How to Receive Money via Wire Transfer in Zimbabwe
I recently got into a situation where I needed to receive money from the United States. Unfortunately, Zimbabwe’s financial systems are severely constrained. I know, the sanctions debate is rather polarizing. But as an ordinary Zimbabwean who does online work, I can attest to the fact that sanctions have affected me greatly. Indeed, there are situations where it’s no longer even possible for me to find work. Zimbabweans were, as an example, banned from Upwork, the world’s number 1 platform for freelancers. Now, I am not here to complain. What I wish to show you is how to receive money fia Wire Transfer in Zimbabwe.
Getting money via Wire Transfer in Zimbabwe
The following is how to get money via Wire Transfer in Zimbabwe;
- Go to your bank and open an FCA account.
- Get your bank’s details for receiving international wire transfers.
- Give these details to whoever will be sending you money from the Diaspora via wire transfer.
- Your money will now be deposited into your account.
What details do I need from my bank?
To receive money via Wire Transfer in Zimbabwe, you are going to need to give the following information to whoever is sending you money from the Diaspora;
- The name of your bank
- Your bank’s Swift Code
- Your bank’s Sort Code
- The Correspondent bank for your bank
- The Swift address of the correspondent bank
My own case
In my case, I run ads on my website from Google. Therefore, I needed to receive money via Wire Transfer from Google into my bank account. Wire transfer, by the way, is the only option available for Zimbabweans when it comes to getting money from AdSense. So, The above information was required and I got it from FBC, my bank.
I needed, in any case, to open a Nostro account since international payments can no longer be paid into ordinary Zimbabwean cards. But since the money that I get from Google is still rather small, a normal nostro account would not do since it attracts monthly charges. Fortunately, FBC has a MasterCard option that does not have monthly charges but that still allows for Wire Transfers from abroad. I will talk about the FBC MasterCard in another article.
The FBC MasterCard now attracts a service fee that is chargeable at the end of every year. The period is calculable from the period of issue.