Has anyone transferred money from Russia to Italy without using any schemes? I’m also interested in the other direction — from Italy to Russia. The problem is that the Italian bank still has to accept the funds — Intesa, for example, doesn’t accept transfers from Russia.
We’ve tried several times to transfer money to relatives’ accounts in Italy — the money leaves Russia, but the Italian side doesn’t accept it. The funds are returned to the account, and the transfer fee is withheld in any case. At the bank in Savona they explained that this isn’t their specific decision — it’s a general issue with transfers from Russia at the level of correspondent banks.
3 Likes
Thanks, it’s clearer now that the issue is with the correspondent banks, not a specific branch. And did OTP transfers via SWIFT actually reach Italy on your end, or were they also being bounced back on the Italian side?
3 Likes
OTP went through when UniCredit.it was specified as the correspondent bank — that’s the key point. Without it, transfers were also being rejected on the Italian side. The minimum amount there starts at 500, and they check the transfer purpose — transfers from your own account to your own account go through more easily than those to third parties.
3 Likes
UniCredit переводит средства, но только близкому родственнику — мужу или жене, и нужны все документы, подтверждающие родство. Я собрала всё, что просили, перевела для мужа, и деньги всё равно заблокировали уже в Италии — написали, что происхождение из России вызывает вопросы. Потом три недели объясняла банку историю счёта и основание перевода.
3 Likes
They opened an account for me at Banca Sella without a tessera (card) — a 5‑year permesso (residence permit), residenza (residence) and CF (codice fiscale / tax code) were enough. I went to UniCredit five times; in the end they shrugged — they couldn’t get around the blocks. Smaller banks are more cooperative in this regard; they have fewer regulatory constraints.
3 Likes
I was transferring money to my daughter at UniCredit–UniCredit — different legal entities, the Russian and the Italian one. At the bank they explained that you can transfer to a relative’s account or to your own, but you must attach a document proving the relationship. In my case the bank rejected the transaction — I found out via chat that it was due to compliance requirements. Moreover, they rejected it on the Russian side, before it was even sent; it never reached the Italian side.
3 Likes
bunq accepted a transfer from OTP (ОТП) — the money was from the sale of real estate in Russia. Upon receipt they asked for proof-of-origin documents in the chat; I attached the sales contract (ДКП) — it explicitly showed the sanctioned Alfa-Bank as the source of the payment. It went through without problems. It turns out bunq looks at the history of the specific transaction, not just blocking everything from Russia — the main thing is to have the documents ready immediately.
3 Likes
We were also told that it can only be to an account, not to a card or an account-card — specifically a current account at an Italian bank. For cashless transfers they’ll still request documents; that’s standard with any bank. And in Russia there’s essentially only one bank left that still transfers euros to the EU, and even that with mixed success — so there isn’t much choice.
3 Likes
Raiffeisen, in my case, processed it — the funds arrived at Banco Popolare di Sondrio within two days. It was a transfer to my own account, not to a third party. Before sending, I notified the tax authorities about opening the Italian account — without that notification the transaction formally violates currency regulations and they could block it on the Russian side.
3 Likes
Mediolanum announced the opening of accounts for Russians — only at branches, not remotely.
3 Likes
Two banks told me that they don’t transfer money to Russia — they only accept transfers from there.
3 Likes