The hidden cost of paying your overseas suppliers

Colombia is importing more than ever. What almost no one calculates is how much gets lost along the way.

A Colombian SME that regularly pays overseas suppliers can lose between USD 23,500 and USD 30,700 a year. Not through bad business decisions—through costs that never show up, or never show up in full, on their bank statement. And with imports at record highs, more and more companies are paying that cost without ever seeing it.

Colombia is buying more abroad

Colombia has spent months breaking import records. According to DANE, external purchases totaled **USD 31.3 billion** between January and May 2026—an 11.1% increase over the same period in 2025. In May alone, the country imported **USD 6.785 billion**, a 10.6% year-over-year rise.

Leading that expansion is China, which accounted for **28.6%** of all Colombian imports from January to May, cementing its position as the country's top supplier.

More overseas purchases mean more international transfers leaving thousands of Colombian companies every week. And each one carries a cost that is rarely seen in full.

The problem isn't your bank. It's the system it operates in.

What correspondent banking is and why it affects you

When your company sends a payment to a supplier in China, that money almost never travels directly from your bank to the supplier's. More likely, it passes through one, two, or even three **correspondent banks**—intermediaries—before it arrives.

Each one charges for the service. And that charge doesn't appear as a separate line on your statement: it's deducted from the amount you sent. It's money that simply never arrives.

The three costs you don't see

When you pay overseas from Colombia, three costs operate at the same time:

• Sending bank fee: Your bank charges to process the transfer. Rates vary by institution, but can reach USD 25 per transaction, plus VAT.

• Correspondent bank charge: The intermediary bank(s) deduct between USD 10 and USD 35 from the amount in transit. That money never reaches the supplier—and you neither chose that bank nor negotiated with it.

• FX spread: Your bank doesn't use the official exchange rate (TRM): it applies its own rate, which can run **3% to 4.5%** below the real exchange rate. On a USD 5,000 payment, that difference can be **USD 150 to 225** that stays with the bank, with no line item to explain it.

Combined, these three tolls can represent a **4% to 8% surcharge**, depending on the bank and the route. Multiply that by every purchase order in a month.

The China corridor is one of the most expensive

Paying a supplier in China adds a layer of complexity. The typical route is COP → USD → CNY: first your bank converts pesos to dollars, then the banking system converts dollars to yuan. Each conversion has its own spread. Each hop, its own correspondent bank.

That's why the Colombia–China corridor is one of the costliest for an SME—not because of commercial distance, but because the infrastructure between the two systems still operates with multiple intermediaries.

And with China accounting for nearly 3 of every 10 dollars Colombia imports, this cost isn't marginal. It's structural for thousands of companies.

What a Company actually loses

Let's run the numbers on a real payment. If your company sends USD 5,000 to a supplier in China:

• Sending bank fee: up to USD 25

• Correspondent bank charges (2 hops): up to USD 70

• FX spread (3%–4.5%): USD 150–225

→ Estimated loss: USD 245 to 320 per transfer.

That's between **4.9% and 6.4%** of the value that never reaches the supplier and never stays with your company either. It disappears into the system.

For an SME making 8 payments of that size per month, the invisible cost runs between USD 1,960 and 2,560 monthly—USD 23,500 to 30,700 a year.

Five things to put on the table

1. Map your overseas payments: How many transfers do you make per month? To which destinations? The corridor to China, Europe, or the U.S. carries different costs.

2. Ask for the full breakdown: Your bank should show you every charge. Demand to see the exchange rate applied and the correspondent charges listed separately.

3. Add up the annual cost: The tolls look small per transaction. Totaled over a year, they reveal how much your company loses in each purchasing cycle.

4. Evaluate alternative routes. For recurring payments to the same supplier, a USD account with direct payments can significantly reduce that cost.

5. Consult your advisor: Foreign-exchange obligations with the Banco de la República and the DIAN vary by transaction type and your company's regime.

*This article is informational content and does not constitute financial or foreign-exchange advice.*

The bottom line

Colombia is importing more a sign of growth and of companies operating at global scale. But growing globally on local banking infrastructure carries a cost that never appears in the DANE headline.

The good news: that cost isn't inevitable. It's an operational decision.

With VIIO Business, you get a USD account to pay overseas suppliers without the surcharges of the correspondent chain—with clear costs from your very first payment.

It's not about doing it fast. It's about doing it right.

→ Discover VIIO Business: https://viio.me/en/corporate

Sources

• Imports January–May 2026 (USD 31.3B, +11.1%) and May imports (USD 6.785B, +10.6%) — DANE, via El Espectador.

• China's share (28.6% Jan–May; 27% in May) — DANE, via Portafolio.