How to find a swift message in the system. What is a SWIFT bank code: meaning, structure and examples of use
What is Swift money transfer? The international payment system "Swift" (Swift) is a payment system of the international level. In cases where it becomes necessary to make a payment to another country, it will be convenient to use its services. It is considered to be more reliable and less expensive than other similar international payment systems. If necessary, using the SWIFT system, individuals can pay for a hotel or study, and organizations or enterprises can make payments for goods or services. Almost anyone can be both the sender and recipient of funds:
- individual;
- business firm;
- organization;
- other clients.
She has her own competitors. These are well-known companies: MoneyGram, Western Union, Unistream and others. For transfers of amounts less than ten thousand dollars, SWIFT takes half as much. And for those that exceed this amount - three times cheaper. This system is used for both regular money transfers and bank payments.
What does she represent
This is an abbreviation made by the first letters English name(Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, SWIFT). In Russian, this means "Community of Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications".
How does it differ from competitors?
- When transferring money, it is allowed to choose the currency in which the payment will be received. If necessary, you can give an order to purchase the desired currency.
- An important feature is that the transfer is not made to the full name of the recipient, but to a specific bank account. That is, it is not necessary to cash out the received money upon receipt. They can be stored in a bank account for a certain time.
- The system has earned a high reputation in the banking world. It was not only qualitatively developed from the very beginning, but also in practice proved excellent quality, high reliability of its work. In addition, transactions in this system are considered to be reliably protected from hacking.
- There are no restrictions on the transferred amounts. Of course, this takes place only in cases where it does not violate the requirements of the law.
The main operating center in Europe is located in Belgium. There are plans to open another such center. The company that runs the system operates in Brussels and is subject to Belgian law.
The work takes place according to the following scheme. Suppose one company plans to make a payment to another. To do this, she contacts her bank, which will interact directly with the payment system. Before being sent through a special terminal, the transaction message will be transmitted to the counterparty bank, which will accept it, decrypt it and execute it. In a similar way, statements are transmitted and it turns out in what state the current pending payments are.
For the use of SWIFT are charged:
- annual maintenance fee;
- commission for making one-time payments.
Each of the ten thousand participants has a unique SWIFT code (in some cases it consists of eight, in others - of eleven characters, which can be both letters and numbers). In order to make a Swift bank transfer in this way, all you need to know is the recipient's IBAN code. It includes the designation of the country, bank, bank branch, verification characters and cannot contain more than 34 characters.
Story
Translation "Swift" - what is it? The system was founded back in 1973. At its origins were 239 banks from 15 countries. They co-founded SWIFT. Now the company belongs to about nine thousand banks from 209 countries (data for 2010).
Advantages and disadvantages of transfers in this system
Like all systems, SWIFT has its advantages and disadvantages. Let's consider them in more detail. Let's start by looking at the positives.
- Translations are characterized by high execution speed. The minimum translation time in some cases may be no more than one minute. However, when transferring money to any point on the planet, situations are also possible when money is transferred over a period of one to three days.
- The system itself does not set any limits on the transfer amount. However, if the legislation of a particular country establishes any limits, then SWIFT will take this into account.
- Not only technical, but also the organization of the delivery of funds is different high reliability and security.
- Almost any currency in which the money will be received can be chosen. The number of available currencies is quite large.
- Rates are much lower than competitors.
- This payment system is very popular all over the world. In particular, this allows you to transfer funds to anywhere in the world.
- When sending money, there is no need for without fail have your own bank account.
There is only one significant drawback here. The fact is that two or more banks can participate in the transfer of money.
When transferring money between remote points of the planet, it may sometimes be necessary to use the services of several banks. When passing the departure in each of them, a certain time will be required, which can make the process of transferring money longer.
Some statistics
In order to better understand the role of the SWIFT system, it makes sense to familiarize yourself with certain figures that characterize it:
- During a calendar day, approximately eight billion payments are transmitted on the entire planet. If you sum them up, the total result will be the equivalent of six trillion US dollars.
- SWIFT clients are located in more than two hundred countries of the world.
- If we talk about the number of banks that are covered by the system, then their number is more than six thousand.
Opportunities
In what cases can you use the system:
- in the event that they wish to transfer money to relatives or acquaintances;
- if a swift is needed to pay for the purchased goods, works or services;
- there was a need to transfer a large amount at minimal cost and with high reliability;
- in order to make a transfer, it is not planned to first open a bank account.
