International business money transfers: fees, FX and provider options

You’ve just agreed terms with your supplier in Shenzhen. The deposit is due this week, the balance on dispatch, and your bank’s quoted exchange rate looks about right until you check the mid-market rate on your phone and realise you’re paying roughly 3% more than you should.

That gap doesn’t show up as a line-item fee. It’s baked into the rate itself, and on a £10,000 payment it can quietly cost you £300 or more, every single time you pay.

Cross-border payments can cost up to ten times as much as domestic transfers of the same size, and the Bank of England has flagged the unpredictable fees deducted along the traditional correspondent banking chain as a structural problem for businesses, not just an occasional inconvenience. If you’re an established importer making recurring payments to China or wider Asia, that structural cost compounds fast.

This article breaks down what a business money transfer international payment actually involves, where your money leaks away, how banks compare with specialist providers, and what practical steps you can take before your next supplier payment goes out.

Key takeaways:

• FX margins can cost more than transfer fees: compare the exchange rate as well as any visible payment charge before choosing a provider
• Total transfer cost is the better comparison point: FX margins, SWIFT fees and intermediary deductions can make a low-fee transfer more expensive overall
• Double conversion can erode more margin: holding funds in the original currency can avoid an unnecessary second exchange when revenue and supplier costs use different currencies
• Provider structure affects payment speed and pricing: banks and specialist providers use different rails, fee models and FX approaches for international transfers
• International transfers do not create a separate UK tax: tax treatment depends on the underlying income, gain or business transaction rather than the movement of money itself
• WorldFirst supports recurring international supplier payments: businesses can hold multiple currencies, manage FX and pay overseas suppliers, including China-based suppliers, from one account

Open a World Account to compare your true transfer cost against your current bank before your next supplier payment.

What business money transfer international payments actually involve

A business money transfer international payment is any cross-border transaction your company makes or receives for trade purposes, including supplier deposits, balance payments, marketplace payouts and overseas customer invoices. For an established importer, most of this volume is typically outbound, with recurring payments in USD or CNH linked to production and shipping schedules.

SWIFT payments

SWIFT remains the default rail for many bank-to-bank international payments. Payments may pass through one or more correspondent banks before reaching the supplier, which can add fees and make the final amount received less predictable.

SEPA and UK payment rails

SEPA covers euro payments and remains available to UK businesses as a third-country participant after Brexit.

Domestic systems such as Faster Payments, BACS and CHAPS only move money within the UK. They do not handle the overseas leg of a supplier payment, but they can be used to fund an international transfer account from your UK business account.

Local payment networks

Specialist providers can route some international payments through local clearing networks in the destination country instead of relying entirely on the SWIFT correspondent chain. That can make settlement faster and costs more predictable on supported routes.

CNY and CNH payments to China

For importers paying suppliers in mainland China, the currency distinction matters. Suppliers may quote prices in CNY, the onshore yuan, while international payments commonly use CNH, the offshore yuan.

CNH has its own market and liquidity conditions, so a provider with established China payment infrastructure can offer a more direct route for recurring supplier payments than a generalist bank.

Read more: International payment processing: how it works

The true cost of international transfers: it’s not the fee, it’s the margin

The biggest cost in most international business payments is the foreign exchange margin built into the rate you’re quoted, not the transfer fee printed on your statement. High-street banks typically embed a 2% to 5% markup into the exchange rate they offer, meaning you never see the mid-market rate you’d find on a currency converter.

Specialist FX providers, by contrast, tend to operate on much thinner margins, often in the 0.3% to 1% range, because currency exchange is their core business rather than a side service bolted onto current account banking.

