Wire Transfers

Ensure you have obtained the following prior to submitting your electronic request form: Services & Support Electronic Wire Request Form.

1. Ensure the payee is registered as an active payee in Oracle and has already been registered in PaymentWorks.  
   • Note: For foreign individuals receiving payments for scholarship/fellowships, royalties, and independent services (including honoraria recipients and performers) a Glacier request will need to be completed via PaymentWorks.
     • Glacier helps determine tax residency, tax withholding rates, and income tax treaty eligibility.
2. Confirm that your payee cannot accept any of UC San Diego's preferred payment methods (virtual credit card and ACH) and requires a foreign wire transfer. 
3. Gather the required attachments: 
   1. Wire Instructions
      • Request wire instructions from the payee through an established and trusted contact to ensure the most up-to-date information is being used to execute the wire. 
      • Wire instructions must be attached to each wire request.
   2. Payment Documents:
      
      1. Purchase Order (PO) Wires
         • Request a purchase order in Oracle
         • Obtain a valid invoice.
         Note: A quote or estimate is not considered a valid invoice. If you do not submit an invoice, your request will be rejected.
         • • Payment should be requested after services have been rendered or goods received.
         Non-PO Wires
         • Obtain a valid invoice.
         Note: A quote or estimate is not considered a valid invoice. If you do not submit an invoice, your request will be rejected.
         • If you do not have a valid invoice, obtain supporting documentation that explains the business purpose/reason for payment.
         Honorarium Wires
         
         • Provide the following information in the comments section:
           • Where services were performed
           • If services were in California or Not
           • Date of lecture / services
           • Detailed business purpose
           • Letter/email notification provided to the recipient (reason and amount)
         Subaward Wires
         • Complete the Wire Transfer Cover Sheet (only for Subaward Wires)
         • Please see the following Knowledge Based Article on Kuali Subaward Invoice Wire Transfer Payments
         Travel Wires
         • Provide the Concur Expense Report ID as the invoice number. You can find this in the request header.
         • You will also want to confirm that the Traveler Type in the header is Non-employee (WIRE). 
4. Confirm the currency to be wired with the payee. The currency accepted is determined by their bank. 
   • If payment is requested in foreign currency, the exchange rate will be determined at the time of wire issuance within our banking portal.
   • Please do not calculate the exchange rate on the request when you submit it. 
5. Complete the Services & Support Electronic Wire Request Form. 

Wire transfers are nearly immediate - they are very difficult to cancel once they have been initiated with the bank so it is important that you have verified all the wire instructions and invoice information with the payee prior to submitting. 

How do I submit a foreign wire request?

For a step-by-step on how to complete the Services & Support Electronic Wire Request Form please visit our Knowledge Based Article (KBA): How To Request A Foreign Wire for All Invoice Types.

Note: if any of the required fields are not completed correctly the wire request will be at risk for rejection, which may cause delays.

What happens next? 

1. RITM: A 'RITM' number will be associated with this request and will be listed in your "Tickets" list on Services & Support. 
2. Approvals: Your Financial Unit Approver will need to approve this request in Services & Support (not in Oracle).
   • If your FinU approver does not approve, the wire request will not be routed to our team for review. Please confirm with them that they have approved. 
3. Routing: Your request will route to the appropriate team to ensure the payment can continue processing. If there are discrepancies, these teams will leave comments on your request. Respond to outreach as soon as you can.
   1. Travel: Ensures the amount to pay matches the Expense report.
   2. Accounts Payable: Ensures the PO is open for billing.
   3. Expense: Ensures the chart string is accurate.
4. Processing: The Wire Analyst will receive your request and will look over all payment and wire information. The Analyst will reach out to you via the request comments to clear up any uncertainty about payment amount, currency, banking information, etc. Once the Analyst has entered it into the bank for payment, a comment will be left to alert you of the payment date. Do not close your request at this time.
5. Bank Approval: The Wire Approver will compare the wire request in Services & Support to the payment details entered into the bank to check for accuracy, and then approve the wire in the bank.
6. Posting: Your request will route again to either Accounts Payable or Expense (depending on invoice type) to post this transaction to Oracle. This team will close the request. Your department will be charged for the wire transfer, and the payment will be visible in Oracle. 

