PLEASE help me understand what this letter means.

[Cies]

A Spanish friend has roped me in to help him with payment problem from a Canadian client. Client paid for services with a Canadian cheque, but Spanish friend can´t get his bank or their bank to cash the cheque for him. He received this letter this morning.

We have received your collection Ref xxxxxx in the amount of xxxxx ?
payable to (my friend). We have noted your letter quoted
instructions your charges are by drawee account and cannot be waived
as cheques by their nature preclude us from requesting that extra
charges be deducted from the drawee's account. Please advise by
authenticated wire message if we may disregard this clause and proceed
to handle. best regards ....

Please, who is drawee account? my friend or Canadian client?

What does "your charges are by drawee account " mean?

I understand as your friend having asked his bank to deduct bank charges from the cheque payee (the Canadian client) but that back can't do this as it's over and above the amount indicated on the cheque.

thanks, that´s what I had understood but I´m not v familiar with this type of language so I thought I should double check with mn´s wise ladies before telling friend.

Oh I'm not a wise lady, hopefully someone else more knowledgeable will be along soon.

I hate bank-ese too.

this doesn't sound like bank-ese - sounds like a really bad translation. I understood it to mean that they would charge for accepting this cheque - but can't take the charge off the cheque amount - but they want your friend to let them??? But really don't have a clue

Sounds to me like scam-speak.

Is he sure of the authenticity of this 'canadian client'?

Makes sense to me, but then I am an accountant .

The drawee is actually the Canadian bank; you can understand why they are not willing to pay the extra charge imposed by the Spanish bank! Your friend should get his Spanish bank to confirm that any charges are for the account of the payee (your friend). This means that he will get less money paid into his account. The charge might even be more than the cheque is worth. Accepting cheques drawn on foreign banks is not generally a good idea, unless the charges for clearing the cheque have been determined in advance and added to the bill.