Arrival time estimatorBeta

When will your cross-border payment actually arrive?

International payments rarely move in a straight line. They travel through a chain of correspondent banks, each with its own cut-off times and holidays. We estimate the typical arrival window between two specific banks in a given currency, from real completed payments we have tracked.

The problem

Why cross-border payments take time

There is no single global network that carries your money from end to end. A cross-border payment is a relay.

When you send money abroad, your bank usually does not hold an account with the beneficiary bank. So the payment is handed from one bank to the next through a chain of correspondent banks, institutions that hold accounts with each other and pass the funds along until they reach the destination.

Sender bankYour bank
CorrespondentIntermediary 1
CorrespondentIntermediary 2
Receiver bankTheir bank

Every extra bank in the chain is another handoff, and another place the payment can wait.

Long correspondent chains

The longer the chain, the more banks have to receive, book and release the payment. Each intermediary adds processing time, and a single slow bank in the middle sets the pace for the whole payment.

Cut-offs and banking calendars

A payment that misses a bank cut-off waits for the next business day. Weekends and local public holidays along the route, and in the currency itself, push the arrival day out further.

Compliance and screening

Banks screen payments against sanctions and watchlists. A name that looks close to a listed entity can trigger a manual review, and that review can hold a payment for hours or days.

Currency and clearing

The currency decides which clearing system and which calendar the payment settles on. A currency that has to clear through its home country adds another leg, and another day, to the route.

What we have built

Tools to help you navigate the chain

We have spent a long time making cross-border payments less of a black box. Three of those tools work together on exactly the questions above.

Sanctions and watchlist screening

Screen a name, company, vessel or aircraft against 300+ global lists before you send. If a counterparty name is close to a sanctioned record, you find out first, instead of learning it from a payment that quietly went on hold.

Open screening

Ohm, your payments assistant

Ohm is our AI assistant, equipped with trade-restriction knowledge and correspondent banking data. Ask which banks are likely to sit in a route, whether a corridor faces restrictions, or where a stuck payment might be waiting.

Meet Ohm
New Beta

Arrival time estimator

The newest piece: name two banks and a currency, and get the typical time a payment takes between them. It replaces the generic "1 to 3 business days" answer with a window drawn from payments we have actually seen complete.

Estimate arrival time
How it works

From two banks to a real arrival window

No black-box magic and no guesswork. The estimate is built from evidence, and it tells you how much evidence there is.

Name the route

You give the sender bank, the receiver bank and the currency. That is all it needs.

Match real payments

We look at completed SWIFT payments we have tracked between those banks, and how long each one actually took.

Account for the route and calendar

We factor in the likely correspondent chain and project the timing onto the banking calendar of the currency, so weekends and holidays are already counted.

Show the window

You get a typical arrival day, the slower tail, and how many payments the answer is based on.

An estimate you can trust

A window, not a promise

We would rather give you an honest range than a confident number we cannot stand behind. So every estimate is built to be checked, and it never hides its limits.

  • Built from real completed payments we have tracked, not a flat rule of thumb.
  • Every answer states its sample size, so you can see how much data stands behind it. A thin sample is labelled as such.
  • A window is a probability. Around 1 in 10 payments takes longer than the window, and we say so on the result.
  • It flags known-slow correspondent banks on the route, and corridors where screening delays are common.
  • The tool is currently in beta, and we keep tuning it against fresh outcomes.
FAQ

Questions people ask

Why do cross-border payments take so long?

There is no single global network that moves money end to end. Most international payments hop through a chain of correspondent banks, and each hop has its own cut-off times, banking calendar and compliance checks. The more intermediaries in the chain, the more handoffs there are, and the more places a payment can wait.

Where do the numbers come from?

From real SWIFT payments we have tracked to completion between the banks you name, projected onto the banking calendar of the currency and adjusted for the likely correspondent route. The estimate is statistical, and every answer states how many payments it is based on.

Is the estimate a guarantee?

No. An arrival window is a probability, not a promise. Around 1 in 10 payments takes longer than the window, and we show that on every result. The estimator is currently in beta.

Do I need an account?

Yes. The estimator lives inside the app, so you sign in or create a free account first, then run as many estimates as you like.

Already tracking a specific payment?

If you are tracking a payment already, the estimator can condition on its current status and the time that has passed, and answer how much longer it should take. Start from tracking, then check the arrival window. Track a payment

See when your payment should land

Name two banks and a currency, and get a data-backed arrival window drawn from payments we have watched complete.