How to use
What needs to be done to send a transfer yourself using the services of the translation system discussed in the article? Here is the instruction:
![](https://i0.wp.com/znatokdeneg.ru/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/perevod-Svift-chto-eto-takoe1.gif)
Manual processing
This system works quickly and efficiently. However, in rare cases, difficulties may arise. In such situations, payments are transferred to manual processing. This usually happens in one of the following cases.
- Errors in the IBAN code.
- Pretty complicated payment route.
- The presence of redundant information in the payment.
- When, when making a transfer, there was no information about the correspondent bank.
In order not to face the indicated difficulties, it is necessary to accurately indicate all the necessary details when sending a payment.
Conclusion
This system is currently undergoing a period of rapid development. The combination of quality and reliability, relatively low prices make its use beneficial for both individuals and various firms and organizations.
Today, the SWIFT international payment system is the most reliable way of financial communications with anywhere in the world. But for this it is necessary to correctly use the payment details, and clearly understand what the bank's SWIFT code is.
Swift code is unique identificator member of the SWIFT system (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications). To make an international money transfer, you need the codes of the sender and recipient. The terms SWIFT-BIC (Bank Identifier Codes), SWIFT ID and BIC code are also used.
The SWIFT payment system was founded in 1973 to standardize and speed up international payments between banking structures, commercial organizations and private individuals. As of the beginning of 2016, about 100,000 banking and commercial structures from 209 countries were registered in the system.
BIC code structure
So, what is a bank's SWIFT code? This is an alphanumeric combination from 8 to 11 characters long, including the following mandatory elements: bank identifier according to the ISO 9362 specification and a two-letter country code determined according to ISO 3166. Only Latin capital letters are used, including in the name and surname of the sender and recipient!
Assignment of character groups:
BBBB- a unique four-character code to identify the participant payment system. It is an abbreviation for the English company name. A Few Examples of Swift Abbreviations for Banks Russian Federation(highlighted in red):
CC - two-character Latin abbreviation of the country name, according to the ISO 3166 standard. Examples of names and SWIFT codes: RU - Russia, US - USA, DE - Germany, KZ - Kazakhstan.
The pickup location identifier allows you to uniquely identify banking institutions with the same name but from different countries. So in the figure above, different Alfa-Banks have different total reductions. Full list country abbreviations can be found on the official ISO 9362 page.
LL - alphanumeric identifier of the territorial location of the bank or organization within the state. Inactive organizations are indicated by two ones, for testing or debugging SWIFT connections, LL consists of two zeros.
DDD is an optional element representing the bank branch code. If the head office code is present in the system, the value is not set, and for international payments, XXX is indicated in the corresponding field. Given code also often used for cross-border payments within the settlement network of the Bank of the Russian Federation or under interstate agreements such as the Customs Union.
A complete directory of identification 11-character codes of SWIFT participants for domestic and international settlements (SWIFT BIC) is available on the official website of the Bank of Russia and the National Association ROSSSWIFT.
SWIFT code of any financial institution is not considered classified (or secret) information and is freely available. On the official website of any bank in the "Details" section, anyone can recognize (and decrypt) it.
In the case of regular SWIFT transfers with a permanent sender and recipient, as well as if a payment is made from abroad legal entity, the bank may require additional documents to confirm the presence or absence of signs of commercial activity. Also, the bank accepting the transfer is not tax agent recipient and is not responsible for possible non-payment of taxes and other violations of the law.
Money transfers to the countries of the European Union and the European Economic Area (ES/EEZ)
According to the EU Directive No. 2560/2001, from January 1, 2007, for making international payments, the recipient of which is a private person, it may happen that the SWIFT code of the bank will not be enough, and it will be necessary to additionally indicate the personal code of the recipient IBAN (International Bank Account Number) . This procedure is also required if bank transfers from the EU area outside of it.
Currently, settlements with using IBAN supports 45 states, including those outside the Eurozone: Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova and others. An exception is made only for the Russian Federation - it is not required to indicate the recipient's IBAN yet.
IBAN contains no more than 34 uppercase English letters and numbers. Full details example:
- DE- country identifier of the beneficiary's bank according to ISO 3166-1 alpha-2, in this case Germany;
- 89 - unique control number IBAN calculated according to the ISO 7064 standard;
- 3704 - the first 4 digits of the international bank code BIC. BIC codes on the website of the Bank of Russia are used only for transfers within the Russian Federation!!;
- the remaining characters are the client's bank account number in the receiving country.
