

Differences for EEA and UK Customers

EEA Customers

  • Transparent Wise Partnership: For EEA customers, the Wise integration is seamless and does not require direct interaction with Wise.

  • Required Information: EEA customers must ensure they provide their UBOs and directors’ countries of residence.

  • Updating UBOs and Directors: If not already updated, EEA customers must ensure their UBOs and directors are up to date, and update them if necessary to access the feature.

UK Customers

  • KYC Process: UK customers need to undergo a KYC process before Wise enables the feature.

  • Wise's Terms and Conditions: UK customers must sign Wise's Terms and Conditions to activate the service.

When is the "Pay from Spendesk" option available for international invoices?

To pay your international invoice from Spendesk, there are a few pre-requisites:

  • For EEA:

    • UBOs and directors information need to be updated via Dotfile platform.

      • If the list of UBOs and Directors is up to date, you will only be requested to provide the country of residence of each registered UBO and director.

      • If the UBOs and Directors list is not up to date, you will be asked to provide the updated list and related information.

  • For UK:

    • the Wise KYC need to be completed and T&Cs agreed on.

  • For both EEA and UK customers:

    • The target currency and country need to be supported. Check the list of supported countries and currencies.

    • The recipient and transfer details need to be provided.

      • In the schedule tab, eligible transfers will have the “Update” button to provide the required recipient and transfer information according to the target currency and country local requirements

    • Maximum amount of 100k€ per transfer.

      • Disclaimer: specific currencies have amount limits below this threshold (check the list of currencies and their limits). For instance:

        • EGP < 5,000,000 (equivalent of approx. 85,900€).

        • INR to UPI recipient < 200,000 (equivalent of approx. 2050€)

        • INR to IMPS recipient < 500,000 (equivalent of approx. 5140€)

        • KRW < 6,400,000 (equivalent of approx. 3,950€)

        • LKR < 980,000 (equivalent of approx. 2,880€)

    • Maximum cumulative amount of 500k€ per month.


Step-by-Step Setup and Usage Instructions

Setup

If wiretransfers are not already enabled, you need to go through these steps to activate the feature.

  1. Log into your Spendesk account.

  2. Navigate to Settings > Company rules > Payment methods

  3. Activate Wiretransfers for invoices.

Activating wiretransfers will allow you to not only pay your domestic invoices but also your international ones within the platform.

Review an International Invoice

  1. Navigate to Invoices > Review to review an international invoice.

  2. Select an international invoice.

  3. Select supplier bank country.

  4. Create supplier (no need to fill in all supplier information if you pay from Spendesk, the recipient information will be required on a later stage).

  5. Send to schedule.

Schedule an international invoice

  1. Navigate to Invoices > Schedule.

  2. Select an international invoice.

  3. Update recipient and transfer information.

    • Disclaimers:

      • Recipient information is a pre-requisite to enable the “Pay from Spendesk” option. A dynamic form will display the required recipient and transfer information to provide according to each target currency and country local requirements.

        • Accurate beneficiary details are crucial for successful transfers.

      • Choose a recipient option (transfer type) according to the information available in the invoice or according to your supplier’s preference.

  4. Confirm recipient and transfer information

  5. Select the option Pay from Spendesk.

  6. Send to confirm.

Confirm an International Wire Transfer

  1. As an Account Owner, Navigate to Invoices > Confirm.

  2. Select 1+ invoices with one or more international ones to confirm.

  3. Review the transfer details: FX rate, Fees, converted amount, total outgoing amount and Delivery estimate.

  4. Confirm transfer(s).

  5. Strong Authentication.

Disclaimer: As the transfers are planned for a future date and the FX rate is updated each 30min, the final FX rate and thus outgoing amount might slightly vary.

Track your payment

Paid invoices move to the All expenses > All Payments tab.

To check the invoice payment details:

  1. Navigate to Invoices > History tab

  2. Select the international wiretransfer to review

  3. Browse international wiretransfer details to track the payment information (payment status, FX rate and fees applied)

Generate a proof of transfer

  1. Navigate to Invoices > History tab

  2. Select the desired payment

  3. Open and download “Proof of transfer”


Paying international invoices via Local schemes vs. SWIFT

Our partnership with Wise offers you the ability to pay your invoices via local banking schemes, in addition to the SWIFT scheme. Wise has built extensive partnerships with both local banking systems

Paying via local routes is a much faster and cheaper solution than paying via SWIFT. The main differences involve:

  • Local routes:

    • Use case: pay in the beneficiary’s country local currency

      • USD to the USA: select ACH or Wire

      • INR to India

      • AUD to Australia

      • DKK to Denmark

    • Lower fees: limited to no intervention of intermediary banks

    • Faster processing time: with 65% routes being instant and 95% within a day.

