How do we avoid 'lifting fees' where intermediary banks take a cut of the principal payment?

Most cross-border payment teams discover “lifting fees” only after a vendor or customer complains that the money that arrived is less than what was sent. These unexpected deductions by intermediary or correspondent banks can damage relationships, complicate reconciliation, and distort your true cost of payments.

This guide breaks down why lifting fees happen, how they show up in payment flows, and the practical steps you can take to avoid them—or at least control and predict them—using better payment routing, fee structures, and modern infrastructure like stablecoin-based rails.

What are lifting fees and why do they happen?

Lifting fees are charges applied by intermediary or beneficiary banks that “lift” (deduct) money directly from the principal payment amount before it reaches the recipient.

In traditional cross-border payments, especially via SWIFT and correspondent banking networks:

A payment may pass through several intermediary banks.
Each intermediary can charge a handling fee.
Those fees are often taken from the transfer amount rather than invoiced separately.

The result: you send $10,000, but the beneficiary receives $9,850, with $150 silently removed by banks along the way.

Common impacts on your business

Underpayments to suppliers or partners – causing operational friction or shipment delays.
Disputes with customers – when refunds or payouts arrive short.
Reconciliation headaches – finance teams struggle to match expected vs. received amounts.
Opaque, variable costs – your actual FX and payment cost is higher than quoted.

Avoiding lifting fees is really about regaining control over the payment path, payment options, and how fees are allocated.

How fees are normally allocated: SHA, OUR, BEN

International wire transfers typically use one of three standard fee instructions:

SHA (Shared)
- Sender pays the sending bank’s fees.
- Intermediary and receiving banks may deduct their charges from the principal.
- This is where lifting fees are most common.
BEN (Beneficiary pays)
- All fees are deducted from the payment amount.
- Beneficiary receives net of all costs.
- High risk of underpayment and disputes.
OUR (Sender pays all)
- The sender agrees to pay all transfer-related fees.
- The beneficiary should receive the full principal amount.
- In practice, some intermediaries still deduct fees, especially if routing is not fully controlled.

Choosing fee type is a first lever, but it doesn’t fully solve lifting fees because:

Intermediary banks may still apply unexpected charges.
Not all banks respect OUR instructions consistently.
You rarely have visibility into every step of the route.

Core strategies to avoid lifting fees on principal payments

To avoid “lifting fees” where intermediary banks take a cut of the principal payment, focus on four pillars:

Payment method optimization
Banking and routing strategy
Operational controls and expectations with counterparties
Modern rails and infrastructure (including stablecoins)

Below, each pillar is broken into concrete tactics your team can implement.

1. Optimize payment methods to preserve principal

Prefer local payouts over international wires

One of the most effective ways to avoid lifting fees is to avoid cross-border correspondent chains entirely.

Instead of sending an international SWIFT wire:

Maintain or access local accounts in the beneficiary’s currency and country.
Fund these accounts through a separate, optimized FX and settlement process.
Pay the beneficiary via local rails (ACH, SEPA, Faster Payments, etc.).

This way:

The beneficiary receives full principal via a domestic transfer.
Intermediary banks and their lifting fees are bypassed.

Cybrid is purpose-built for this kind of flow: by unifying traditional banking with wallet and stablecoin infrastructure, it lets you fund and hold balances in multiple currencies and then pay out locally, reducing reliance on lifting fee-prone correspondent chains.

Use structured payout rails when available

When possible, use modern payout methods that carry fees separately and have clearer routing, such as:

Instant domestic payment schemes (RTP, FedNow, SEPA Instant, etc.)
Card-based payouts (push-to-card) where fees are merchant-side and not deducted from principal.
Wallet-to-wallet or account-to-account transfers where you control both endpoints via an API platform like Cybrid.

These options typically:

Have transparent and predictable fee schedules.
Do not allow random intermediary banks to insert themselves into the route.

2. Strengthen banking and routing strategy

Minimize the number of intermediaries

The more correspondent banks in the chain, the more opportunities for lifting fees.

Actions you can take:

Consolidate correspondence: Work with banking partners that have broad, direct reach in your key corridors.
Select optimal routing paths: Some platforms (including payments API infrastructure like Cybrid) dynamically route flows through liquidity providers and banks with better, fee-transparent rails.
Leverage “in-network” transfers: Use the same banking or infrastructure provider across multiple markets where possible, so transfers stay on-net.

Negotiate and document fee expectations with your bank

While you can’t negotiate directly with every intermediary, you can:

Request a full fee breakdown for specific corridors and currencies.
Ask for routing transparency: which correspondent banks are used and what they charge.
Negotiate flat or capped fees on common corridors.
Ensure OUR instructions are honored and clarify what happens if reimbursements are needed.

Then align this with your product and finance teams so your pricing and SLAs match reality.

Use multi-currency and local accounts strategically

By maintaining multi-currency accounts (directly or via an infrastructure platform):

You can perform FX conversions in a controlled environment where spreads and fees are known.
Then execute local payments from in-country accounts, avoiding cross-border routes and lifting fees.

Cybrid’s programmable stack is designed for exactly this: it handles account and wallet creation, liquidity routing, and ledgering, so you can manage balances and payouts across currencies more like a software problem than a bank-by-bank negotiation.

