About six months ago I blogged on aspects of wire transfers of money to beneficiaries in foreign jurisdictions. These transfers require some attention to issues like the applicability of the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) or of Section 116 of the Income Tax Act to any portion of the inheritance and trustee or professional fees. As well, requirements for the SWIFT code or IBAN code number have to be fulfilled. This blog is an update to advise that in my experience there has been a noticeable change in the last couple of months involving bank wire transfers.

Banks have significantly increased their compliance, monitoring, and oversight practices. Transfers that were routinely completed in a couple of days in the past can now, in some cases, take weeks to complete. Clearly, additional procedures aimed at  preventing money laundering and also designed to enforce sanctions against Russian and other entities are having an effect. These procedures have resulted in inconvenience and delay to those involved and it is best to be aware of the possibility of these delays and how they might impact one’s practice.

Thanks for reading,
James Jacuta