How to transfer money from Russia to Armenia and vice versa

So, you live in Armenia and work remotely for a Russian company. Or maybe your relatives from Russia are helping you, or you work in the local market and would like to support your relatives financially. In any case, there is a need to send money from one country to another. What is the easiest way to organize money transfers between Russia and Armenia?

There are several ways to send money between countries. The optimal one will depend on whether you have an account in an Armenian bank, as well as on the amount. Let us formulate general rules to make translations simple and effective:

• It’s better to transfer small amounts;
• transfer currency - rubles or drams;
• cut out intermediaries as much as possible.

Contents

1. Cash withdrawal from Mir / UnionPay card
2. Direct transfers from Russian banks to Armenian accounts
3. Transfers through money transfer systems
4. Transfers via SWIFT
5. Transfers via SPFS

Cash withdrawal from Mir / UnionPay card

If you have a Mir payment system card, then accountants at work or relatives can send money to it. This way you can withdraw money from your Russian card at VTB Armenia ATMs.

In the case of UnionPay system cards, you can receive money with their help at ATMs or ACBA bank branches.

Direct transfers from Russian banks to Armenian accounts

A number of banks in Armenia accept direct transfers from ruble cards to Armenian accounts (for example, the popular Ameria, Ardshinbank or Ineco using ArCa). But you need to keep in mind that money can only be moved between partner banks. For Sberbank this is, for example, Evoca bank, Inecobank, ArmEconomBank, ID Bank, Ararat bank, Ardshinbank, Acba bank and TelCell payment system.

Sberbank, Tinkoff, Alfa Bank and Fora Bank offer transfer services to ArCa banks using a card, account or phone number. Commission - 1%, except for Alpha with 1.95%. However, we recommend that you check when opening an account with a local bank whether transfers from Russia are accepted there. The best conditions are with Tinkoff Bank, which offers transfers of up to 20,000 rubles without commission, and also has the least restrictions on the part of Armenian banks. It is also worth mentioning the possibility of transfers from the Russian VTB, which provides transfers to VTB Armenia (commission - 1%).

It is most profitable to transfer money in rubles and receive in drams, because receiving in any other currency requires conversion through AMD.

Transfers through money transfer systems

If your account is opened at a bank that does not accept direct transfers, you can use the IDpay service. This is an ID bank application that allows you to link cards of any Armenian and Russian banks and transfer rubles between Russian and Armenian accounts with a commission of 0.9% (0.5% for ID bank clients). In order to use this service, you need to undergo verification - provide the application with a photo of your passport and a selfie with a document. In this way it is possible to transfer up to 200,000 rubles. per month (if your account is in an ID bank, the limit will be higher). The commission amount is visible in the application before you send the transfer. Raiffeisen has the best conditions for such transfers from Russian banks, while the popular Alfa-Bank and Tinkoff will add their own commission to the transfer amount.

Learn more about IDPay

If you do not have an account in an Armenian bank, then a way to send money from Russia will be the Unistream transfer service, which issues cash at branches of large banks. You can send rubles, drams, dollars and euros from Russia to Armenia and vice versa. Armenian banks cooperate with Unistream VTB Armenia and Unibank. You can send money through the application or through a physical cashier, the fee will be up to 2.5%.

Instructions and questions on Unistream transfers

Transfers via SWIFT

Large sums and currencies can be transferred from Russian accounts to Armenian ones via SWIFT. Among the large Russian banks working with SWIFT are Raiffeisen, Tinkoff, Gazprombank, OTP. Before the transaction, it is worth checking whether the Armenian bank accepts transfers from the Russian Federation, and if so, in what currency such a transfer is available. Transfers via SWIFT will take longer (up to a week), and the problem may also arise during interaction with an intermediary bank that does not service Russian banks. In this case, the payment will be returned to the sender, and I can deduct a commission from it. To be on the safe side, the intermediary bank can be clarified through the recipient bank of the transfer.

Transfers via SPFS

SPFS is a transfer system created as an alternative to SWIFT. The transfer procedure is similar, but only two Armenian banks use it - Unibank and Ardshinbank. Without an account in these banks, you will not be able to receive a transfer.

When transferring funds from the Russian Federation to Armenia, it is important to keep one nuance in mind. In the case of transfers of large amounts, the bank may request confirmation of the origin of funds. This is a legal request for all types of transfers, and additional documents, such as income statements, will be required to complete such a quest.

What documents are needed to confirm the origin of funds

If you have any questions about transferring money, you can contact our other article in the FAQ section.