Layered on top of that margin sits a set of additional costs that add up quickly:

• SWIFT transfer fees: UK banks typically charge £0-£25 for an online outgoing international transfer, rising to £15-£40 if you process it in branch, while specialist fintech providers usually charge £0-£5 or waive the fee entirely on many routes
• Incoming payment fees: banks commonly charge £2-£7 to receive an international payment into your account, a cost that’s easy to overlook until you’re reconciling dozens of marketplace payouts a month
• Intermediary bank deductions: when a SWIFT payment passes through correspondent banks, each one can deduct £10-£30 along the way, and because these deductions aren’t disclosed upfront, you often only discover the shortfall when your supplier confirms a lower amount received
• Forced or double conversion: if your payment is converted from GBP to USD and then to CNH, for example, you pay a margin on each leg rather than one, and this is one of the most overlooked costs in supplier payments, particularly when a bank automatically converts a receipt into your base currency before you’ve decided how to use it
• Marketplace and payment gateway fees: if you’re collecting through platforms rather than direct bank transfer, FX markups can run from roughly 1.5% on some marketplaces to as much as 3-4% on certain payment gateways, on top of the platform’s own transaction fees

Put together, a UK business sending £10,000 through a traditional bank can expect a combined cost of around 3% to 5%, or roughly £300 to £500, once the FX margin, transfer fee and any intermediary deductions are accounted for. The same transfer through a transparent specialist provider typically costs closer to 0.5% to 1%, or £50 to £100. Marketplace and payment gateway routes can run even higher, often reaching £400 to £600 on the same amount once combined FX and platform fees are included.

The table below compares typical FX margins, transfer fees and approximate total costs for a £10,000 international business payment across four common routes:

The pattern is consistent across every route: the fee you see is rarely the cost that matters. The margin hidden inside the exchange rate, and whether your payment gets converted once or twice, does far more damage to your bottom line than the £20 wire charge you might be haggling over.

Comparing providers: banks, fintechs and multi-currency accounts

Choosing between a bank and a specialist provider comes down to matching the provider to what an established importer actually needs: predictable FX costs, fast settlement, currency holding and access to wider banking services.

High-street banks

High-street banks can make sense if you need international payments alongside domestic banking, lending or trade finance. Key advantages include:

• Broader banking services: lending, overdrafts and trade finance can sit alongside payments
• FSCS protection: eligible deposits receive protection up to the current statutory limit
• Wide currency coverage: HSBC supports 60+ currencies, while Barclays covers 120+
• Established banking relationships: useful for businesses that already rely on bank financing or trade facilities

The trade-off is usually higher FX costs and greater reliance on SWIFT. HSBC typically applies a 2-3% FX margin, while Barclays operates in a similar range. Starling is more competitive at roughly the mid-market rate plus 0.4%, although its multi-currency functionality is more limited than that of a dedicated FX provider.

Read more: Cross-border payment companies: 6 top providers compared 

Fintech and specialist providers

Fintechs and specialist providers tend to compete on FX transparency, lower margins and international payment functionality rather than full banking services.

These providers generally do not offer FSCS deposit protection. Client funds are instead safeguarded under the rules that apply to electronic money institutions.

What importers should compare

For an established importer, the decision usually comes down to four points:

• FX transparency: can you see the rate and margin before confirming the payment?
• Corridor strength: does the provider perform well for the countries and currencies you use most, such as China and wider Asia?
• Currency holding: can you keep received funds in their original currency instead of converting automatically?
• FX risk tools: are forward contracts or rate alerts available for payments planned several weeks ahead?

A bank may still be the better choice for lending, overdrafts or trade finance, while a specialist provider can handle recurring supplier payments and FX separately.

How WorldFirst UK fits into an established importer’s payment stack

For an established UK importer, the cost of an international transfer goes beyond the visible payment fee. A £10,000 supplier payment to China can lose meaningful margin if the exchange rate carries a wide markup or the payment passes through several intermediaries before reaching the supplier.

With a World Account, you can hold and manage 20+ currencies, including GBP, USD, EUR and CNH, and use local receiving details in key markets. If you collect USD from a US marketplace and later need to pay a supplier in CNH, you can keep the USD balance and convert it when you need to make the payment instead of automatically routing the funds through GBP first.

