International settlements broker

An international settlements broker does not transfer money abroad itself. It works with its own network of vetted payment agents and, for each payment, chooses the one whose route to the required destination is working now. The client gets not a single channel but a choice from a pool.

How it differs from an agent and a bank

A bank makes a payment if it has correspondents in the required country and currency. If it does not, the payment will not go through. A payment agent pays on the client’s behalf through its own infrastructure, but it has one network and its own terms. A broker selects from its own network the agent and the route that fit the specific payment. If a route closes, the broker switches to another agent from the pool. More details: Broker, agent or bank.

What the broker does in a deal

• Selects the agent and the route for the country, currency and amount.
• Makes sure the terms are written down before the roubles are debited: the execution time in the agency agreement, and the exchange rate and the fee in the payment order for each payment.
• On request, arranges escrow: the roubles wait for execution in a special account at a Russian bank, for an additional fee.
• Prepares the agency agreement and the payment order, and puts the payment confirmation and the agent’s report and completion certificate into the currency control package.
• Monitors execution and answers questions from the bank and the supplier.

Who pays the broker

The broker’s fee is paid by the executing agent. The client does not pay the broker separately. The client can tell us its current rate: we’ll look for a lower rate in our pool; if we can’t find one, we’ll say so.

What to watch for

Ask who you are signing the agreement with, where the execution time is written and what happens to the money before execution. The agent engages a sub-agent only with your consent. How the work runs step by step is described on the How it works page.