A telegraphic transfer is simply an international money payment made from one bank account to another. These days it's more commonly known as a wire transfer or electronic funds transfer (EFT).
The reason it's called a telegraphic transfer is because historically the transfer request was communicated between banks via telegram.
When you want to send money from your Australian bank account to an account in a different country, your transfer is processed via a network of banks known as the SWIFT system.
Short for Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, SWIFT is an international intra-bank messaging system that was designed to help make international bank payments more standardised and accurate.
When you submit a telegraphic transfer, your bank will move the money through other banks on the SWIFT network that is has a pre-existing commercial relationship with, also known as "correspondent banking" relationships.
Depending on where you're sending the money to, this process may involve more than one bank.
Each correspondent bank may take a cut of the money to cover processing fees and may take a day or two to process the payment, which is why telegraphic transfers can be slower and more expensive than a money transfer service.
There are two main reasons why banks can only pass money through other correspondent banks:
Say you wanted to send money from your Australian bank account to a relative's Italian bank account via telegraphic transfer.
Here is what the process may look like:
To make a telegraphic transfer, you will need to do the following:
| Response | |
|---|---|
| Money transfer specialist (eg. TorFX or Western Union) | 48.89% |
| Bank | 41.11% |
| Other | 10% |
The fees you pay for a telegraphic transfer will depend on where you're trying to send the money and how many banks are involved in wiring the money to the recipient's account.
Here's a breakdown of the fees you might need to pay:
When you initiate your transfer, you'll often be given the choice of paying these fees yourself or having them deducted from the receiver's funds.
To send a telegraphic transfer, you'll need to provide the following:
Using an international money transfer service can often be quicker and cheaper than sending money via a telegraphic transfers. You can compare transfer services below:
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