The Financial Stability Board's October 2025 progress report found Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the highest costs for retail cross-border payments. A business can avoid many SWIFT deductions by giving payers local account details, so they pay by domestic transfer instead of an international wire. With Verto Local Accounts, those payments travel over the payer's own country rails. Here is where the costs come from and how the options compare.
Where SWIFT costs and delays come from
A SWIFT payment often passes through one or more intermediary banks between your payer's bank and yours. Each can take a deduction, which is why the amount that arrives can be lower than the amount your customer sent. Your own bank may charge to receive it, and may convert the money at its own rate.
It is also slower. A typical cross-border SWIFT transfer can take several business days, and the sender has little visibility along the way. For a business that waits on large payments, that means debtor days that are hard to forecast.
The realistic ways to get paid from abroad
Most businesses choose between three routes. Each works; they differ in how money travels and what you and your payer do.
Route | How money travels | Intermediary bank deductions | Typical timing | What your payer does |
|---|---|---|---|---|
International wire (SWIFT) | Through correspondent banks | Possible along the way | Can take several business days | Sends an international wire |
Local account details | Over the payer's domestic rails | None along the way | Most settle the same day; many GBP and EUR payments arrive within minutes | Makes a domestic transfer |
Card payments through an acquiring service | Over card networks | Depends on your acquirer | Depends on your acquirer | Pays by card at checkout |
Local Accounts are built for bank transfers. If your customers want to pay by card, you will need a card acquiring service as well.
How local account details avoid SWIFT
A Verto Local Account gives your business account details in a currency's home country, so you can receive payments over that country's own clearing system instead of SWIFT. The details are issued in your business's name, subject to eligibility checks for each currency.
Your payer enters them in their banking app as they would for any domestic supplier. Because there is no international wire, there are no intermediary bank deductions along the way, so the amount your payer sends is the amount that reaches your account.
Which rails and currencies are available?
Verto offers local account details in AED, GBP, EUR, USD, NGN, KES, ZAR, TZS, UGX, DKK, XOF and XAF. Availability for each currency depends on your business profile and where you are registered. Payments travel over rails such as:
GBP over Faster Payments, and EUR over SEPA.
USD over ACH, the US network that Nacha governs.
NGN over NIBSS Instant Payment, Nigeria's real-time interbank service.
KES over PesaLink or RTGS in Kenya.
The money lands in the matching wallet in your Verto Multi-currency Wallets, where you can hold it, convert it or pay it out.
What does it cost with Verto?
Domestic collections in the local currency are free on Verto plans, and international collections carry a plan-based percentage fee. Plan prices depend on where your company is registered, so check Verto's pricing page for your country.
If you later convert what you collect, FX is priced by currency band. Holding the balance means you convert only when you choose.
Is paying into a Local Account safe for your payer?
Payers often ask who they are really sending money to. The details are issued in your business's name, so the payment is addressed to your company, and the funds land in your Verto wallet.
Verto is authorised by the UK Financial Conduct Authority as an Electronic Money Institution rather than a bank, and customer funds are held in safeguarded accounts, separate from Verto's own money. The FCA explains how safeguarding works for e-money institutions. Verto also has licences and approvals in eight countries; see its licences page.
Giving payers this context in your first invoice email saves a round of questions with their finance team.
When SWIFT is still the right choice
Local account details won't cover every situation. SWIFT may still make sense when:
Your payer's country or currency isn't on the list above.
Your payer can only send international wires, for example because of their own bank's rules.
You are waiting for eligibility checks on a currency.
In those cases, plan for the deductions and ask your payer to send the full amount "with charges paid by the sender" if their bank offers that option. Some markets, such as those with exchange controls, can also add checks for either route.
Steps to take SWIFT off your invoices
List your payers by currency. Group the last twelve months of receipts by currency and country.
Request details for the main ones. Add each currency to your Verto account and request Local Account details.
Update invoices. Put the right details on each invoice and remove old wire instructions.
Ask payers to update supplier records. Old details are the most common cause of a payment going astray.
Agree a reference. Ask payers to quote the invoice number so your team can match payments.
For a fuller explanation of how the details themselves work, read what a virtual account for business is.
Getting paid from abroad shouldn't cost you time or money. Open your Verto account to collect, hold, convert and pay in one place. Get started or speak to Verto sales about the currencies you need.
Pay suppliers abroad without the SWIFT fee
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