International Payments

An International Payment is a payment to a beneficiary located in a foreign country using a real-time foreign currency exchange rate. For BOQ all International Payments must be sent to a beneficiary's bank account.

To perform an International Payment, you will need the following:

• a BOQ Security Token
• be able to perform Pay Anyone transactions
• if you have not previously completed an International/RTGS payment via a branch/Internet Banking for the account you wish to make the payment from, you will need to register this account for International/RTGS Payments.

The registration process can be completed through Internet Banking. After you have logged on to Internet Banking, click the International Transfer menu and then click the Register Accounts button. Then select the accounts you wish to register and then click Submit.

This account registration request will be processed within 2 business days.

Please Note: You will receive a secure mail after the account registration request has been completed.

If you do not have either a BOQ Security Token or cannot perform Pay Anyone transactions please contact your nearest branch.

The delegated user's access to complete International Payments is dependant upon their Pay Anyone Access Rights for the account which is registered for International/RTGS Payments. 

For example if the delegated user has been given access to an account which is registered for International/RTGS Payments, and has the "CreateView" access for Pay Anyone transactions related to this account, then this delegated user will be able to create International Payments (which will require further authorisation) and view all the International Payment details provided on the International Payment and Beneficiaries tabs.

If an International Payment request is received by Treasury and International Operations before the currency cut off time, it will be sent on the same day. If it is received after the currency cut off time, it will be sent on the following business day in Brisbane. Once the payment has been sent from BOQ the time it takes to reach the beneficiary will depend on the country, the time zone and the efficiency of the overseas bank in processing the payment. Generally, most beneficiaries in most countries could expect to receive the funds within 1-3 business days.

Some countries, for example India, often take longer than 1-3 business days to process payments.

Any BOQ transactional or on-call savings account. 

It is not possible to make an International Payment from a Credit Card, Home Loan, Personal Loan, Term Deposit or Trust Account.

The following charges apply to International Payments made via Internet Banking:

For additional information please refer to the Fees and Charges guides available on the Terms & Conditions page.

Please be aware that overseas banks may also deduct fees and charges from the payment and that the amount the beneficiary receives may therefore be less than what you originally sent.

International Payments are only processed if the amount is equal to or greater than 100 Australian Dollars.

A BIC is sometimes referred to as a SWIFT Code. The BIC is an alpha numeric code which is used to identify banks around the world. It is either 8 or 11 characters long. For BOQ our BIC or SWIFT Code is QBANAU4B. You can obtain the BIC from your beneficiary.

The maximum amount that can be used in an individual International Payment is 250,000 Australian Dollars or the foreign currency equivalent.

Please Note: All International Payments are counted as part of your Daily Pay Anyone limit. Your daily limit is equal to the Daily Limits package you are currently on.

You can alter your Limits Package from within Internet Banking via the Transfers & BPAY screen. Just select Change Daily Limit on this screen.

Please Note: As a security precaution there is a two calendar day delay between requesting an increased Limits Package and the new limit being available. The limit increase is immediate if requested in your local BOQ branch. Limit reductions take effect immediately.

The table below shows the limit packages available:

These Pay Anyone and BPAY daily limits are pre-set pairs as outlined above. Pay Anyone and BPAY limits can not be selected separately. For example, $2,500 Pay Anyone and $50,000 BPAY limit is not a valid limit combination.

You can complete an International payment via Internet Banking from 7:00 a.m. Monday (Brisbane time) to 5:00 p.m. Friday (Brisbane time). If you attempt to complete an International Payment outside this time window, you will receive the "Trading Desk is Closed" message on Internet Banking.

The table below lists the currency cut off times of International Payments. If you miss the relevant currency cut off time, your International Payment will be processed on the next business day. Please note that the currency cut off times are based on Sydney time.

The International Bank Account Number (IBAN) is an international standard for identifying bank accounts across national borders.

The following are examples of IBANs:

• Greek IBAN: GR16 0110 1050 0000 1054 7023 795
• British IBAN: GB35 MIDL 4025 3432 1446 70
• Swiss IBAN: CH51 0868 6001 2565 1500 1

An IBAN is required to ensure proper routing of International Payments to many countries including the European Union. We are unable to process your International Payment to some countries without a valid IBAN.

An IBAN is required to ensure correct routing of International Payments. We may be unable to process your International Payment to some countries without a valid IBAN. If the IBAN or BIC is missing or incorrect, a charge may be applied by the beneficiary bank and your transaction may be rejected. Beneficiary bank charges may be deducted from your payment or charged back to you.

You will need to contact your beneficiary for their IBAN (the IBAN is provided to the beneficiary by their bank).

Yes, the ‘Beneficiaries’ page in the ‘Intl Payments / RTGS’menu contains a list of previous beneficiaries used for previous International Payments. This will include any payments you have previously performed at a branch. If you click on the action button for the beneficiary, then select ‘Pay Beneficiary’, the ‘Enter International Payment’ screen will pre-populate with the selected beneficiary's details.

Also, on the Enter International Payment screen you can select a previous beneficiary used from the Select Beneficiary dropdown box..

Please Note: If an International Payment has been completed with a beneficiary that has not been used before, this beneficiary will not appear on the Beneficiary tab or in the Select Beneficiary drop-down box until the relevant International Payment has been processed by BOQ Treasury & International Operations.

Yes, ‘International Payments History’ in the ‘Intl Payments / RTGS’ menu, contains a list of previous international payments completed. If you click on the action button of the prior International Payment and then click on the Copy button, the Enter International Payment screen will pre-populate with the selected payment's details (including the from account used and the beneficiary details).

The Australian dollar equivalent of the International Payment will be debited from your account immediately. The amount debited will also include the payment fee. The amount of the payment fee will be noted in the transaction description.

The International Payment request is viewable in ‘International Payments History’ in the ’Intl Payments / RTGS’ menu. This is available for immediate viewing within the Internet Banking session in which the Interanational Payment was requested. It is also available in subsequent Internet Banking sessions.

If the beneficiary has not received the International Payment, you should first clarify whether the correct bank and bank account information was used in the payment. You will need to check these details with the beneficiary.

If the correct details were used, then it's most likely that there has been a delay in the processing of the payment after it has been sent by BOQ. You should ask the beneficiary if they have checked with their bank as to whether the payment has arrived but not yet processed. If it has not arrived then it may be worth waiting another day or you can request for BOQ to Trace the payment which incurs a fee. It's very rare for payments to go missing if correct details are used.

If incorrect details have been used, the payment may be on its way back to BOQ as a rejected payment, in which case we will contact you on its return. If it is not returned we can send a message to the beneficiary's bank amending the details of the payment. There is a fee for this service.

Generally, most beneficiaries in most countries could expect to receive the funds within 1-3 business days. Some countries, for example India, often take longer than 1-3 business days to process payments.

For additional information on Trace fees please refer to the Fees and Charges guides available on the Terms & Conditions page.

The Foreign Exchange Calculator displays after the ‘FX Calculator’ option is selected from the ‘Intl Payments / RTGS’ menu. This calculator allows you to convert foreign currencies to and from Australian Dollars (AUD) based on current exchange rates, but it is only indicative. Your actual exchange rate is displayed when completing a transaction. You will be prompted to accept this rate or cancel during the transaction process.

BOQ uses real time exchange rates and as a result the exchange rates provided will change throughout the day. Therefore it is possible for the exchange rate to change whilst you are using the FX Calculator or completing an International Payment.