Panamanian companies and international wires: why dollar payments take longer than they should
Panama has used the US dollar since 1904. A dollar from a client in Houston should arrive as easily as one from across town. It often does not: wires to Panamanian banks pass through correspondent banks that check them carefully, and some sit for days.
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A Panama City logistics company invoices a Houston client US$27,400. Panama uses the dollar, so the founders expect the payment to arrive like a domestic one. It arrives four days later, after the correspondent bank asked the client's bank to confirm the purpose of the payment. The client paid on time; the route did not.
The dollar, across a border
Panama has used the US dollar as legal tender since 1904, alongside the balboa coin. There is no exchange rate. But a payment from a US bank to a Panamanian bank is still an international payment. It travels as a wire through one or more correspondent banks, US banks that hold accounts for the Panamanian bank.
Why wires get held
Correspondent banks screen each payment. A wire can be held when:
- the sender, beneficiary or purpose is incomplete or inconsistent,
- a name resembles one on a screening list,
- the amount or pattern differs from what the bank expects.
The correspondent then asks the sending bank for information, which asks the client, which asks you. Days pass.
Panama left the FATF grey list in October 2023 after strengthening its anti-money-laundering framework. That helped, but correspondent banks still apply their own risk assessments to payments into Panama.
Reduce the holds
- Make sure invoices and payment references state what the payment is for.
- Give clients your company's exact legal name and address as the bank holds them.
- Ask clients to send the purpose in the wire details.
Or avoid the route
US account details in your company's own name let a Houston client pay by ACH, as a domestic payment. No correspondent chain, no international screening step, and the money usually arrives in one to two business days. You can then hold the dollars, pay suppliers or move funds to your Panamanian bank.
Where Rivet fits
A Rivet business account accepts registered companies after verification, including Panamanian companies. Approved companies get US account details in their own name on every plan, euro and sterling details from the Growth plan, and payouts in 120+ countries, including to their Panamanian bank. Rivet is not a bank; regulated partner institutions hold the funds.
Questions people ask
Why are wires to Panama slow if Panama uses the dollar?
Because the payment still crosses borders. It goes from the US bank to a correspondent and then to the Panamanian bank, and each step can hold it for checks.
What causes a wire to be held?
Missing or inconsistent information about the sender, beneficiary or purpose, or a match against screening lists. The correspondent may ask the sending bank questions before releasing it.
Is Panama still on the FATF grey list?
No. FATF removed Panama from its list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring in October 2023. Banks still apply their own risk assessments.
How can US clients pay a Panamanian company faster?
By ACH to US account details in the company's name, which avoids international correspondent routes.
Sources
Rashidatou writes Rivet's guides to how money moves between countries: the payment rails, what each one costs, and the account details a company needs to get paid in another currency. Every figure in Rashidatou's articles is traced to the scheme rulebook, the regulator or the provider's published price list, and those sources are listed at the end.
More from Rashidatou K. →This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules and fees change; check the sources above and the provider’s current terms before you act on them.
- panama
- usd
- correspondent banking
- wires
- compliance
- payments
