Frequently asked questions

World First Asia Limited is a registered limited liability company registered in Hong Kong. No: 1989650 and is regulated as a Money Service Operator by the Hong Kong Customs and approved by the MSO under license no.: 14-02-01352. You can check this information on the MSO licensing website. We must hold sufficient funds to safeguard our business operations so as to further protect our customers' assets. We maintain a high level of capital adequacy. You can also check the registration and regulatory location information of WorldFirst group's companies on the website: https://www.worldfirst.com/en-cn/about-us/security/

If you have anything unclear about your receiving account information, please check with your receiving bank.

You may refer to the following guides for more details.

How to add-individual foreign currency account information.pdf

How to add-corporate foreign currency account information.pdf

*Only applicable to AUD/CAD/EUR/GBP/USD to CNY payment. The actual payment receiving time may be affected by bank holidays of the trading currencies and/or in other countries or regions. WorldFirst is entitled to the right of the final interpretation.

Withdrawals of other currencies will be arranged on the earliest value rate which the banks can provide.

This doesn't often happen, but if your funds don't arrive within the expected timescale, then let us know as soon as possible so that we can set up an investigation with our bank. We will continue to liaise with our bank until the issue has been resolved and the beneficiary has received the funds, and we promise to keep you informed every step of the way.

WorldFirst can initiate a non-receipt investigation (trace) if funds have not reached the beneficiary in an appropriate amount of time. The most common reason for delays are below:

1. Further Information Request: Our correspondent banks and/or their banking partners may request further information on a payment. It will be released when a satisfactory response has been supplied.
2. Incorrect Details: Before launching a trace on your payment, it is a good idea to check the payment details with your beneficiary. If the details are indeed incorrect, an amendment would be more appropriate in most cases.
3. Value Date: Select currencies cannot credit the beneficiary on the same day as we make the payment - your account manager will be able to confirm this detail for you.

For most of our payments, you may request a copy of the outbound payment message sent to your beneficiary’s bank. This will contain all the beneficiary details that you confirmed for the payment.

All of these details will provide the beneficiary bank an opportunity to verify the payment against their own records.

WorldFirst may be able to initiate a payment recall on a best endeavour basis if you require funds to be returned – just let your account manager know.

Similarly, as your beneficiary may have to authorise the return of the payment, it is essential to make them aware of their role in the investigation.

If you have provided an incorrect account number, name, address, or payment reference prior to the payment being processed on our side, we may be able to change the details for you.

In cases where the payment has already been processed by WorldFirst, we may be able to issue an amendment request to the beneficiary bank, although in some instances we may have to wait for funds to return in order to reprocess the payment. The course of action will be determined by the currency, bank or destination, so it is once again recommended to discuss this with your account manager.

Unfortunately, if a payment has been made to the wrong bank (i.e. your beneficiary has provided the wrong SWIFT BIC or sort code), our only options are to wait for a return of funds or to recall the payment from the incorrect destination.

It is advised that you log the incident with the appropriate local crime authority as soon as you have reason to believe the payment is fraudulent. It is also essential that you make your account manager aware as soon as possible, as this will give us a better chance to recover funds.

There are many factors to which can contribute to how long an investigation can take, such as – number of intermediary banks involved in the payment journey, if incorrect details have been supplied, or if a bank is holding the payment.

We assure you that WorldFirst will continue to keep you updated on the progression of the investigation; each case is reviewed on a 2 day basis.

When you make a payment using more than one currency account, we receive the most recent rate on each account at the time you make the payment. These rates are subject to change because the rate the banks provide us fluctuate all the time. During the payment we show you the average rate you are being quoted across all currency accounts. In your statement we display the rate for each deal on each currency account.

When you make a partial payment from one your currency balances, we will attempt to take the full amount from the currency account with the highest balance. If this does not cover the payment you are trying to send, we will take the remaining payment amount from the currency account with the next highest balance until the payment is complete. Once the payment has been covered by one or more currency accounts, it will be processed.