If high costs are not a challenge enough, consider these other problems you would face while trying to send money from Indonesia abroad via bank transfers:
- Slow speeds of transactions: Bank transfers can take 2 to 5 days, often longer. For example, if you make a transfer to a bank in New Zealand on a Friday afternoon in Indonesia, which is 5 hours in advance, the transaction will not be processed until Monday morning. Owing to bank holidays in the recipient country, delays are also usual.
- Minimum or maximum amounts: for each bank, these limits can differ. You will also have to complete further formalities (aka 'paperwork') to pass higher sums, which may prolong your payment obligations further.
- Right product or service: In order to handle or 'cover' the currency risk, you can need a foreign currency account for business transactions. When you pay your overseas contractor, this account will help you lock in the exchange rate. Not all banks have such accounts, so you can end up losing money because of fluctuations in exchange rates.
- Customer service: standard Indonesian business hours are worked by Indonesian banks. So, this might not be possible if you need 24/7 help via phone, email, or online chat.
You want to maintain good relationships with your multinational suppliers and vendors, and that's why you want to pay them on time and in full. But, as we've already seen, bank transfers are the worst way to get money out of Indonesia. So, as we said at the start of this post, stop wasting your money!
With foreign remittance solutions from Wallex, make your money go further!