Your simple guide to SBI Frankfurt

SBI Frankfurt is a Germany based office and independent subsidiary of State Bank of India, SBI for short.

In addition to business banking, they provide personal banking services and money transfers for Indians and people of Indian origin who are living in Germany.

Learn more about SBI money transfer services and if they can work for you whether you are sending from or to India.

📝 Table of contents
Sending money from India Fees Time taken Sending money from Germany Fees Time taken

Sending money from Germany to India with SBI

Sending money from Germany through SBI Frankfurt is not that easy. It is still a physical process, not a digital one.

And it is only available for SBI Frankfurt customers, so if you hold a bank account elsewhere you will not be able to use their services.

If you are a SBI Frankfurt account holder and you do want to send money to India, you can do it by cash or deposit.

⚠️ Either way, both will require you to bring or mail a remittance application form and paperwork to the SBI Frankfurt office for the mandatory one time registration.

Here is what the process looks like:

1. Download the registration form
2. Complete the form with your personal information and your account details at SBI
3. Gather your documents including a passport size photo, copies of your passport, address proof, visa if applicable and have them attested.
4. Send the document package to the Frankfurt office address below.
5. Await a letter from SBI Frankfurt with your customer number
6. Next, you can get started on transferring money to India by providing a remittance request by mail or physically at a branch.

In your remittance request, you are to provide the following:

1. Your SBI Frankfurt customer number
2. The beneficiary’s name
3. The beneficiary’s address
4. The beneficiary’s account number
5. The beneficiary’s bank details including the IFSC code
6. The remittance amount
7. The remittance currency
8. The reason for your transfer
9. Your address and phone number

The contact address to send the registration form and the remittance request is:

Mr. Neeraj Mathew Joseph
Assistant Vice President(Private Clients)
State Bank of India
Frankfurt Branch
Mainzer Landstrasse 61
D-60329, Frankfurt Am Main
Germany
Tel: +49-69-27237-133
Email: avp.privateclients@statebank-frankfurt.com

To clarify, the remittance will be executed electronically through the SWIFT system, but to put in a remittance is through the mail remittance request process.⁴

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Fees and charges

With SBI Frankfurt, you will be hit with two fees on a transaction, a transfer fee and the hidden exchange rate fee.

The transfer fee depends on the amount you are sending. Here is how it breaks down:⁵

Amount	SBI Frankfurt fee
Up to €5,000	€15
Above €5,000	.1% of the amount + €10

For example, if you send €5,500 as a remittance, your fee would be €15.50 (€5.5 + €10).

After the transaction fee, you will be hit with a hidden fee in the exchange rate you get from SBI Frankfurt. SBI sets their own exchange rate for customers to be weaker than the exchange rate they use themselves. By creating this difference, they are able to take a cut for every Euro you convert.

And this can really add up.

See how the exchange rate with SBI makes a difference compared to Wise. Wise uses the same exchange rate you see on Google and the one that banks use themselves- the mid-market exchange rate.

Amount/ Fees/ Rate	SBI Frankfurt	Wise
Amount to send to India	€1,000	€1,000
Transfer Fee	€15	€9.64
Exchange rate for $1 CAD	₹86.55⁶	₹86.67
Total in INR	₹85,251.75	₹85,831.93

Exchange rate as of August 27, 2021

Between the transfer fee and the hidden exchange rate fee, you send close to ₹1,600 less than with a transparent provider like Wise. That is a big difference for your recipients back in India.

Open your free Wise account now 🚀

Time taken

SBI Frankfurt does not disclose how long a transaction will take so it is best to check with them for expected delivery time.

Sending money from India to Germany with SBI

Whether you have loved ones studying in Germany or need to make payments abroad, SBI can help you do so from India.

SBI has a foreign outward remittance service, approved by the Reserve Bank of India, to send money from your SBI account to a local bank account outside of India.

