Swift & International Transfer Risk
When the money leaves your bank but never arrives at theirs.
Sending money abroad — a house deposit, tuition fees, family support, a supplier invoice or a business settlement — means trusting a chain of banks you never see. Funds can sit with a correspondent bank for weeks, be diverted by a forged change of bank details, or come back short. This cover protects individuals and businesses for international wire transfers from one bank to another while the money is in transit, and for the unrecovered amount once the bank's recall and tracing process has run.
Maximum available limit CAD 20 million, subject to underwriting
Who this cover is for
Individuals and families
Large one-off international transfers where a single failure would be serious.
- Property deposits and purchases abroad
- Tuition and living costs for students overseas
- Regular support to family in another country
- Moving savings or an inheritance between countries
Businesses
Recurring cross-border payments to suppliers, partners and subsidiaries.
- Import and export supplier payments
- Payroll and contractor payments abroad
- Inter-company and treasury transfers
- Trade settlement, including OTC and crypto desks
Six ways a transfer goes wrong
Non-receipt of funds
The transfer is debited, an MT103 confirmation is issued, and the funds never credit the beneficiary. They sit with a correspondent for days or weeks, or come back short after FX and intermediary charges.
Correspondent and intermediary bank failure
A bank in the payment chain fails, freezes, is sanctioned, or is placed into resolution while it holds your funds in transit.
Beneficiary misdirection and payment fraud
A fake email from a lawyer, school, landlord or supplier, invoice fraud or a substituted bank mandate redirects a legitimate transfer. Includes callback fraud, where the fraudster poses as the beneficiary's own bank to 'confirm' new details.
Sanctions, AML and compliance freeze
Funds are held because a payment tripped a screening rule or a counterparty came under sanctions. Lawful seizure and regulatory blocking are excluded; cover responds to the loss and delay consequences for your own operation, not the seizure itself.
FX and settlement loss
Adverse movement between the rate locked at instruction and the rate achieved at settlement, plus intermediary fee leakage, where you bear that exposure under a contract.
Conversion-leg risk (optional)
For those converting between money and crypto: an on-ramp or off-ramp fails partway — the bank leg clears but the crypto leg does not, or the reverse.
Where it fails, and what responds
Failure point
Fraudulent instruction or mandate substitution before release.
Cover that responds
Transfer fraud cover
How the cover is structured
Transfer non-receipt cover
Indemnity for funds debited and not credited within the policy's defined settlement window, after the sending bank's trace and recall process is exhausted.
Transfer fraud cover
Indemnity for transfers diverted by impersonation, forged mandate or compromised email, subject to the security-control conditions.
In-transit funds cover
Protection for funds held by a correspondent or intermediary while en route.
Recall and tracing cost cover
Reimbursement of legal, forensic and bank-tracing costs incurred trying to pull a payment back, whether or not recovery succeeds.
Conversion-leg cover (optional add-on)
Closes the gap where a fiat-to-crypto or crypto-to-fiat settlement completes on one side only.
Conditions an underwriter will require
- Confirmation of Payee / beneficiary verification on every outbound payment above a stated threshold
- Dual authorisation above a stated limit (businesses), or confirmation by phone with your bank before large transfers (individuals)
- MFA on all banking portals — no shared credentials, no SMS-only second factor
- Out-of-band verbal verification against a pre-agreed contact list for any change of bank details
- Written transfer-recall procedure and a documented escalation contact at each banking partner
- Full retention of SWIFT confirmations, MT103s, MT202s, remittance advice and bank correspondence
Not covered
- Lawful seizure, sanctions blocking, and funds frozen under court order or regulatory direction
- Loss caused by an authorised transfer the insured knowingly instructed
- Counterparty credit risk — the counterparty's own failure to pay, as distinct from the transfer failing
- Trading loss from an FX position the insured chose to take
- Transfers made outside the insured's documented controls
“Where did my payment go?”
For individuals and finance teams alike: match the symptom to the likely cause and the first thing to do.
Likely cause: Funds held at a correspondent, or beneficiary details mismatched and parked in suspense.
First action: Ask your bank for the UETR and a gpi tracker status, then request a formal trace.
Likely cause: Intermediary deductions (OUR/SHA/BEN charge codes) and a second FX conversion on return.
First action: Request the MT103 and every intermediary's deduction advice in writing.
Likely cause: A sanctions or AML screening hit on a name, address or narrative field.
First action: Provide your bank the underlying invoice and contract promptly; do not resend the payment.
Likely cause: Possible mandate-change fraud — funds sent to a substituted account.
First action: Call your bank's fraud line immediately for recall, and report to police and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
Likely cause: Conversion-leg failure at the on-ramp provider or OTC desk.
First action: Preserve the provider's order ID, bank confirmation and any wallet address supplied; issue written notice.
Likely cause: Correspondent placed into resolution or frozen while holding funds in transit.
First action: Obtain written confirmation of where funds sit, and notify your broker within the policy period.
Transfer-risk self-check
Your gap list (6)
- Confirmation of Payee / beneficiary verification on every outbound payment above a stated threshold
- Dual authorisation above a stated limit (businesses), or confirmation by phone with your bank before large transfers (individuals)
- MFA on all banking portals — no shared credentials, no SMS-only second factor
- Out-of-band verbal verification against a pre-agreed contact list for any change of bank details
- Written transfer-recall procedure and a documented escalation contact at each banking partner
- Full retention of SWIFT confirmations, MT103s, MT202s, remittance advice and bank correspondence
Settlement timeline by corridor
- Typical value date
- Same day to T+1
- Intermediary-charge range
- CAD 15–45
Illustrative only — not a fee quotation. Actual timing and charges depend on your bank and correspondents.
| Dimension | On-chain transfer | SWIFT international transfer | OTC desk settlement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Settlement time | Minutes, by block confirmation | Same day to T+3, by corridor | Minutes to T+1, by agreement |
| Recallability | None once confirmed | Possible via recall request, not guaranteed | Contractual only |
| Who holds funds in transit | No one — the network | Correspondent and intermediary banks | The desk or its banks |
| Principal failure point | Wrong address, compromised key | Correspondent hold, mandate fraud | One leg settles, the other fails |
| Evidence trail | Transaction hash, public ledger | MT103, MT202, UETR, bank advice | Trade confirmation, both legs' records |
| Typical loss scenario | Address-poisoning or key theft | Business email compromise | Counterparty halts after fiat clears |
| Security controls required | Allow-listing, multisig, test sends | Dual authorisation, callback verification | Delivery-versus-payment, escrow |
| Which policy responds | Custody or Hot Wallet cover | Swift & International Transfer | Conversion-leg cover |