Foreign payments and currencies

Payments

You can make an instant transfer between your linked accounts through Internet Banking or, alternatively, you can call us on 0800 092 3300 or write to us.

International payments

Sending money abroad should be simple and transparent. This page explains the costs, exchange rates, and timings, so you can make informed choices.

More information can be found in the International payment types and charges section or on our Banking Tariff (pdf).

To make an international payment from your pounds sterling or currency account, please call or write to us.

International payments and charges

Payment	Description	Fee
Electronic transfer (standard)*	The fastest method of transferring money, directly to an overseas bank account. For payments in EUR and USD, funds can arrive on the same day if sent before our cut-off time. For more information on cut-off times, see the Payment Support section on our website. Now that the UK has left the European Economic Area (EEA), European banks are allowed to take bank fees out of payments you make to accounts in the EEA. For more information see our Banking Tariff (pdf).	£25
Electronic euro transfer (non-urgent: SEPA)*	This method of transferring euros takes a little longer and can only be used if the bank you're sending the money to takes SEPA transfers. Money arrives next working day subject to cut-off times. For more information on cut-off times see the Payment Support section on our website.	No fee charged

*The rate we apply to your international payment includes a currency conversion mark-up. We receive this mark-up, and this represents a cost to you.

You'll be charged a 3% mark-up on all international payments.

Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), comprising all the countries of the European Union, the EEA, the UK, the British Crown Dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man, plus Andorra, French collectives of Mayotte and Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, Monaco, San Marino, Switzerland, Vatican City State/Holy See, Albania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia.

Foreign exchange rates

Here are the exchange rates that we update Monday to Friday.

Weekends and bank holidays will show the indicative exchange rate from the previous working day.

When you make an international payment in another currency, we'll convert it from pounds sterling before it's sent. We use rates from market providers, and our standard sell rate includes a currency conversion mark-up of 3%. We receive this mark-up, and this represents a cost to you.

Example

This is just an example, the actual rate may be different.

If you send £1,000 to Spain in euros.
Market exchange rate is 1.14
Cater Allen will apply a sell rate of 1.11*
Fixed fee £25
The recipient gets €1,110

*We deduct a mark-up of 0.03 (3%) to the exchange rate, that won't show separately on your statement.

We won't know the actual exchange rate until your payment is completed. This means that you might see a small difference between the rate shown when you set up the payment and the final rate. To find what exchange rate we've used, check your account statement.

When the payment is confirmed, you'll see the amount sent in the currency requested. It doesn't include any fees the receiving bank or banks may charge as well as the mark-up described above.

Exchange rates

23 Apr 2026

Pounds Buy Rates

USD to GBP:

1.390964

EUR to GBP:

1.186829

Pounds Sell Rates

GBP to USD:

1.309936

GBP to EUR:

1.117693

for transfers between your accounts in pounds, euros, or US dollars
incoming payments in pounds, that are added to a US dollar or euro account
incoming US dollar or euro payments being added to a pound sterling account
you might get extra charges when making a euro or dollar payment from a pound sterling account
for CHAPS payments in pounds/SWIFT payments (non-euro) made from your US dollar or euro accounts, additional charges may apply for certain transactions. You can find more information on this in our Banking Tariff (pdf).

We can take and send payments in many currencies. See our list below. For indicative exchange rates on any of these currencies please call us on 0800 092 3300.

Currencies accepted by Cater Allen

Here's a list of the available currencies for making and receiving payments. This includes pounds sterling (GBP). You can find more information in our Banking Tariff (pdf).

Euro

Danish Krone

Hungarian forint

Norwegian Krone

Polish Złoty

Romanian leu

Swedish Krona

United States Dollar

Australian Dollar

Canadian Dollar

Swiss Franc

South African Rand

New Zealand Dollar

Japanese Yen

Hong Kong Dollar

Singapore Dollar

UAE Dirham

Indian Rupee

Moroccan Dirham

Thai Baht

From 28 April 2026, you'll no longer be able to ask us to write a cheque for you in a foreign currency.

You can ask us for a cheque in a different currency. When you do this, we'll take the money out of your account straight away. And we'll issue you with a type of paper cheque called a draft. So when the person getting the cheque pays it into their account, we'll already have the money to pay it.

Foreign exchange rates

More information on foreign exchange rates can be found in the Exchange rates section above.

When you ask for a foreign-currency draft we charge you £10.

We can provide currency drafts to be drawn in:

Euros
US dollars
Canadian dollars
Swiss francs.

You can ask us to cancel a cheque or draft once it's been issued. If we do this, we'll charge you £25. If the person you're paying hasn't paid in the cheque after 6 months, we may cancel it.

Once a cheque is cancelled, it takes at least 5 working days for us to credit the funds back to your account. Changes in exchange rates may mean you may get back less than you originally paid.

More options

Paying by cheque can mean costs and timings you don't want. So you may like to pay a different way. An international transfer or CHAPS payment are 2 of your options.

For more on how to make international payments, look at the top of this page.

Receiving money in a foreign currency, or from outside of the UK

Please show these details to the third parties that make foreign currency payments to your account.

Send to:	Santander UK
SWIFT/BIC code (Field 57):	ABBYGB2LXXX
Beneficiary name (Field 59):	Your full Account name
Beneficiary Account number (Field 59):	Your IBAN - this can be found on your statement or via Internet Banking. Or you can get it below, by inputting your Account number
Payment reference (Field 70):	Cater Allen

If you need more information about foreign money transfers, call our team on 0800 092 3300.

Get your IBAN number

Please be aware

We'll never call you and ask you to move your money to keep it safe.

Criminals will use numbers on our website to try and convince you they're genuine. If the caller has told you to check our website to prove they're legitimate, end the call, it's a scam.

If this happens to you, hang up, wait 5 minutes to be sure the line is clear. You should then call us on 159 to securely connect to your bank, or on 0800 092 3300.

Learn more at our Fraud and Security Centre

Foreign payments and currencies

Payments

International payments

23 Apr 2026

This is when we apply rates:

European Economic Area currencies

Other currencies

How do I ask for a foreign-currency cheque or draft?

Foreign exchange rates

More options

Please be aware