There’s little doubt that banking has improved immeasurably across the globe, but when we’re sending money from country 1 to country 2, do we really understand what is going on along with the timing and risks involved?

Suppose you’re sending money from a Thai bank account back to the UK.

The funds will start in a Thai bank account in the local currency.

You will send a request for the transfer, but the funds won’t come directly to your bank – nor will it happen with any sense of speed.

The funds will initially be sent to a correspondent bank – the timing of this will depend when the instruction is received.

Depending on the bank used, there may need to be a 2nd correspondent bank, incurring both time and fees.

The funds will then be sent to a UK based account, so that GBP can then be transferred to the beneficiary account in the UK.

Each stage will incur a fee. There will also be issues of timing – banks only operating during “normal working hours” and difference in time-zones will mean that at many stages, the transaction will simply be “in transit” as the corresponding banks are not in work hours.

Finally there is the issue of certainty – has the transaction made it to each stage? Naturally one hopes so, but until the receiving bank positively confirms then it will be a matter of trust – there will be no formal messaging for up to 3x days.