How you get paid when your Russian customer’s bank transfer does not go through
A direct transfer from a Russian bank can stall for weeks without explanation. This is how our payment agent service gets your invoice paid instead — in roubles via a Turkish company or in euros via our EU partner — and what documents your buyer’s bank will ask for.
Why a direct transfer from Russia may not reach you
Since 2022, direct payments from Russian banks to suppliers in Europe have been unreliable: the receiving bank may refuse the credit, or a correspondent bank may return the transfer weeks later with no clear explanation, while your customer is left holding a ready shipment and asking you to wait for the next prepayment on a lot that has not even moved yet. Even when a payment does go through, compliance checks can add document requests and stretch the transfer out over weeks, which is a problem once a shipping date is fixed in the contract.
A working alternative is payment through a payment agent: the agent transfers money to you in its own name, and your customer settles with the agent under an agency agreement, either domestically in Russia or in roubles to a non-resident account at a Russian bank. For you as the supplier, this looks like an ordinary payment from a foreign company that references your invoice number — nothing changes on your side of the deal.
Sanctions screening comes first
We only handle goods that are not subject to EU, UK, Swiss or US sanctions. Before we quote, we check the HS code of every item and screen all parties to the deal; if a product or a party is restricted, we decline the order, whatever the route or the price.
Two routes: a Turkish company or our EU partner
In practice there are two main routes. Through a Turkish company with a non-resident account at a Russian bank, your customer pays in roubles, the currency is converted at the exchange rate with no extra bank mark-up, and the agent’s fee starts from 3%. Through a partner company resident in the EU (our partners operate in, among other places, Estonia, Bulgaria and Poland), the agent pays you in euros from a European account, usually within 1–3 banking days, for a fee from 5%.
The price difference is straightforward: paying through the Turkish company is cheaper because the money never leaves your customer’s Russian bank as foreign currency — the conversion happens domestically. Paying through the EU partner matters where you specifically need to see the payment arrive from a European company in euros — this comes up most often with larger manufacturers and distributors whose internal compliance would flag a payment originating in Turkey as atypical.
Both routes are set up under an agency agreement with a document package for currency control and customs. Which one fits a particular deal depends on your country and bank, the invoice currency, and whether you are able to accept a payment from a third party at all — this is worth confirming before the route is fixed.
Currency control: what Russian law requires, and when the agreement must be registered
Deals between a Russian buyer and a non-resident supplier fall under Russian currency control legislation — Article 6 of Federal Law No. 173-FZ. Rouble transfers to a non-resident agent inside Russia also count as a currency operation, so they carry the same currency-control requirements as a direct transfer in euros — using an agent does not exempt the transaction from the rules.
One formality that is easy to miss: the agency agreement between your customer and the agent must specify a fee — an agreement with no consideration risks being treated as void. And once the agent’s fee under the agreement reaches RUB 3 million (or the equivalent at the Central Bank rate on the date of the contract), the agency agreement itself has to be registered with the bank for currency control — only the commission amount counts towards that threshold, not the value of the underlying supply contract with you.
For the bank, an agency agreement and a payment confirmation on their own are not enough — it needs a consistent package where the contract with you, the invoice, the agency agreement and the agent’s report all agree on amounts and dates. We prepare that full package so your customer’s accountants and bank accept it without a second round of queries, which is also why handing us the contract and invoice early, rather than once the shipping date is already fixed, keeps the payment on schedule.
Documents we need to start the payment
The standard package to start a payment: the contract with you (a sale agreement or a framework contract) with a specification, your invoice with the receiving account details — IBAN and BIC — and your company’s details for a counterparty check (KYC). The agency agreement with the partner company is prepared on the agent’s side. If the payment is for goods already delivered rather than an advance, we also need the transport and customs documents confirming delivery.
An agent can be used for more than paying for the goods themselves: the same route covers payments to your subcontractors in the EU too — warehousing, packing, certification, EX1 lodgement — and transport costs within Europe. This is useful where a purchase from you runs alongside consolidation warehouse services: everything can go through one agency agreement instead of a separate arrangement for every counterparty.
Preparing the package is usually faster than it looks at first: if the contract and invoice are already consistent on amounts, the agency agreement is ready in one or two working days, and payment through the EU partner reaches you within 1–3 banking days of your customer’s funds arriving. The step that usually takes longest is not the paperwork itself but KYC clearance on a new counterparty — it is worth starting that in parallel with the contract, rather than after the invoice is already issued and you are waiting on funds.
What cannot be paid this way
Our EU partner companies do not process payments to counterparties on EU sanctions lists, or for goods subject to export restrictions — this is not a box-ticking exercise by the agent’s bank but a rule we apply on every route: we do not carry or pay for sanctioned goods or dual-use items under any payment method. The HS code and the counterparty’s status under TARIC are worth checking before a payment is sent, not after an agent declines the deal — our team checks [tariff classification](/usluga/tariff-optimization) as part of the same process that arranges payment.
A separate, less common case is a supplier whose own compliance rules will not accept payment from a third party at all. It is worth raising this early: where needed, the agent sends you a notification letter referencing the agency agreement, so there is a documented explanation for the origin of the payment if your compliance team asks.
Worked example: a €20,000 invoice, both ways
| Route | Fee | Surcharge on €20,000 | How you receive it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turkish company, rouble payment | from 3% | from €600 | Converted at the exchange rate; the payment stays within the Russian banking system until the final rouble transfer to the agent |
| EU partner company, euro payment | from 5% | from €1,000 | Paid to you in euros from a European account, usually within 1–3 banking days |
Hypothetical case: your customer owes you €20,000 for a lot of equipment. The roughly €400 difference between the two routes is often a reasonable price for a first order with a new counterparty, or wherever your own compliance specifically expects a payment from the EU. If the same cargo is also moving with us, payment and logistics are kept in step: your customer’s cargo can be released as soon as the agent confirms your payment, without waiting for a separate confirmation from your customer’s bank, and the document package for currency control and for the customs value is prepared in the same window by the same account manager.
Questions and answers
Will I notice any difference between an agent payment and a direct transfer from Russia?
No — it arrives as an ordinary payment from a foreign company referencing your invoice number. If your compliance team is strict, we arrange for the agent to send a notification letter in advance explaining the third-party payment.
Do I need to also book shipping with Tranzit3 to use this payment service?
No, the payment service is available on its own, though it is more convenient alongside logistics — one account manager then handles the payment, the transport and the customs clearance together.
What happens if the payment doesn’t clear Russian currency control on the first attempt?
The bank usually asks for a missing document or a clarification on an amount — this is why we prepare the full package (contract, invoice, agency agreement, agent’s report) with consistent figures and dates upfront, rather than reacting after a first rejection.
Can my customer pay in instalments rather than as one transfer?
Yes — an advance against a pro forma invoice, a balance against the commercial invoice, or several tranches under the same agency agreement all work the same way.
Do I need to change anything in my sales contract if a third party is paying on my customer’s behalf?
Usually not — a notification letter from the agent referencing your invoice is normally enough, as long as your existing contract does not already contain a direct ban on third-party payment.
Which of the two routes will be used for my payment?
That depends on your bank, your country and your own compliance requirements — we agree the route with you and your customer before the agency agreement is signed.
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