  • SWIFT

    • Use case: SWIFT option need to be selected if you need to pay for instance:

      • USD to India

      • GBP to France

      • EUR to Singapore

    • Higher fees: due to intermediary banks and exchange rate markups.

    • Potential for hidden fees: Fees can be unpredictable and vary based on the number of banks involved in the transaction.

    • Slower processing time: typically between 1 to 5 business days.


Supported countries and currencies

Spendesk supports up to 31 currencies and 71 countries

Country of destination

Local currency

SWIFT

Aland Islands

USD

Argentina

ARS

EUR
USD

Australia

AUD

EUR
USD

Austria

GBP
USD

Bahrain

EUR
GBP
USD

Belgium

GBP
USD

Bolivia

EUR
USD

Brazil

BRL (bientôt)

Bulgaria

BGN

GBP
USD

Canada

CAD

USD

Chile

CLP

EUR
USD

Colombia

COP (bientôt)

Croatia

GBP
USD

Czech Republic

CZK (bientôt)

Denmark

DKK

GBP
USD

Egypt

EGP

EUR
GBP

Spain

GBP
USD

Estonia

GBP
USD

Finland

GBP
USD

France

GBP
USD

French Polynesia

EUR
USD

Georgia

GEL (bientôt)

Germany

GBP
USD

Ghana

EUR
USD

Greece

GBP
USD

Hong Kong

HKD

EUR

USD

Hungary

HUF

GBP
USD

Iceland

GBP
USD

India

INR

EUR
USD

Indonesia

IDR

EUR
USD

Ireland

GBP
USD

Italy

GBP
USD

Japan

JPY

EUR
USD

Kazakhstan

EUR
GBP
USD

Kuwait

EUR
GBP
USD

Kyrgyzstan

USD

Latvia

GBP
USD

Liechtenstein

GBP
USD

Lithuania

GBP
USD

Luxembourg

GBP
USD

Malta

GBP
USD

Mexico

MXN

Mongolia

EUR
USD

Netherlands

GBP
USD

New Caledonia

EUR
USD

New Zealand

NZD

EUR
USD

Norway

NOK

GBP
USD

Oman

EUR

Paraguay

EUR
USD

Peru

EUR
USD

Poland

PLN

GBP
USD

Portugal

GBP
USD

Romania

RON

GBP
USD

Saudi Arabia

EUR
GBP

Singapore

SGD

EUR
USD

Slovakia

GBP
USD

Slovenia

GBP
USD

South Korea

KRW

EUR
USD

Sri Lanka

LKR

Sweden

SEK

GBP
USD

Switzerland

CHF

GBP
USD

Taïwan

EUR
USD

United Arab Emirates

AED

EUR
GBP
USD

United-Kingdom

GBP

EUR
USD

United-States

USD

EUR

Uruguay

UYU (bientôt)

EUR
USD

Uzbekistan

EUR
USD

Zambia

EUR
USD


Fees

The fees that will be applied for each transfer are described in the tables below. We distinguish between:

  • Major currencies: €, £, $, CHF, CAD, AUD, DKK, NOK, SEK

  • Other currencies: All other supported currencies not listed above fall under “Other Currencies”.

  • SWIFT SHA (meaning the fees are shared between the originator and the recipient)

  • SWIFT OUR (meaning only the originator supports the fees)

Major Currencies (£/$/€ + CHF, CAD, AUD, DKK, NOK, SEK)

Other Currencies***

SWIFT Payments SHA (Outside Home Region)

SWIFT Payments OUR (Outside Home Region)

FX Fee

1.2%

1.8%

1.8%

1.8%

Fixed fee

€2.50

€5

€7

€20


Troubleshooting Common Issues

  • Transfer Delays: Payments that reach their due date will be in progress and executed upon reach and approval by the beneficiary’s bank, which depends on their cut-off time.

  • Rejection cases:

    • If the payment has been rejected before your account balance has been debited, the transfer will be rejected without any impact on your account balance.