What's the timeline on a foreign wire request? 

Foreign wire transfers require a manual process. The average turnaround time is 7-10 business days from the date the wire request is approved by the department Financial Unit approver. 

Once the payment is processed in the bank, the wire payment will post to OFC in about 3-5 business days. 

Enhanced Electronic Wire Request Form

On December 4, 2024 we launched an enhanced version of the Electronic Wire Request Form. Visit this link to watch a webinar training about how to use the form and other best practices and important information regarding foreign wire payments.

Wire Fees - Who Pays?

Given the sensitivity and processes associated with the issuance of this payment, our financial partner charges a processing per transaction fee, making this UC San Diego’s most costly payment method. These fees are not passed on to departments or our payees. 

The University pays for the outgoing wire fee from our bank, Bank of America. We also share the intermediary bank fee (if applicable) with the payee's bank. Most banks also charge their account holders to receive a wire payment. The shared intermediary bank fee and any of the payee's bank fees is what is taken from the final payout to the payee. 

Our bank, Bank of America, does not know the exact amount of the intermediary bank charge. They estimate and pre-pay a variable amount of $7 - $15.  

Intermediary Bank Fee is the amount charged by a 3rd party bank(s) that act as a go-between, to facilitate a money transfer transaction between two different banks. The 3rd party bank(s) receiving funds from the sender’s bank and routing it to the beneficiary’s bank is known as the Intermediary Bank. This charge is almost always applicable on all money transfer transactions abroad. The sender’s bank will be not be knowing about the exact fee beforehand. It is usually around USD $15-30 (UC San Diego pays half of this fee).  

The beneficiary bank abroad will likely charge a fee to their account holders for receiving money. This is called the Beneficiary Bank Fee. The sender’s bank cannot say beforehand if such a fee will be applicable on a particular transaction. This is because the Beneficiary Bank Fee is decided by the Beneficiary Bank. It can range anywhere from USD $0-15 (UC San Diego does not pay any of this fee). 

UC San Diego's established wire terms are "shared" or "SHA" – the sender and beneficiary/payee agree to share the intermediary bank fee. The sender pre-pays half of the fee, and the beneficiary’s share of intermediate bank fee and beneficiary bank fee (if any) would be debited from the transferred amount.

If a wire transfer payment is returned, the foreign bank may charge a returned wire fee. Fees are determined on a case-by-case basis by the receiving financial institution. Payment Services will credit all the returned funds to the department and if a return fee was deducted, that fee will be charged to your chart string. Payment Services is not responsible for returning the full initial requested amount. 

• Example: A wire for $500.00 is sent to Mexico but the payee’s bank in Mexico returns it due to an invalid account number provided by the department. The beneficiary’s bank/payee charges a $50 fee for the processing of the return. Payment Services receives a credit of $450.00. In this case, the department will see the returned funds of $450.00. If the department decides to reissue this payment, a new wire transfer request must be submitted, and the department would have to fund the remaining $50.

Bank codes are needed for requesting wires: IBAN, SWIFT/ BIC, BSB, and CLABE, etc.

Required banking codes for wires:

• Foreign Banking Institutions require the SWIFT/ BIC as well as the IBAN, in lieu of the account number or the BSB (Australia) + bank account number or CLABE (Mexico) + bank account number.

For more information regarding Bank Codes please see the following: 

Currency Codes: Use this document to identify the currency type for your international payment.

Cross-Currency Payment Rules Resource Guide: Use this document to obtain the  currency code and currency type as well as any additional required fields other than the ones noted on the Wire Request Form.

The Financial Unit approver is anyone who oversees use of the Chart of Accounts string attached to a made transaction. Chart of Accounts or COA is what was formerly known as account indexes:

•       For additional information regarding COA's please refer to the following PDF, this is an in-depth guide to COA's