Paying a Dutch seller from Russia: euros to an 18-character IBAN, KvK checks, questions from the seller's bank, euro non-settlement days. Terms set 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 quoteFor a Russian buyer, the Netherlands means agriculture and food first of all: vegetable and flower seeds, planting material, seed potatoes, greenhouse equipment and climate systems, food ingredients, cocoa products, filling and packaging lines.
The second stream is goods from other countries sold by Dutch distributors from warehouses around Rotterdam. In such a deal the seller is Dutch, while the factory may be in Germany, Belgium or Asia. The payment goes to the seller named in the contract. Cut flowers are usually bought from a Dutch exporter, who in turn buys them at auction.
The Netherlands uses the euro. Dutch companies invoice almost exclusively in euros; dollars turn up in commodity trading. The Dutch IBAN is short, 18 characters: the letters NL, two check digits, a four-letter bank code and a ten-digit account number. The bank’s BIC is given next to it.
The invoice usually shows the trade register number (KvK, eight digits) and the VAT number (BTW-id). The register is public: it shows whether the company is active and who manages it. Legal forms: B.V. for a private company, N.V. for a public company, V.O.F. for a partnership.
Under Dutch anti-money laundering law, a bank must look into unusual incoming payments. A transfer from Russia often falls into this category. The bank writes to the beneficiary, who explains what the money is for. The closer the payment reference is to the contract and the invoice, the faster the seller will answer, so we draft the reference text with you at the request stage.
Seeds, planting material, medicines and medical devices can generally be sold to Russia. Fresh vegetables, fruit, meat and dairy products from the EU are blocked by Russia’s countermeasures. Equipment, electronics and chemicals are more complicated: many items are on EU prohibition lists, and then the supplier has no right to ship them. We check this against the specification before you transfer your roubles.
One more thing specific to the Netherlands: fraudsters often send fake emails about a change of bank account. If the seller sends a new IBAN, we check it against the contract and ask for a confirmation signed by the director before putting it into the payment order.
We check which agent in our pool sends euros to your beneficiary’s bank in the Netherlands on the payment date, and prepare a payment order to that agent for you. The conversion rate and the agent’s fee are set out in the payment order, which you sign before the debit. If you need a guarantee, the roubles wait in a special escrow account at a Russian bank until the euros are credited to the seller: this scheme is on request and for an additional fee. You don’t pay separately for our work: the agent pays the broker.
With a new buyer from outside the EU, Dutch suppliers often work on full prepayment. Greenhouse and production line projects are paid in stages: an advance, a second amount at shipment, the last one after installation. Seeds and ingredients are bought seasonally: one contract and a separate payment order for each invoice.
Euro settlements do not run on days when the TARGET system is closed: January 1, Good Friday, Easter Monday, May 1, December 25 and 26. A payment sent the day before will arrive on the next working day.
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.
KvK: the company's eight-digit number in the public trade register. BTW-id: the VAT number, which starts with NL and ends with B and two digits. We use both numbers to check the seller against the contract before you sign the agency agreement.
The seller named in the contract. For the bank, this is an ordinary resale if the contract and the invoice come from the same Dutch company and the origin of the goods is clear from the specification or the pro forma invoice.
Dutch anti-money laundering law requires the bank to look into unusual incoming payments, and a transfer from Russia often falls into that category. The supplier answers faster if the payment reference repeats the contract and the invoice.
On days when the TARGET settlement system is closed: January 1, Good Friday, Easter Monday, May 1, December 25 and 26. A transfer sent the day before is credited on the next working day.
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.