      • Important note: given the FX rate variation:

        • If the total outgoing amount reaches the amount limit due to the FX variation, the payment will be rejected.

        • If the FX variation causes the account balance to not have sufficient funds to support the increased payment amount, the payment will also be rejected.

    • If your account balance has been debited and the payment got rejected:

      • the payment will bounce-back and you’ll be able to see in the history tab that the transfer is “rejected” with a reason code (beneficiary’s account closed, beneficiary details incorrect, etc).

      • Your balance will be credited back:

        • If you have selected a local transfer type (eg. for a transfer to USD, transfer type = ACH or wire), you will be reimbursed with the total amount

        • If you have selected SWIFT as a transfer type, you will be reimbursed with the total amount - SWIFT fees.

  • For returned transactions, please note that the transfer status could have initially been “executed”, which means it has reached the beneficiary’s bank, but once they receive the transfer, they can still reject it, turning the status into “bounce back”.

  • Contact Support: For unresolved issues, contact Spendesk support for assistance.


FAQ Section

Q: Can we approve transfers from the mobile app, or only from desktop?

A: At this time, you can only approve transfers from the desktop version of Spendesk (via browser, whether on PC or mobile).

Q: What security guarantees exist for international transfers via Spendesk and Wise?

A: Spendesk (via Spendesk Financial Services) is a regulated entity with an ACPR-issued Payment Institution license. Our integration with Wise, which also is a recognized regulated institution, is set up so that all transfers are performed using our own license, ensuring that the same regulatory obligations apply for both euro and foreign currency transfers. We adhere to the strict regulatory requirements of France and the Eurozone.

Q: Are the funds covered by the French Deposit Guarantee Scheme (FGDR) like with traditional banks?

Yes, thanks to a new safeguarding agreement, the FGDR (French Deposit Guarantee Scheme) applies individually to each of our clients, not just to our regulated entity as a whole. This means your funds are protected in line with the FGDR rules.

Q: What if I enter the wrong beneficiary details?

A: Incorrect details can lead to failed transfers. Always double-check information.

If a transfer is sent to an incorrect beneficiary account (i.e., a typo in the account number or IBAN), the recipient bank will not recognize the account and will return the funds to you. In that case, you will be reimbursed automatically for the failed transfer.

If you realize an error after initiating a transfer, please contact the support as soon as possible.

Q: How does it work for non-SEPA transfers – local rails vs SWIFT?

  • Local rails: For most currencies and countries (e.g., USD to the US, SGD to Singapore, INR to India), payments are routed through local payment systems via Wise. This minimizes intermediaries, enables fast settlement (95% within one day), and ensures transparent costs.

  • SWIFT: Used only when local rails aren't available, such as for USD outside the US, EUR outside SEPA, or GBP outside the UK. SWIFT payments may involve multiple intermediary banks, which can slow transfers and add additional, sometimes unpredictable, fees.

    • When making a payment to USD, GBP or EUR, we recommend to always choose the local payment rail rather than SWIFT when possible, by attempting to convert the IBAN into a sort code or account number.

Q: How do I activate international transfers on Spendesk?

A: To activate the feature, make sure you have provided the additional information requested (UBOs and directors’ country of residence). Once these are provided, the feature will be accessible. You simply need to have an eligible international invoice in the schedule phase and fill out the recipient form to enable the option “Pay from Spendesk”.

Q: Are transfer fees paid by the sender or the recipient?

  • Local rails: You pay the transfer fees. With Wise, these are transparent and typically lower than traditional banks, as we do not apply a mark-up on the FX rate.

  • SWIFT: If the payment is made via SWIFT, fee allocation depends on the currency and route:

    • EUR and GBP: Fees are shared between you and your recipient.

    • USD: you pay all fees.

Q: Are there any hidden fees?

A: No hidden fees except for SWIFT transfer type, even through not systematic as it depends on the number of intermediary banks involved. Please be aware that this is not under our control, as we don’t have visibility over which intermediary bank is involved in the process and how much do they charge for the transfer.

Q: How can I track my transfer?

A: You can track the status of your transfer in the Invoices > History or in All expenses section of your Spendesk dashboard. In the History page, you can open the payment detail and check the precise delivery time.

By following these steps and guidelines, you can efficiently manage international wire transfers within Spendesk, ensuring your global financial operations are both secure and smooth.

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