The commission is feasible: payments abroad have become cheaper, but more difficult
It has become cheaper to transfer money abroad — agency fees for companies have dropped to 2% after a surge in 2023-2024. But business pays for this by increasing the complexity of the schemes: payments go through chains of intermediaries, require more documents, control and time — sometimes up to several days. Despite this, the share of such transactions has already reached 50-80% of all cross-border settlements, market participants told Izvestia. Why companies continue to choose intermediaries and whether there is an alternative is in the Izvestia article.
How much do transfers abroad cost?
Russian business has significantly increased payments through payment agents, market participants told Izvestia. According to Tochka Bank, by April 2026 they accounted for about 60% of all foreign exchange transactions, whereas in 2024 their share did not exceed 1%, and by the beginning of last year it had grown to only 15%. Sovcombank added: the volume of foreign trade settlements has increased 1.5 times by 2025. And up to 85% of the total turnover goes through agents, they noted. The trend was confirmed by Alexey Razumovsky, Commercial Director of Impaya Rus, and Alexey Poroshin, CEO of First Group. Izvestia sent a request to the Central Bank.
As market participants explain, the scheme works like this: a Russian company transfers rubles to an intermediary within the country, and through a network of partners abroad, the intermediary organizes the payment to the recipient in the desired currency. Often, money does not cross the border, and settlements are provided by the liquidity of foreign partners. The commission is charged either as a separate percentage, or is included in the course.
Companies are forced to use such schemes more actively due to restrictions, explained Anton Nikitin, founder and CEO of Fingold. Until 2022, transactions through agents occupied an insignificant share and were mainly used for sanctioned goods, Sovcombank clarified. However, now there are more than half of such calculations.
At the same time, geography has also changed — instead of the CIS countries, intermediaries are increasingly working through Asia, Tochka Bank added. The companies have gradually adapted to the new conditions and have built up work with partners in friendly jurisdictions. China remains the key destination, accounting for 59% of all agent—based transfers, they said. The top five also include Turkey (15%), Hong Kong (11%), South Korea (4%) and Taiwan (3%).
Due to the sanctions, many Russian financial organizations are disconnected from SWIFT and deprived of direct correspondent accounts with foreign banks, which makes it difficult to make payments and return foreign currency earnings. That is why agency schemes have become widespread, said Maxim Markov, Associate Professor at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics. Without them, a significant part of foreign trade settlements would not have been possible, Anton Nikitin emphasized.
The growing demand for such services has led to increased competition among intermediaries. And that's why cross-border transfers have become cheaper. The reduction in fees is due to the struggle for customers, explained Natalia Milchakova, a leading analyst at Freedom Finance Global. In addition, according to her, the larger the volume of transfers, the lower the rate.
Until 2024, a significant part of the cross-border settlement market in Russia was occupied by "gray" payment agents with an opaque chain of intermediaries, said A7 (PSB platform, specializing in international transfers). Commissions for such operations reached 10-20%, while there were virtually no guarantees for their implementation. Later, conditions began to improve: as early as 2024, the retained percentage decreased to about 5-10%. Now the average commission level has dropped to 2% or lower, Tochka Bank clarified.
What's wrong with agent-based payments?
At the same time, the market is gradually moving out of the "gray" zone. Sovcombank notes increased state control, as well as increased competition from banks that offer comparable conditions and take over the functions of currency control.
Reducing commissions directly reduces the costs of companies, said Arthur Leer, President of the Association of Exporters and Importers, Managing Partner of Lex Alliance Law Firm. However, the speed of operations remains limited: according to Tochka Bank, the transfer takes up to three days, while some experts estimate the time up to a week.
At the same time, organizational difficulties remain. The cost of paperwork for currency control is increasing, and the search for reliable intermediaries and route verification is becoming more difficult, said Anton Nikitin from Fingold. As a result, direct fees are reduced, but indirect business costs are still significant.
How else can a business pay foreign partners
Businesses use several ways to make cross-border payments, and some companies are returning to direct payments. Their popularity is gradually growing, Tochka Bank reported. In rubles, payments are most often made to Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Armenia and India. Currency transfers go directly mainly to China, Serbia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, India and Thailand.
However, entrepreneurs cannot completely abandon intermediaries: direct transfers are not available in all directions and are often limited by sanctions, lack of correspondent accounts and infrastructure, so companies continue to turn to agents for complex or "sensitive" transactions.
Another option is to create our own trading hubs in neutral jurisdictions, as previously reported by Izvestia. This model requires higher startup costs, but it gives companies full control over the flow of funds and reduces dependence on intermediaries.
Business also combines different tools, said Artur Leer from the Association of Exporters and Importers. Among them are digital currency solutions, work with export liquidity, the creation of its own infrastructure for the movement of funds, as well as intergovernmental agreements and platform models, he listed. An additional alternative remains calculations in cryptocurrency, which are used by Russian companies, said Maxim Markov from Plekhanov Russian University of Economics. However, such operations are associated with increased risks, so their share is still limited.
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