why does the bank ask how much I will pay internationally

Expected payment traffic is part of the risk profile

The bank asks this to establish the customer's risk profile, not to monitor your payments before they are executed. Under the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act, the bank must obtain a picture of the expected use of the account during customer due diligence. Countries outside the EU, and in particular countries that appear on international sanctions or risk lists, carry more weight than payments within Europe. An expectation that subsequently deviates significantly from practice is often the trigger for a follow-up question, not the initial question itself.

In practice, the bank asks for an estimate: a percentage of turnover, an amount per year, or a list of countries with which you trade. This can be supported with the same data you use for the source of the company's assets: turnover figures by region, main customers and suppliers, and the currencies in which invoices are issued. If you do not have that breakdown readily available, a substantiated estimate with a margin is more common than an exact figure — the bank is looking for a realistic picture, not accounting precision. Countries where sanctions regulations apply deserve separate attention; this relates to the same test as or whether the enterprise or any of its directors is on a sanctions list.

Basis: customer due diligence under the AMLTFA

This question follows from the obligation to conduct customer due diligence under the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act: the bank must not only know who the customer is, but also what constitutes plausible use of the service, in order to be able to recognize deviations later. The Trade Register Act 2007 provides the bank with basic information about the enterprise itself, but says nothing about expected payment behaviour — the bank must obtain this separately from the customer. Compare this with the question about at which banks the enterprise maintains accounts: that also serves to map the customer's complete payment landscape, not to assess a single transaction.