How to pay a supplier in Hungary: forints or euros, a 28-character IBAN instead of the domestic number, moved working days. Rate and fee known before debit.
Estimate the minimum fee
The final fee and rate are fixed in the payment order
Minimum amount: 10,000 USD or equivalent
This is a minimum, not an offer or a rate lock. The final figure depends on the country, amount and the banks involved and is fixed in the payment order.
Request a quoteThe main items: medicines and active substances, medical devices, corn and sunflower seeds, breeding poultry, wine, components for machinery and farm equipment, laboratory reagents. Besides goods, Hungarian engineering companies and laboratories are paid for design, testing and certification.
Hungary has been in the EU since 2004 but has kept its own currency, the forint (HUF). Hungarian exporters usually issue their invoices (számla) in euros. Many companies have several accounts: a forint account for the domestic market, and a euro and sometimes a dollar account for exports. If euros go to a forint account, the receiving bank will recalculate them at its own rate, and the amount will differ from the invoice.
Domestically, the account number is written as two or three groups of eight digits. An incoming international payment needs an IBAN: the letters HU, two check digits and the same 24 digits. The bank’s BIC is needed with it.
Every company in Hungary has a registration number in the company register (cégjegyzékszám) and a tax number (adószám), and for deals within the EU also a VAT number starting with HU. The register is public, and before you sign the agency agreement we use it to check the name, the legal form and the address. Forms you will come across: Kft., Zrt., Nyrt., Bt.
The Hungarian letters ő, ű and á are not carried in an international transfer. The name is written in Latin letters without diacritics, and that is normal. What matters is that the other letters and the company form match the contract.
Hungary applies the common EU restrictions on trade with Russia. There are goods a Hungarian supplier has no right to sell, and payment will not change that. Beneficiaries’ banks look closely at incoming payments from Russia and ask what the money is for. We check the subject against the invoice before you transfer your roubles. We draft the payment reference with you: contract number, invoice number, and the goods in the same words as in the document.
We choose an agent from the pool whose route in euros or forints to the Hungarian beneficiary’s bank works on the payment date. Its rate and fee appear in the payment order before you transfer anything. If you need a guarantee, the roubles wait in a special escrow account at a Russian bank until the supplier has the currency. This scheme is on request and for an additional fee. You don’t pay VEDmost separately: our fee comes from the agent.
Besides the regular holidays (March 15, Good Friday and Easter Monday, May 1, Whit Monday, August 20, October 23, November 1, Christmas), Hungary moves working days. If a holiday falls on a Tuesday or a Thursday, the adjacent Monday or Friday becomes a day off, and one of the Saturdays is declared a working day instead. A payment sent before such a long weekend will reach the supplier after it. The moved dates are published in advance, so they are easy to take into account when you agree the payment deadline with the supplier.
Five steps, the same for every country. Country specifics are described above.
Beneficiary's country, amount, currency, the invoice and the contract or bill, your company's and the beneficiary's details. We review the request before any documents are signed.
We select a network company and a route and prepare the documents. You sign an agency agreement with that company, which sets the execution period, and a payment order: amount, exchange rate and fee. All of this before you transfer your roubles.
You transfer roubles to the network company from your account at a Russian bank. If you need a guarantee, they wait for execution in a special escrow account, for an additional fee.
The agent sends the currency to the beneficiary under this payment order. A sub-agent is engaged only with your consent. The route does not change without a payment order.
We send you the payment confirmation, and a SWIFT confirmation on request. Then the completion certificate, the agent's report and the currency control package. The deal is not closed until the currency has been sent to the beneficiary.
If you need a guarantee, the payment goes through a special escrow account at a Russian bank: the roubles wait there until the agent sends the currency to the beneficiary and are released only upon execution. This scheme carries an additional fee, shown in the quote before the agreement.
The agent executes the payment within 3 business days: the period is written into the agency agreement.
If the beneficiary's bank accepts payment only from a specific payer, the agent engages a sub-agent. Only with your consent. Your agency agreement does not change.
For large volumes, on request, we assign an agent backed by a large exporter's surety; some companies in our network have one. It can be combined with escrow.
Tell us the rate you pay now or send your current agent’s documents. We’ll calculate the all-in cost with the FX markup and charges and look for a lower rate in our network. If there isn’t one, we’ll say so. The comparison is free.
No. This is the domestic Hungarian format. A transfer from Russia needs a 28-character IBAN starting with HU and the bank's BIC. They are usually printed at the bottom of the invoice or sent by the accounts department in a separate email.
Not necessarily. The country's currency is the forint; Hungary has not adopted the euro. Export invoices are mostly issued in euros, but some are in forints. Payment goes out in the invoice currency, and we check that the IBAN belongs to an account in the same currency.
An international transfer carries Latin letters without diacritics, so ő is written as o and ű as u. Banks accept this. The other letters and the company form, for example Kft. or Zrt., must match the contract.
Hungary moves working days so that a holiday joins up with the weekend. Certain Saturdays become working days, and the weekday next to the holiday becomes a day off. Take such dates into account when planning a payment: the execution period is set in the agency agreement.
Describe the payment. We'll reply with a proposed route and terms. We name the agent in advance, and the rate and fee go into the payment order before your roubles are debited.