It should be noted that formally the registration of banks in the SWIFT system is voluntary, but today using Swift code is necessary requirement for international settlements, speeding up the processes of sending / receiving information and Money, as well as improving the security of any financial transactions.
Despite the fact that most users are accustomed to such international money transfers as Western Union, MoneyGram and others, when sending large sums the SWIFT system is more profitable.
What are SWIFT payments?
In 1973, 239 banks from 15 countries founded the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (English abbreviation - SWIFT). Today it unites more than 11,000 organizations from two hundred countries. All participants in financial transactions are assigned a unique code: for banks - BIC or ID, for individuals / legal entities - IBAN. When making any transaction, you must specify the code of the bank and the recipient.
Advantages and disadvantages of SWIFT
The main advantage is availability in many countries. Correspondent banks are involved in the work, which allows you to receive money from a bank that is not a member of the SWIFT system. Other advantages include the following:
- a large selection of currencies;
- there are no restrictions on the amount (in some cases, the operation must be consistent with the currency legislation);
- high speed of the operation (average delivery time - 20 minutes);
- guaranteed timely delivery;
- moderate commissions for large money transfers.
Among the minuses are the monitoring of payments by the US State Department, as well as the need to provide the bank with a certain package of documents.
SWIFT payment allows you to transfer money to individuals or companies abroad:
- payments for goods, services;
- payment for education, treatment;
- transfer of funds to relatives and much more.
How does SWIFT PrivatBank work?
Swift transfers should not be related to commercial/investment activities.
According to Ukrainian legislation, there are a number of restrictions for conducting operations:
- without documentary confirmation, a currency transfer should not exceed UAH 15,000 per banking day.
- the transfer of foreign exchange funds by non-resident individuals must be confirmed by a document on the source of origin of the currency.
- Ukrainians can translate currency funds to a personal foreign account, having an individual NBU license.
Important ! More detailed information about the rules/restrictions can be found on the Privat website:https://conditions-and-rules.privatbank.ua/main/view-content-144/?lang=ru
Fees for SWIFT transfer PrivatBank
- Receiving payment:
Cash receipts:
- to the card/account of an individual - 0%;
- on the card for payments - 0.5%.
Cash out:
- from the card / account of an individual - 1%;
- from the card for payments - 0%.
- Shipping rates:
- within the country - 5% of total amount+ $12*;
- abroad - 0.5% of the total amount (minimum five hryvnias, but not more than 500 US dollars) + 12 US dollars*
* hryvnia at the current exchange rate of the NBU.
How to send a SWIFT transfer?
Via Privat24 (self-filling the form):
- "All Services" > "Transfers" > "SWIFT Payments" > "New".
- From the drop-down list, mark the desired country, currency, enter the amount.
- Fill out the submission form:
- SWIFT code of the bank (consists of eight to eleven characters);
- beneficiary's account/IBAN code;
- recipient's name:
- natural person - full name;
- legal entity - the name of the company.
- address of the recipient;
- payment purpose (select an existing type from the drop-down list or select "Other", enter the required data).
Important ! If the payment amount exceeds the equivalent of UAH 15,000, you will need to attach a scanned copy of supporting documents.
- enter the required amount. When the receiving currency is US dollars and the recipient is expected to receive the full amount, check the box next to “Full Amount Receipt Guaranteed”. Commissions of all banks participating in the operation will be included.
- choose a card. If you have several cards (dollar and hryvnia), the operation can be carried out from both: the payment amount is in currency, the commission is paid in hryvnia.
- confirm that this transaction is not related to entrepreneurial / investment activities.
- Confirm the action using the SMS code sent to your mobile.
Sending a payment via Privat24 (simplified form):
- Menu "All services" > "Transfers" > "SWIFT-payments" > "New".
- From the drop-down list, select the country, currency, enter the amount.
- In the window that opens you will see all possible ways sending. Choose the SWIFT system.
- Enter the recipient's details in one of two ways:
- if there are details in a text electronic document, just copy and paste the data;
- if you have a scanned copy of the document with details - attach the file.
- a non-resident individual will need to attach scanned documents about the source of the currency. Documents in a foreign language (except Russian) are translated into Ukrainian and endorsed by a translator agency.
