We wish to inform you that your recent international transfer in the amount of USD $234,000.00 to Fifth Third Bank, United States, dated 3 November 2025, has been temporarily placed under an International Transfer Compliance Hold Notice by the receiving correspondent bank in the United States.
This measure forms part of a mandatory compliance review in accordance with U.S. Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) requirements. As all U.S. dollar-denominated international transactions are routed through the United States banking system, they are subject to these regulatory screening procedures.
Your transaction has been selected for manual verification by the U.S. correspondent bank based on internal compliance criteria, which may include the transaction value, beneficiary details, or payment reference. Please note that this is a standard regulatory process and does not indicate any issue with your account or the beneficiary.
The compliance review is expected to be completed within 24 to 48 hours. Upon completion, the funds will be released automatically to the beneficiary account. However, we must advise that the correspondent bank may apply a mandatory compliance handling fee of USD $2,255, which cannot be deducted from the transferred amount.
Under international SWIFT settlement regulations and HSBC internal compliance policies, transactions processed under a BEN instruction require that all associated charges be settled separately. This ensures full transparency and prevents unauthorized deductions from the principal transfer amount.
Furthermore, the funds are currently held in a “pending release” status within a controlled settlement channel. At this stage, they have not yet been credited to an accessible account balance and therefore cannot be used to offset any outstanding charges. Internal processing protocols strictly prohibit partial deductions prior to final settlement.
Additionally, we would like to reiterate that both the $84,000 and $150,000 transfers were processed under a single SWIFT instruction. As such, they remain technically and contractually linked, and cannot be separated, partially released, or completed independently at this stage.
We appreciate your understanding and cooperation while this compliance process is being completed. Should you require further clarification, please do not hesitate to contact us.