Paying a Latvian supplier: diacritics in the name and in SWIFT, registration number and PVN, bank questions on the origin of goods and documents to answer them.
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 quoteLatvia trades with Russian companies less than before, and the range of items is narrow. The most common items in our requests are timber and wood products, food, medicines, software and licenses, and among services, storage, freight forwarding and consulting. Latvian companies issue foreign trade invoices in euros: the country has been in the euro area since 2014. Dollars appear when the supplier resells goods from a third country.
Latvian companies’ terms are simple. Sawmills and woodworkers work on prepayment for each batch, warehouses and forwarders invoice monthly, developers and consultants against completion certificates for each stage. The difficulties start not with the terms but with the beneficiary’s bank.
Since 2018 Latvian banks have almost stopped serving foreign companies without real business in the country, and their payment checks have become some of the strictest in the EU. On top of the common EU restrictions, Latvia has introduced its own, including ones concerning the origin of goods. Hence the typical questions the bank asks your supplier: where the goods come from, who the end buyer is, why the buyer in the contract is not the one paying, what confirms the service.
The supplier answers them, but a document pack for these questions can be put together before the payment. What to include:
The Latvian alphabet uses letters with diacritics: ā, č, ē, ģ, ī, ķ, ļ, ņ, š, ž. They appear in the register and on the company seal, but SWIFT payment messages do not have them, and the bank writes plain Latin letters. So Kokapstrāde becomes Kokapstrade in the payment. That is fine if the name otherwise matches.
Legal forms: SIA for a limited liability company, AS for a joint-stock company. The registration number from the Register of Enterprises has eleven digits, and the VAT number (PVN) is LV plus the same number. A Latvian IBAN starts with LV and has 21 characters.
We check each payment to Latvia separately: for the specific beneficiary, goods and bank we look in our pool for an agent whose lawful route to Latvia is open on the payment date. If there is no such agent, we tell you so before you transfer your roubles. We charge nothing for declining.
If there is one, the euro exchange rate and the fee are written into the payment order, and you transfer the roubles. On request, they wait in a special escrow account at a Russian bank until the money is credited, for an additional fee. You pay VEDmost nothing on top: the broker is paid by the agent. The execution period is written in the agency agreement, but it is sensible to build a margin into the delivery schedule from Latvia for questions from the beneficiary’s bank.
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.
SWIFT payment messages do not support Latvian diacritics, so such letters are replaced with plain Latin ones. What matters is that the rest of the spelling matches the documents.
In the Register of Enterprises, by the eleven-digit registration number. A Latvian company's VAT number (PVN) is LV plus the same number.
Latvia has introduced national restrictions on top of EU rules, including ones related to the origin of goods. The bank checks that the deal does not fall under them. A certificate of origin resolves most questions.
Yes, if the service is not prohibited and the contract describes it specifically. For services, attach a completion certificate for the stage: the beneficiary's Latvian bank may ask for it.
Yes, if the account is held in the name of the same company as in the contract. The first letters of the IBAN show the bank's country, and we then check the route for that country.
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.