Best Bank for international wires BIC/SWIFT etc (transaction, banking, work)

[needmoreinfo]

Does anyone know of a U.S. bank that accepts international BIC and SWIFT wires? Most U.S. banks don't seem to, they partner with another bank, but I have not had much luck in finding the partner bank and each time I get an account that is supposedly a SWIFT account it winds up being through a partner bank then the wire falls through. I think the problems are due to a new software being used in Europe, however, it seems I need to get a bank that actually receives the BIC/SWIFT wires itself and not through a partner.
Thanks!

[lumbollo]

Federal Reserve banks in the USA have no plans to adopt the European controlled BIC/IBAN system or connect to it. However I believe you can do what they call an International Wire via the older Swift method. It's probably limited to the very large banks and I've heard that it might take a while or fail completely as you have noticed.

Inside the US, the banks use a system called Fedwire. It's totally separate from the system the EU uses and that is by design. The EU was outraged when they discovered the Bush Administration had started monitoring and data mining EU banking transactions (CIA, Treasury, others) via the Swift data mirrored at a NY branch of a Belgium bank. This was done under one of the terrorism programs. As a result the Europeans are moving to end this type of access here..

[needmoreinfo]

Thanks that is very useful information.
I just have this problem now with so many clients in the EU and am at a loss as to what to do.
I wonder if there is any bank that has branches in Europe and here where I could open accounts in Europe and here then just electronically transfer between my accounts?
Maybe open an account in Canada if they have banks that can easily receive wires from Europe?
Well, thanks for your help.

Originally Posted by lumbollo

Federal Reserve banks in the USA have no plans to adopt the European controlled BIC/IBAN system or connect to it. However I believe you can do what they call an International Wire via the older Swift method. It's probably limited to the very large banks and I've heard that it might take a while or fail completely as you have noticed.

Inside the US, the banks use a system called Fedwire. It's totally separate from the system the EU uses and that is by design. The EU was outraged when they discovered the Bush Administration had started monitoring and data mining EU banking transactions (CIA, Treasury, others) via the Swift data mirrored at a NY branch of a Belgium bank. This was done under one of the terrorism programs. As a result the Europeans are moving to end this type of access here..

[Ultrarunner]

Don't most major cities have branches of foreign banks?

A friend of mine used to work at the San Francisco branch of Swiss Bank and she said a lot of Swiss and other Europeans would come in daily to do international banking...

I don't know why it wouldn't work for you...

[angela74]

I use Comerica. For the past 3 years, I have been receiving monthly wire deposit from Europe without any problems.