Bankgiro, Swish and foreign customers: how Swedish companies get paid from abroad

A Malmö design agency sends invoices with a Bankgiro number and an OCR reference. Swedish clients pay them in their bank app in seconds, with the reference matching the payment to the invoice automatically. Then the agency signs a client in Hamburg and sends the same invoice. The German client's accounts team writes back asking for an IBAN.

Domestic tools stay domestic

Sweden built some of the world's most convenient payment systems: Bankgiro for business payments, Plusgiro, and Swish for instant mobile payments. All three work inside Sweden. A foreign customer cannot pay a Bankgiro number, and Swish needs a Swedish bank account and phone number on both sides.

For foreign customers, an invoice needs an IBAN and a BIC.

What happens to a euro payment

Sweden is in the SEPA area. A German client can send euros by SEPA to a Swedish IBAN. If the account behind it is in kronor, the bank converts the euros on arrival at its own rate, which includes a margin.

For a dollar payment from the US the effect is larger. The client sends an international wire, which may pass through intermediary banks that deduct fees, and the amount is converted on arrival too.

Hold euros and dollars

Many Swedish companies pay for things in euros and dollars as well: German suppliers, EU subcontractors, US software, advertising. Receiving euros as euros and dollars as dollars lets you pay those costs directly and convert only the surplus, when you choose.

Invoice wording for EU customers

For most services to EU businesses, the invoice carries no Swedish moms, shows the customer's VAT number and states that the reverse charge (omvänd skattskyldighet) applies. Sales go in your periodic summary (periodisk sammanställning) to Skatteverket. For customers outside the EU, the invoice states why Swedish VAT does not apply.

A simple setup

1. Keep Bankgiro and OCR for Swedish customers.
2. Put a euro IBAN on invoices to EU customers.
3. Put US account details on invoices to American customers, so they pay by ACH.
4. Convert surpluses to kronor on a schedule that fits payroll.

Paying into Sweden: the local rail

Source: Bankgirot. Checked when this guide was last updated; the scheme's own page has the current figures.

Where Rivet fits

A Rivet business account gives a Swedish AB US account details in its own name on every plan, and euro details with an IBAN plus sterling details from the Growth plan. On the Scale plan it holds balances in 30 currencies. Payments are matched to invoices, and conversions happen at a rate shown before you confirm. Rivet is not a bank; regulated partner institutions hold the funds.

See also the multi-currency business account guide.