Bilateral foreign currency sale/purchase transactions with the Bank have a number of advantages, including:
- the ability to exchange a number of different currencies, including soft currencies and unusual currencies
- the low cost of transactions
- high-speed settlements (purchased funds are credited to the client’s account by the following day at the latest)
Sales/Purchases of Foreign Currency of One Type with Foreign Currency of Another Type
Transactions may be made in all hard currencies, including the less usual ones (Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian dollars), in the currencies of the CIS nations and the Baltics, and in clearing (settlement) currencies.
Transactions are made either on the basis of the client’s instructions that directly stipulate the purchase/sale of one type of foreign exchange for another type of foreign exchange, or on the basis of an application for conversion made by the client, when the currency of conversion differs from that of the account from which payment is made.
Clearing Times
Funds received as the result of a transaction made to supplement an account are normally credited to the appropriate account of the client on the second banking day after receipt of the application by the bank. The duration of the banking day for this type of transaction coincides with the normal working day of the bank.
If it is required to make a bank transfer from an account held in one currency to an account held in another, the period for clearing depends on the type of currency to be converted, but does not exceed three banking days for the less usual currencies, the national currencies of the CIS countries and the Baltic States, and two banking days for all other currencies.
Longer clearing times only occur in the case of the currencies of certain nations where such periods are beyond the bank’s control, and are unilaterally determined by an overseas correspondent bank.
Transactions Involving Foreign Currency Sales/Purchases for Rubles
Transactions are made on the basis of a client’s application. For the application to be cleared during the same banking day, it must reach the Bank by 12:30 p.m., or by 1:00 p.m., if the Bank-Client system is used. Settlements under transactions of purchase/sales in U.S. dollars are effected on the transaction day.