In addition to Germany, you can send money to the following countries with SBI:

• United States of America
• New Zealand
• Japan
• The United Kingdom
• France
• Singapore
• Australia
• Canada
• South Africa

⚠️ Foreign outward remittance service is only available to existing SBI customers who have had an account for at least 1 year with the bank

If you do qualify, you can start the process from SBI’s regular online banking portal. Here are the quick steps to add a new international beneficiary and how to send a transfer:

1. Log into the SBI personal online banking portal
2. Click on your Profile
3. Click on “Manage Beneficiary”
4. Click on “International Beneficiary” from the menu
5. Click on “Add” and put in the details of your beneficiary abroad
6. Provide your PAN details
7. Submit the details for registration
8. Once your beneficiary’s details are registered, log back into the portal
9. Click on Payments/Transfers and then International Funds Transfer
10. Choose your beneficiary from the list
11. Proceed with submitting your transfer request
12. Provide the OTP linked with your account’s mobile number to confirm the transaction
13. Submit the request

It takes 24 hours to register a new international beneficiary, so keep that in mind as you can only logistically complete the transfer the next day after registration.

With SBI, you can add 1 beneficiary per day, and only 7 international beneficiaries in total. So if you have more than a handful of people or accounts to send money to, this may not be the best choice for you.

There are also additional rules to follow when sending money abroad with SBI:¹

• Per the RBI’s Liberalized Remittance Scheme, an Indian citizen can not send more than the currency equivalent of $125,000 USD in a calendar year.
• The remittance must be for one of the RBI’s designated categories, including for gifts, provision, educational fees, medical fees or family support.
• Gifts can’t be more than the currency equivalent of $75,000 USD in a calendar year
• You can not send more than the currency equivalent of $2,000 USD per transaction
• You can only make 4 transactions a month
• You will not be able to send more than the currency equivalent of $96,000 USD over the course of 1 year
• You can’t send more than ₹50,000 to a new beneficiary within the first 5 days

Next, let’s take a look at how much a SBI foreign outward remittance will cost.

Fees and charges

There are 2 fees when you send money to Germany with SBI. The first is a flat transfer fee which is the Indian rupee equivalent of $10 USD on every transaction.²

The second is a hidden fee that is tucked away in the exchange rate you get from SBI on the transaction. SBI sets their exchange rate lower than the mid-market rate.

The mid-market rate is the rate you see on Google and is the same one banks use themselves. It is also the rate you get from Wise. It is transparent and has no mark-up.

When SBI’s exchange rate is weaker than the mid-market rate, they are able to sneak a fee into the difference. Check out the table below to see how that small hidden fee can make a big difference when sending ₹1 lakh to Germany.

Amount/ Fees/ Rate	SBI	Wise
Amount to send to Canada	₹100,000	₹100,000
Transfer Fee of	₹749.70	₹1,809.45
Exchange rate for €1	₹88.76 ³	₹87.11
Total in Euros	€1,118.18	€1,127.25

Exchange rate as of August 26, 2021

Even with a smaller transfer fee, SBI ends up taking a larger cut of your transaction with the hidden exchange rate fee. Simply by using Wise, you can send almost €10 more in your transaction abroad.

Time taken

SBI transactions can take 1-2 business days to reach Germany. That is in addition to the 1 day to register your new beneficiary. Expect at least 2-3 days in total, but that can be less or more depending on the nature of your transaction and payment.

Save when sending money abroad with Wise

When you need to send money to India, choose the simple and cheap way with Wise.

No matter what bank you use, you can use Wise to send money online directly to local bank accounts in India.

💸 Save money on your next international transfer with Wise 💸

Open your free Wise account now 🚀

And if you are in Germany, check out the Wise multi currency account.

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Sources used for this article:

1. SBI Outward Remittance
2. SBI Fee
3. SBI Exchange rate
4. SBI Frankfurt Remittance
5. SBI Frankfurt Fees
6. SBI Frankfurt Exchange rate

All sources checked as of 27 August 2021