Citibank Wire Transfer: Fill & Download for Free

Wire Transfers between two banks is essentially not too complex. To understand the whole concept of wire transfer, you need to understand the different types of Wire Transfers:Domestic Inter-bank Transfers (within the country transfer from one bank to another)Domestic Intra-bank Transfers (within the country and transferring from one bank branch to another)International Inter-bank Transfers (probably the most common/famous bank transfer, whereby funds are transferred from one bank in one country to another bank in another country)International Intra-bank Transfers (transferring of money within the same bank, but in a different country)Domestic Inter-Bank Funds TransferThis depends on how the setup is in each country. It can be done via RTGS (See Wiki on RTGS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Time_Gross_Settlement) or via a local Automated Clearing House or even a localized Financial Network or Switch. Essentially, banks are members of a network (secure, closed network) that essentially allows banks to net off or send payments to each other and exchange beneficiary details. Some old-school (read: not technologically advance countries) still do this manually by exchanging physical cheques and then settling them. Whilst, most of the modern and even developing economies have some form of an exchange / network to connect to and settle. The United States, for example uses ACH for this purpose.Intra-Bank Funds Transfers (Domestic)For Intra-Bank Transfers the procedure is very simple. Most banks will simply instruct their core banking software to do an FT (Funds Transfer), which essentially means debit one account holder and credit the other account holder.Intra-Bank Funds Transfers (International)When the same Intra-Bank transfer is done internationally, banks in both the remitting country and the beneficiary country have to follow laws in their respective countries for reporting the same to the financial services authority / central banks on the money in-flow/out-flow (see more below on the different types of reporting).Inter-Bank Funds Transfer (International)On the International transfers, for Inter-bank transfers, banks usually use the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) network. Think of SWIFT as the common denominator (or network) to connect any two banks. Sometimes two banks may have a direct arrangement (for example, a transfer from Citibank NYC (US) to Deutsche Bank Karachi (PK) have a direct arrangement, and hence the transfer will be done via the SWIFT network, without the interaction or involvement of an intermediary bank, commonly referred to as a correspondent bank.In the event a direct relationship is not available, banks have arrangements with each other (via Nostro Accounts).So for example, if Sunbank out of Orlando Florida (US) needs to send money to Mr. XYZ at Askari Bank in Lahore (Pakistan), the two banks here: Sunbank and Askari Bank certainly do not have a working arrangement.Via SWIFT Sunbank can easily see that Askari Bank has an arrangement with Deutsche Bank NYC as a direct arrangement. IF Sunbank has a direct arrangement with Deutsche Bank - via a Nostro Account, they will simply send an instruction and the money to Deutsche Bank and and then Deutsche Bank NYC will accept the funds, minus its correspondent banking fees, and forward the money to Deutsche Bank (Karachi).If Sunbank does not have a direct arrangement, they will ask Deutsche Bank for the bank account used for on-ward funds transfer and simply do a local wire transfer (ACH) which can take up to 2 days to clear.Because Askari Bank and Deutsche Bank (Pakistan) have an arrangement, the funds come into the nostro account of Askari Bank in Deutsche Bank Pakistan. Askari Bank now has your money from Sunbank Orlando Florida. At the end-of-the-day settlement of Nostro account, the incoming money is transferred into the appropriate central account of Askari Bank and which will then do a FT (Funds Transfer) of the money to your account.In this case, Deutsche Bank (Pakistan) may deduct correspondent bank fees and your bank may do the same. All in all, it is not unusual for mid-bank deductions to be in the vicinity of US$ 25 to say US$ 75 per transaction.Reporting - is a very essential element of wire transfer business. Depending on the country (each has its own set of requirements), such reporting includes essentially:KYC (Know Your Customer) ReportSource of Funds Reporting (if Cash was induced into the source end of the transactions)AML (Anti-Money Laundering) Report (specifically velocity checks)SAR/CTR (Suspicious Activity Report / Currency Transaction Report)OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control - predominantly practiced by the US) and in other countries they may have their own check lists to see if the funds are being transferred To/From people on a given checklist.Threshold Reporting (reporting on amounts that exceed a specific monetary value in a given number of days, usually US$ 10,000 in the last 30-day window)Workers Remittance Reporting.Any other reporting as required by law or internal policies in the country the Bank is operating out of.See also:Faisal Khan's answer to How does a remittance money transfer work? What are all the steps and who is involved?Faisal Khan's answer to What exactly happens when money is sent via Western Union versus a company like XOOM? What is the difference?Faisal Khan's answer to How does the settlement of payments work in banks? Specifically, how do payment systems that are connected to multiple banks actually settle the amount between two banks?Some references:NOSTRO & VOSTRO Accounts: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostro_and_vostro_accountsSociety for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) - http://www.swift.com/eHow - How Does International Wire Transfer Work: http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5162421_international-wire-transfer-work.htmlThe Answer Bank - What is a SWIFT Payment: http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/How-it-Works/article/what-is-swift-payment/Progress: What is SWIFT (Good article to read): http://www.progress.com/en/business-need/about_swift.htmlSWIFT Message Implementation Guide (PDF): http://www.swift.com/solutions/by_customer/corporates/overview/ssmtig.pdfSWIFT - List of Messages (PDF): http://www.swift.com/resources/documents/standards_inventory_of_messages.pdf

Assuming you're transferring money in the range of $10k to $100k then the best option is to wire transfer the money to an Indonesian bank account. I recommend Bank Buana because the daily cash withdrawal limit is $5000. Then you withdraw the cash every day. Then you go to an independent money exchange firm because their rate is usually much better than the banks.As a side note: I don't recommend using Citibank Global Transfer even though there is no wire transfer fee. Why?1.) You must have an Indonesian Citibank account and overseas Citibank account.2.) The entry level USD savings account in Citibank Indonesia requires you to deposit at least 50 million rupiah. Otherwise a service charge will apply.3.) Even though you can transfer all your money to Citibank Indonesia for free, Citibank Indonesia has a cash withdrawal limit of $500/day. Above this, they'll charge 1.5% fee per withdrawal (exorbitant).4.) There is no limit if you withdraw Rupiah, but their rate is not the best.So wire transfer is easy and convenient. Actually Andrian Kurniady said the cheapest wire transfer fee is $7. Mine cost at least $20. Do you mind sharing what wire service do you use?

You can, Inter-Bank Funds Transfer is available with all banks (almost), you just need to let them know that you wish to do a funds transfer (each bank has their own taxonomy on what to call it).Most banks use the Federal Reserve Wire Transfer (aka FedWire), which is an RTGS system or CHIPS. Settlement on both these are near-realtime and are credited to your account the same day.Some smaller banks don't participate in the RTGS and prefer to work with 3rd party processors or just deal with ACH (in which case, funds settlement can take 2 days).References:FedWire (Wiki): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FedwireFedWire and National Settlement Services: http://www.newyorkfed.org/aboutthefed/fedpoint/fed43.htmlRTGS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Time_Gross_SettlementCHIPS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearing_House_Interbank_Payments_SystemACH: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_clearing_houseCitibank, Well-Fargo are both members of CHIPS and offer this service:Wells-Fargo (FAQs - Transfers): https://www.wellsfargo.com/help/faqs/transfers_faqsCitibank Wire (Funds) Transfer - Domestic: https://online.citibank.com/US/JRS/pands/detail.do?ID=WireTransfers