Almost every cross-border wire arrives at the beneficiary slightly smaller than what was sent. The shrinkage is either expected (SHA charge code) or recoverable (OUR charge code with non-compliant intermediary). Either way, it is traceable on GPI.
If you specified SHA (shared charges) in field 71A, deductions at intermediary banks are normal and not refundable. Each correspondent deducts its handling fee — typically 10-25 USD per hop. A 2-hop wire might lose 30-50 USD; a 4-hop emerging-market wire 80-150 USD.
If you specified OUR (sender pays all), every charge should be paid by you, and the beneficiary should receive the gross amount. Any deduction is a violation. Take the GPI trail to your sender bank — they have to chase the offending correspondent and refund you.
Beneficiary-bank charges: the beneficiary's own bank may charge an "incoming wire fee" — 10-20 USD typically. This is outside the SHA/OUR/BEN scheme and applies even on OUR. The beneficiary, not the sender, can negotiate this.
FX margin: if the wire involved currency conversion, the bigger "missing amount" is usually FX spread, not deducted charges. A 10,000 USD wire converted to JPY at a 2% spread costs you 200 USD in FX, vs maybe 25 USD in charges.
To diagnose: open the GPI trail. Field 71F at each hop shows the charge deducted. The difference between the gross amount sent and the credit at the beneficiary, less the sum of field 71F amounts, is the FX margin.
For repeated routine deductions on OUR wires, ask your bank to renegotiate the correspondent fee schedule or change routing.
Take the GPI trail (showing the 71F deduction) to your sender bank's complaints team. Under GPI rules, OUR means no intermediary deduction. Most banks refund within 5 business days.
Yes — sum the field 71F amounts across hops. That is charges. Whatever else is missing (after correct exchange-rate calculation) is FX margin.
No — the clearing systems do not charge per-payment fees to customers. Charges come from the participating banks.
Ask your bank for an indicative all-in cost for the corridor. For OUR, they will quote a single number. For SHA, they can estimate based on historical data.