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Managing Forward Contracts

American Express® FX International Payments can help you reduce your exposure to exchange rate fluctuations. With the Forward Contracts feature, you can purchase a set amount of foreign currency at a fixed price for future payments.

TIP : A Fixed Contract specifies a precise maturity date. A Window Contract (or drawdown) specifies a date range during which payments can be made until the full amount is settled by the maturity date.

Requesting a Quote

 

To access Forward Contracts, go to Create & Manage Payments > Forward Contracts, then:

 

  • 1 Choose Fixed or Window from the Forward Type drop-down menu and select the currency you want to purchase from the Currency of Contract drop-down menu.

  • 2 Select if the value indicated in Amount is in Foreign Currency or Local Equivalent.

  • 3 Enter the Maturity Date by which the full contract must be settled.

  • 4 Once you have entered all the mandatory information, click Quote. The Summary box will then show details, including the Amount, Rate, Subtotal, Fee, and Total Cost.

Use of forward contracts to purchase foreign currency helps mitigate FX risk while making future global payments.
TIP : The quote expiry date will be indicated in the orange box. If the rate expires, or if you are otherwise unsatisfied with the quoted rate, you can click Re-Quote for a new rate.

Part Payments

 

A Part Payment may be required for your contract. The amount owed will be displayed. You should then:

 

  • 1 Choose how you wish to pay from the Settlement Method drop-down menu.

  • 2 If paying by direct debit, select the appropriate Account Number.

  • 3 You will be prompted for authorization before any payment is collected.

 

Completing your Payment

 

You have two options to complete your transaction:

 

  • 1 If you have the required authorization, click Accept to execute the transaction immediately. As an additional security measure, you must re-submit your Username and Password. Then click Approve Payments. If successful, you will see ‘Your payment is complete’ followed by the Payment Reference Number.

  • 2 If you do not have the required authorization level, click Send for approval and check the box to alert an approver by email. The transaction will be routed to Approve a Payment. For more details, view the Approving a Payment tutorial.

With both options, you will be able to Print Details of the transaction. To start the process again, click Create Another Contract.

 

Open Contracts

 

Any open contracts will be displayed in the lower portion of the Forward Contract section. Here you can view the details of each open contract, such as the Creation Date, Amount and Total Cost, and make drawdowns. To make a drawdown on an open contract, click the appropriate Drawdown button.

Steps for viewing details of open contracts such as date, amount and total cost of the forward contracts.

Creating a Drawdown

 

  • 1 Choose Window or Fixed from the Forward Type drop-down menu and select the currency you want to send your payee from the Currency of Contract drop-down menu. The amount Available for Drawdown will be indicated.

  • 2 Choose how much you wish to drawdown from the available amount by completing the Contract Amount field.

  • 3 Specify whether you want your payee to receive the Local Equivalent of the amount you’ve entered, or whether you want your beneficiary to receive the amount in the Foreign Currency you’ve selected.

  • 4 Enter the Maturity Date on which you want the payment to be made in the pop-up calendar. The Maturity Date will normally default to two working days after date of creation.

  • 5Once you have entered all the mandatory information, click Continue. The Summary box will then show details, including the Amount, Rate, Subtotal, Fee, and Total Cost.

TIP: We will endeavor to value the funds on Maturity Date, however please note that some factors may delay the valuation. For further information on the date funds will arrive, please consult Customer Services – details can be found at the end of this page.

Entering payment details for the Payee

 

You must also enter the information for the payee receiving the payment. To do so, either Select from Your Existing Payee List or Create New.

 

  • To select from the existing list, simply search or scroll through and click the appropriate one; the information fields on the right will be automatically populated.

  • To create a new payee, manually enter the information in the fields on the right. For more details, view the Payees tutorial.

Entering payment details of an existing payee or creating a new payee for receiving payments.

Searching for a Bank

 

For outgoing wire transfers, the payee section will display the Search for Bank option. Here you can search for payee bank details either by IBAN or country. After entering your search criteria, click Search and select the appropriate bank from the results displayed below; the information fields will automatically be populated.

 

TIP : Should you wish to add a note, Notes to Payee will be sent with the payment instruction and are viewable by your payee. Notes for You/Internal comments are for your use only; they will not be viewable by your payee.

 

Completing your Payment

 

  • 1 If you have the required authorization, click Accept to execute the transaction immediately. As an additional security measure, you must re-submit your Username and Password. Then click Approve Payments. If successful, you will see ‘Your payment is complete’ followed by the Payment Reference Number.

  • 2 If you do not have the required authorization level, click Send for approval and check the box to alert an approver by email. The transaction will be routed to Approve a Payment. For more details, view the Approving a Payment tutorial.

With both options, you will be able to Print Details of the transaction.

 

Contact us

 

Existing members

 

Our Customer Service team is available 24 hours a day, Monday through Friday.
1 888 391 9971.

 

 

New members

 

New to American Express? Give us a call on 1 833 319 7265. Our Customer Service team is available 24 hours a day, Monday through Friday.

Make International Payments

1 833 319 7265

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Existing FX International Payments customers log in here

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