Dear all,
Recently, I need to transfer some money from my Novo Banco account to an overseas bank without IBAN. I find in Novo Banco’s online banking and mobile app, there are two tabs, Domestic/Eurozone Transfer and Interantional Transfer. However, under international transfer, still only IBAN format is presented.
I wonder if it is possible to tranfer funds via SWIFT online. Or will I have to contact my account manager and fill/sign a paper form?
Thanks,
I suggest setting up a Wise account. You will get an Euro account with IBAN. Transfer from Novobanco to Wise with IBAN and then swift transfer to your other overseas account.
Thanks. I am considering setting up a Wise or iFast account, which are UK-based but offer IBAN account numbers.
Novo Banco is a disaster. I opened an account 4 years ago and it has been nothing but trouble. Confirming personal information each year has taken 3 months on average. Now they have frozen my account again because they want some kind of official document that says I am retired. Collecting Social Security is not proof that you are retired: only that you are of sufficient age and worked enough years to qualify. They do have my benefit letter, the first two pages of my US tax return, and every other doc I could think of to send. Neither the bank nor anyone else I have spoken to knows of an official document that states you have retired. So my account is blocked and cannot be closed. It can, however continue to accrue monthly charges. Avoid Novo Banco like the plague.
I actually found a post from the Chinese social media Rednote that a blocked account could be closed. The account manager in that case also felt relieved.
Actually, international transfer via SWIFT could be done online. Just fill in the recipent’s numeric account number and continue. Then you will be prompted to fill in the SWIFT code, Bank Address, etc. The fee is outrageous. Fingers crossed that the other end will receive the transfer.
I saw some posts that transfers into Wise could be checked by their compliance. Although I have the full paper trail for the source of fund, it could still be annoying. Tranferring into Interactive Broker might be another option,
Anyone thinking of transferring money from your own IBKR account to your PT bank account - do not do it 
It will be stuck in compliance and then returned if you are lucky.
The funny thing is that I moved my banking to Millennium and left only a few euros in the account. They have been spent on monthly fees and now the account is overdrawn by 3 euros and change. They say they cant close the account until I make a deposit, but all attempts at making a deposit are rejected. It is insane.
I second Tommy’s comment for a bit different reason: i test-transferred 50EURO from IBKR IBAN to my MillenniumBCP account. It took quite some days and was charged 20EURO at receiving end.
Asked my former account manager and told that the compliance department doesn’t like fund from IBKR or alike (brokerage).
I agree. My lawyers helped me to overcome this issue, but I had to pay a service fee of course
Now that Revolut Portugal is going to issue PT IBANs and apparently support Multibanco there will be a straightforward way of being part of the international banking system without having to deal with all these annoyances.
Even without a PT IBAN, my Portuguese Revolut Metal account is used for almost everything now both in and outside the country.
Huh. Works fine for me, do it all the time.
Will this be accessible if your main account is in USD?
And will it mean you can pay DUCs from Revolut?
If you have a revolut account in the US then you will have a US account number. Revolut doesn’t let you have two accounts in different countries. For example, I had to close the UK account and then open a PT account when I moved here last year. Still today, this Revolut account has a LT IBAN and no integration with Portuguese banking systems like MBWay etc. but they announced a few days ago that they’ve opened a bank branch in Portugal which can issue PT IBANs and they will roll these out to customers in the coming weeks along with MBWay payment capabilities etc. That’s all they’ve said so far if you Google it.
If you want a PT IBAN then you’ll need to close the US account and open a PT one with them.
Ok but if I can’t use it to pay DUC I don’t see the point.
Each to their own. Revolut is already our main payment method in Portugal and it will be even more useful with all our utility bill direct debits and the ability to pay using MBWay at our local restaurant that does not take Visa/Mastercard. But, as I say, each to their own. Nobody will force you to use it or judge it before we see how it pans out in practice.
You probably managed to go through the ‘compliance’ test successfully..
I am currently fighting them, and have filed formal complaints with the Bank of Portugal, CPND for their GDPR violations of requesting this information via unsecured method, and more. Would love if more people would file against this financial institution that clearly violates clients’ rights to their legally held funds.
Probably. They probably don’t want complicated compliance burdens. Their default market is not the average retail investor, it’s pro traders with 7-8 figure balances and small-mid funds; anything they get on the retail side is gravy but they’re not going to bend over backwards for it. If it was average retail, they’d have had to get rid of that hideous java interface eons ago and actually start providing useful customer support. I imagine their policy is simply “if someone’s a bother, make them go away”.
I have been with IB for two decades so they’re used to me by now. But I guess I’m not surprised people find them a pain. I actually wouldn’t recommend them for most people, I’m sure fidelity/schwab are a ton better.