WorldFirst has particular infrastructure for businesses sourcing from China. More than 150,000 Chinese suppliers already receive payments through the network, transfers between World Accounts are free and typically instant, and many China payments carry £0 transfer fees. WorldFirst reports that 95% of payments arrive within hours. UK businesses can also access FX margins of around 0.5%, with an introductory 0.3% rate for new customers for 180 days.

For payments planned further ahead, forward contracts can fix an exchange rate for a future supplier payment, while rate alerts can track the market against a target. The World Card adds another option for operational spending, with 0% FX fees when paying from supported currency balances and up to 1.2% cashback on eligible spend. WorldFirst also offers revenue-based funding, although that sits separately from its core international payments and FX services.

WorldFirst isn’t a bank. You can keep a bank account for domestic banking, lending or trade finance while using the World Account for multi-currency collections, FX management and recurring overseas supplier payments. World First UK Limited is authorised by the FCA as an Electronic Money Institution under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011, FRN 900508. Client funds are safeguarded rather than protected by the FSCS.

Open a World Account to hold multiple currencies, manage FX and pay overseas suppliers from one account.

FAQs

1. What is the best way for businesses to send money internationally?

There’s no single universally cheapest or fastest option, it depends on your corridor, volume and currency needs. For an established importer paying recurring supplier invoices, the best approach is usually a specialist provider or multi-currency account that shows the FX margin upfront, routes payments over local networks rather than a lengthy SWIFT correspondent chain, and lets you hold received currency rather than forcing an immediate conversion.

Look for transparent pricing, genuine strength in your specific trade corridor, and access to forward contracts if you’re managing payments across a multi-week production and shipping cycle.

2. Do I need to pay tax on international money transfers in the UK?

There’s no specific “transfer tax” on the act of sending or receiving an international payment in the UK, according to HMRC’s International Manual. Your tax liability depends on the nature of the underlying income or gain, not the transfer itself.

For UK companies, exchange gains and losses on monetary assets and liabilities are taxed or relieved under the loan relationships rules in Part 5 of the Corporation Tax Act 2009, generally following the tax treatment of the underlying asset or liability, and forming part of trade profit or loss where the funds are held for trade purposes.

The remittance basis, which applies to certain UK resident but non-domiciled individuals, is not relevant to companies and does not apply if you’re deemed domiciled. As always, keep clear records of the exchange rates applied at both the transaction and settlement dates for your accountant.

3. What is the cheapest way of transferring money internationally?

The cheapest option isn’t the one with the lowest headline fee, it’s the one with the lowest total cost once you add the FX margin, transfer fee, and any intermediary deductions together.

A £10,000 payment through a traditional bank can cost £300-£500 in total once the 2-5% FX margin and SWIFT fee are combined, while the same payment through a transparent specialist provider typically costs £50-£100.

To cut costs in practice, compare the amount that actually arrives rather than the fee quoted, hold currencies you receive regularly rather than converting immediately, batch smaller payments where possible, and use forward contracts to lock in a rate ahead of a scheduled supplier payment.

4. Which business bank is best for international wire transfers?

Top international business bank accounts and fintech alternatives split roughly into two camps. Among high-street banks, HSBC offers 60+ currencies and trade finance support at a typical 2-3% FX margin with FSCS-protected deposits, Barclays covers 120+ currencies at a similar margin, and Starling offers a competitive mid-market rate plus roughly 0.4% with a more limited multi-currency toolkit.

Among fintech alternatives, WorldFirst typically charges 0.3-0.5% FX margin with particular strength in the China and Asia supplier corridor, Wise Business charges 0.35-0.75% on the mid-market rate, Airwallex sits around 0.5-1% with API access for larger operations, and Revolut Business offers an all-in-one banking-adjacent toolkit at roughly 0.5-1%.

Sources:

1. https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/payments/cross-border-payments
2. https://www.smallbusinesscoach.org/how-to-avoid-overpaying-on-cross-border-transactions/
3. https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/international-manual/intm700100
4. https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/corporate-finance-manual/cfm61120