International Payments and Banking Services

General Requirements for Receipts and Payments Abroad

40 and 41. When are general requirements for receipts and payments abroad required? Indicate these requirements.

General requirements are needed where it is suspected that money laundering takes place in criminal activities (drug trafficking, arms laundering, terrorism, etc.).

The general requirements for receipts and payments abroad are:

• Intervention by a registered entity to channel cash receipts, payments, and transfers abroad.
• Need for a declaration by the resident person making the payment or transfer abroad.
• Registered entities are required to report these transactions, and others as required, to the Bank of Spain.

These requirements are intended to monitor the movement of our balance of payments and obtain the data required to compile statistics on it.

External Means of Payment: Guarantees and Processes

42 and 43. The external means of payment are: money orders, simple remittances, documentary remittances, and documentary credits. Which one offers more guarantees for the fulfillment of the conditions? Discuss the process.

• Payment orders: This is a medium of exchange like a transfer. Its use is common when there is high confidence between importers and exporters. There is a lack of a uniform law for all countries, unlike checks and bills of exchange. The orders include the issuing bank (the entity that initiates the debit entry in the importer’s account) and the paying bank (which receives the payment order for payment to the exporter). Normally, the paying bank is a correspondent bank located in a third country. It requires a high level of trust between the parties since there is no simultaneity between the supply of goods and payment. Among its advantages, it is highly agile, quick, and inexpensive (with a small fee to the importer).
• Simple and documentary remittances: A remittance is a bill of exchange that the exporter issues to gain acceptance by the importer.

Credit Card Granting and Confidence Index

36. For the granting of credit cards, is there a confidence index from the bank or financial institution?

Yes, because credit not collected in a public policy notarized by a notary, when claiming payment for this concept, materializes in an overdraft claim, and complaint mechanisms are slow and costly.

Banking Services Offered

37. Discuss some banking services offered.

• ATMs: Used to get cash, consult movements, etc. They charge a maintenance service fee, and if the ATMs operate on other networks, they charge interest.
• Rental of safe deposit boxes: For the client to deposit assets that they consider necessary, and the bank takes custody, without the bank knowing what is inside. The price is stipulated by the bank.
• Telephone Banking: Provides customers with all of these services and consultation over the phone. There is a cost to the customer.
• Electronic Banking: Encompasses more extensive services than telephone banking. There is a cost to the customer.

Currency and Foreign Banknotes

38. What is a currency? And a foreign banknote? What is the differential treatment between them?

The term “currency” includes all commercial paper issued in foreign currency (checks, bills, notes, etc.). Foreign currency banknotes are the representation of the paper currency of a currency.

Tickets are subject to a lower contribution than the currencies of the same denomination when selling to customers by credit institutions, but the price of tickets is higher than the currency at the time of its acquisition by customers.

Difference Between Foreign Currencies and Banknotes

39. Difference between foreign currencies and banknotes.

The term “foreign currency” includes all commercial paper issued in foreign currency (checks, bills, notes, etc.) and income or transfers from abroad, denominated in foreign currencies. Foreign currency banknotes are the representation of a currency’s paper money.