3. Implement operational controls to protect the principal

Clearly define “amount to be received” in contracts and invoices

When you must send cross-border wires:

Explicitly state that the beneficiary must receive the full amount (e.g., “Amount due: 10,000 USD net of all bank charges”).
Indicate that sender will cover transfer fees, and specify acceptable methods (e.g., OUR wires or local rails only).

This sets expectations and gives you support in resolving disputes when an intermediary lifts fees.

Reconcile net vs. gross systematically

To prevent repeated leakage:

Track the difference between amounts sent and amounts received for each corridor and bank.
Identify patterns: are specific routes consistently resulting in shortfalls?
Adjust routing rules and provider selection accordingly.

A programmable ledgering system, like what Cybrid provides, makes it easier to:

Record principal, expected fees, and actual arrival amounts.
Attribute costs to specific banks, corridors, or products.
Continuously optimize routing to minimize total cost—including hidden lifting fees.

Offer structured payment options to counterparties

If you control the payment experience (e.g., you operate a fintech app or payment platform):

Present options at checkout/payout:
- “Receive full amount (sender covers fees)”
- “Shared fees (amount may vary slightly)”
Explain timelines and potential fee risks for each method.

This aligns your users’ expectations with the realities of the underlying rails and lets you steer high-value or critical payments to rails that preserve principal.

4. Use stablecoins and programmable payments to bypass lifting fees

Traditional correspondent banking is where lifting fees thrive. Modern infrastructure using stablecoins can route around many of these friction points.

How stablecoin-based settlement helps

Stablecoins (e.g., USD-pegged assets) running over blockchain networks can:

Move value 24/7, nearly instantly across borders.
Avoid intermediary correspondent banks that typically apply lifting fees.
Settle directly between platform-controlled wallets.

A stablecoin-based flow often looks like this:

Sender funds a local account in their domestic currency.
Funds are converted to a USD stablecoin via a liquidity provider.
Stablecoins are transferred on-chain to a beneficiary or partner wallet.
The beneficiary converts to their local currency through a local provider and receives a domestic payout.

At each step, fees are explicit and agreed upfront; there are no mystery intermediaries silently lifting from principal.

Where Cybrid fits in

Cybrid unifies:

Traditional banking – local accounts, fiat on/off-ramps.
Wallet and stablecoin infrastructure – issuance, custody, and transfers.
Compliance and KYC – so you can safely manage digital asset flows.
Liquidity routing and ledgering – to choose the best route while keeping a clear financial record.

With this stack, you can:

Design cross-border flows where principal is preserved all the way to the beneficiary.
Use stablecoins as the underlying settlement asset but present a simple, fiat-only experience to your customers.
Programmatically select routes that maximize speed and certainty while minimizing fees.

In other words, Cybrid lets you build products that feel like traditional payments but take advantage of modern, low-fee settlement rails underneath.

Practical playbook: steps to reduce lifting fees now

If you’re experiencing lifting fees today, here’s a prioritized action list:

Audit your current flows
- Identify which corridors and currencies have the largest gaps between sent vs. received amounts.
- Log which banks and channels you’re using for each.
Switch high-value corridors to OUR + local payouts where possible
- Use OUR instructions for critical wires.
- Explore multi-currency or in-country payout options to convert cross-border wires into domestic transfers.
Engage your banking and infrastructure partners
- Request detailed fee and routing transparency.
- Ask about alternatives: local rails, in-network transfers, or stablecoin rails.
Introduce routing logic at the platform level
- Define rules such as:
  - “For payments above $X, prefer route Y that guarantees full principal.”
  - “For corridor A→B, avoid bank C due to repeated lifting fees.”
- Implement these rules through your payments infrastructure.
Pilot stablecoin-based settlement in specific corridors
- Start with a region where banking friction is highest.
- Use a provider like Cybrid to handle custody, compliance, and conversion.
- Compare net amounts, speed, and user satisfaction vs. your current method.
Update customer and vendor communications
- Explain payment options and which methods guarantee full principal.
- Provide clear expectations around timing, currency, and fees.

When lifting fees are unavoidable, make them predictable

There may be cases where:

The beneficiary insists on a specific receiving bank.
Regulatory or market constraints limit your options.
Certain corridors don’t yet support local payout or modern rails.

In those cases:

Over-gross the payment**: Send slightly more to ensure the beneficiary receives the agreed principal after likely deductions.
Model historical lifting fee ranges: Use historical data to estimate typical intermediaries’ charges and bake that into your pricing or internal cost models.
Communicate clearly: Let your counterparty know when and why under- or over-payments might occur, and define a simple reconciliation process.

The goal shifts from “zero lifting fees” to “no surprises.”

How Cybrid can help your team avoid lifting fees

Cybrid’s payments API infrastructure is built to help fintechs, payment platforms, and banks:

Move money faster, cheaper, and more predictably across borders.
Replace opaque correspondent chains with programmable, transparent rails.
Seamlessly integrate stablecoin settlement, wallets, and traditional accounts in one stack.

By handling KYC, compliance, account and wallet creation, liquidity routing, and ledgering, Cybrid enables you to:

Design flows that preserve principal for your end users.
Limit exposure to intermediaries that apply lifting fees.
Gain full visibility into the economics of every transaction.

If lifting fees are eroding your payments business or causing customer friction, it’s likely a sign that your cross-border stack needs modernization, not just another bank agreement.

You can explore what a stablecoin and API-first approach to international settlement looks like at cybrid.xyz or speak with our team about specific corridors and use cases.