Intro
A payment can be delayed for both technical and AML reasons.
In cases where SEPA Instant is not used it can easily take 2 banking days before a payment arrives.
For compliance-AML reasons, the delay can be much longer, potentially weeks when different parties involved in a payment under review reply slow to a Request For Information (RFI).
Common compliance-AML reasons for delays
Be aware that different actors in a payment have varying levels of visibility and control. Neither Januar as a Payment Institution or Banking Circle (Januar's underlying bank) have control over what happens at another financial institution.
A common reason why an expected payin is delayed is due to the sending bank not sending the payment immediately. Banks have both AML responsibilities and need to protect their customer base from fraud. A payment from a bank customer in another country to a Januar DK, DE or LU IBAN may trigger both AML and fraud protection rules causing the payment being held for manual review until the customer at the bank provides satisfactory answer or permission to send the (international) payment.
Another common reason might be that it is held up for review by Banking Circle, in this case there can be a few extra days up to several weeks of delay. Banking Circle will send a RFI request to the sending bank for payins, if no reply is received from the sending bank to the RFI request after 28 days, then will Januar will be informed of this. In the latter case we may reach out to you as a Januar customer to provide more information on the payment instead of the sending bank.
Payments to and from GB IBANS are most likely held up by Januar itself for review as covered in one of the other support articles.
What can I do as a Januar customer?
Be aware of both technical and compliance-AML sources of delays. Aim to avoid the sources of delay when possible and set correct expectations with your own customer base.
Thoroughly read the information in these support articles:
- How long does a payment take to process?
- Supported countries
- IBANS with supported currencies and payment schemes
- SEPA Instant processing times and transactions delays
If 2 banking days have passed, you can consider reaching out to support@januar.com
Januar processes thousands of payments per month, so be very specific to help us, to be able to help you.
We recommend the following format when contacting us:
From IBAN: <insert IBAN1> belonging to <insert account holder name>
To IBAN: <insert IBAN2> belonging to <insert account holder name>
Amount & Currency: <insert amount and currency>
Date: <insert date in format YYYY-MM-DD>
Documentation:
- In case of a payin, a receipt from the sending bank.
- In case of a payout, a screenshot of the payout on app.januar.com and the copied transaction id in text form.
Commonly for payins, Januar Support may not be able to find your payment. If this is the case it needs to be escalated with an MT103 message and a tracer described in the paragraphs below. You may also opt to ask for this with your counterparty/end customer before reaching out to Januar Support.
Then the next step is for you to contact your counterparty/end customer to have them contact the sending bank to confirm that the funds have been sent and are not being held up for AML checks. Be aware that even though you may seen a receipt the payment has been sent, this does not mean it has actually been sent as it can be held up for review or cancelled after the receipt was generated. Therefore, ask the sending bank to provide a confirmation by having them share the payment instruction message (commonly referred to as a MT103 message) and share that with us.
If the sending bank confirms that the funds have already been sent, then they can also be asked to issue a tracer. Sending a tracer for payments involves the sending bank initiating an inquiry to trace the path of a specific payment transaction. This action is usually taken when there is uncertainty or delay in the settlement or receipt of a payment. The process involves the originating bank (or the bank that initiated the payment) sending out a request through the payment system (such as SEPA) to track the payment's progress and to identify where it might be held up. The tracer aims to gather information about the payment's status, verify its processing stages, and ultimately ensure that the payment reaches its intended recipient. This tool is particularly useful in cross-border transactions, where payments pass through multiple banks, each using different processing systems and operating in different time zones. Tracers can help identify processing errors, issues with beneficiary details, or compliance checks that may delay the payment.