- After entering the necessary data, click "Next", select a card / account. When the receiving currency is US dollars and the recipient must receive the full amount, check the box next to "Guaranteed receipt of the full amount." Commissions of all banks participating in the operation will be included.
- Confirm the transfer using the SMS code sent to your mobile
Receiving a SWIFT transfer
To receive a payment, you need to find out your IBAN code in one of three ways:
- ATM. My Info > Get Details.
- Terminal."My data" > "My details" > "Get details for replenishing the card."
- Privat24."All services" > "Info" > "My details". Select card number > replenishment by SWIFT payment > "Get details".
- Tell the received IBAN code to the sender.
On the mobile app:
V Lately there was a lot of talk about the SWIFT system and that, as a sanction measure, even an entire country could be disconnected from this system. Let's figure it out what is SWIFT.
SWIFT is an abbreviation for Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication(community of worldwide interbank financial telecommunications) - an international interbank system for transmitting information and making payments. At its core, this is a system in which banks around the world exchange information and payment data. Swift is used by thousands of financial institutions around the world. Every year, 2.5 billion payment orders pass through the system. Based in Brussels.
How SWIFT works
When one bank needs to send a payment to another bank, it encrypts a special message using the SWIFT system and sends it to its counterparty. He, in turn, deciphers it and applies it. Similarly, you can send correspondent account statements and investigate outstanding payments. In simple words, SWIFT only forwards messages from bank to bank about who and how much to write off funds from each other on behalf of clients, and also controls that these messages do not turn out to be fraudulent.
Main advantage of SWIFT- security of information transmitted between banks. The advantage of SWIFT is also that banks do not have to worry about how exactly the chain of mutual debits and credits of funds will go. It is enough to specify the sender and recipient, the system will automatically determine the optimal and shortest chain of settlements. Of course, this is not free for banks - the cost consists of annual maintenance and a commission for each payment.
By the way, the calculations according to our bank cards do not go through the SWIFT system.
Those who at least once had to deal with sending money abroad or receiving funds from other countries inevitably had questions: which system is better, and in general what is it - a SWIFT transfer. For those planning to work, study, do business abroad, it is necessary to know the answer to the latter - at the moment there are simply no worthy alternatives to the S.W.I.F.T system in the world.
S.W.I.F.T system - functions, history, modern level
When it comes to money transfers to another country, one immediately recalls Western Union, which became familiar due to intrusive advertising, but no less effective and fast from this, and MoneyGram, Anelic and others similar to it. Those who dealt with this issue seriously will name, except systems instant transfers at least three ways:
- Transfers from card to card:
- Sending funds using electronic payment systems such as Webmoney, PerfectMoney, Neteller, etc.
- International transfers in the SWIFT system.
At the same time, instant transfers are good only for sending to a private person, card transfers have many limitations in different countries, for electronic systems while there is no single standard, and their distribution is often limited to the territories of countries or regions.
SWIFT is the only transfer system that is free from all these shortcomings. Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (S.W.I.F.T) - The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications is not a separate company, industrial or financial group. This is a real community, designed to effectively solve the problems facing its members in terms of optimizing information flows.
This is how it was created in 1973, when before largest banks With particular urgency, the question arose of speeding up data exchange, which was supposed to satisfy the needs of business in the speed of information transfer and, most importantly, money transfers. Then in Belgium (the headquarters of the organization still operates in Brussels) representatives of more than 200 largest banks of the Old and New Worlds gathered to solve the problem.
Such an undertaking was doomed to success. The correctness of the chosen direction and the methods and technologies used is evidenced by the connection to the system of more 10 thousand largest financial institutions from more than 220 countries. More than a million transactions are carried out daily in the system.
![](https://i0.wp.com/yainvestor.guru/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/120065599_Ashampoo_Snap_20150130_16h50m51s_038_.jpg)
SWIFT, first of all, is a system of fast and secure exchange of information messages. Because the world today cash flows- these are information flows, the system does an excellent job with this function - international targeted transfer of funds.
Thanks to the security, reliability and speed of data and message transfer, not only banks become clients of the system. Exchanges, insurance agencies, brokerage companies, hedge funds, etc.
Features of SWIFT transfers
Since non-cash Money transfers today turned into simple information messages that the owner of one account intends to transfer a certain amount of the cash equivalent recorded on it to the owner of another account, it was necessary to form a set of rules to ensure reliability and security.
The main one relates to providing information about the recipient.
What you need to send a SWIFT transfer
Transfers in the system are made exclusively to bank accounts. Accordingly, the following data set is required (filled in by the sender):
- The unique code of the beneficiary bank in the SWIFT system (analogue in the Russian banking system BIC is speaking). This information makes it possible to uniquely identify in the electronic communications system financial institution The to which the message is being sent.
![](https://i2.wp.com/yainvestor.guru/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/chto-takoe-Svift-kod-banka1.png)
- The name of the beneficiary bank is in accordance with international registries or agreements.
- Full name (for individuals) or the full name of the company (for legal entities) of the recipient.
- The beneficiary's account number for crediting funds. It is provided in the format accepted in the banking system of the recipient or in the form of an international code (IBAN).
- Transfer amount and currency
Important! All data in the SWIFT system are given only on English language. There is not a single exception to this rule, even if the swift comes from Russia to Belarus or from Portugal to Brazil, where Portuguese is the official language.
Most often everything necessary information provides the official website of the bank.
SWIFT codes of Sberbank of Russia
![](https://i1.wp.com/yainvestor.guru/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/21-09-2016-23-44-56_mini.jpg)
All data must be entered without errors. Otherwise, transfer processing may slow down significantly, especially if several intermediaries are involved in the chain (for example, when counterparty banks are not members of the system). A more unpleasant situation is also possible - the payment will be lost and its search will cost the correspondent a serious amount.
If the transfer currency and the national currency in the recipient's country do not match, the transfer is carried out with the participation of the correspondent bank. In this case, the SWIFT code and the name of this financial organization are added to the list of information required for the transfer of funds.
The design features include the fact that the system allows you to withdraw a payment or return it for adjustment, but the loss of time and money will be very noticeable. Such actions are available only until the funds are issued to the recipient.
Transfer currency
There are no active restrictions on the currencies used in the system. This SWIFT compares favorably with all other transfer systems operating either in national currencies, or in the most common world (most often in dollars and euros).
International transfer SWIFT can use any currency on the side of the sender and recipient. In fact, when it is issued, along with the transfer, an order is made to exchange the sender's currency for the recipient's currency.
Transfer terms
The transit time of an information message in the system, as a rule, does not exceed 20 minutes. Funds are not credited to the recipient's account during this time only due to multiple confirmation of receipt of messages between system participants (especially if the route includes intermediary banks and correspondent banks). In addition, the procedure for crediting funds to the accounts of end users is determined by the internal regulations of the beneficiary's bank.
As a result, it takes from 1 to 5 business days to complete a SWIFT transfer. Experts say that, in general, the transaction is completed in 2-3 days.
The situation is much more complicated with a recall or the need to correct the data indicated in the translation. In time, such an operation can take up to 30 days. The maximum loss of time occurs when an error is detected already at the stage of passing the message through intermediary banks.
Amount limits
There are no restrictions on the amount of transfers in the system. However, participating banks must comply with the rules current legislation states in the legal field of which they operate.
For example, in Russia there is a limit on the amount to be sent to foreign correspondents by a resident of the Russian Federation within one business day (for more details, see the text and comments to Law No. 1783-FZ). In equivalent, it cannot exceed $5,000. Participating banks from Russia will limit the amount of Swift transfer at this level, or require documentary confirmation designated purpose transfer.
Transfer fees
In terms of commissions, the SWIFT system is one of the most profitable - it does not set fixed tariffs. The powers to determine the amount of payment are delegated to the participating banks. As a result, in most cases, the commission percentage is even lower than for the transfer of funds in instant transfer systems. However, this is true only when the established interest rate comes into force - all participants in the system stipulate the minimum amount commissions.
V different banks commissions are:
- 0.1-2% (minimum 10-60 dollars) - for sending a transfer;
- $20-$100 for a chargeback or request to send it.
It is easy to calculate that the transfer becomes profitable only when the commission percentage exceeds the amount minimum payment. For example, for Sberbank (transfer in US dollars is paid at the rate of 2% but not less than $15), the limit is $75.
Additional commissions with the participation of intermediary banks are not excluded. The final amount will be reported only by the operator at the time of sending.
A feature of the system is the payment of commission by the recipient. Accordingly, if it is necessary for the correspondent to receive a certain amount, the amount of payment will have to be increased taking into account commission payments.
Who is this made for?
The specifics of payments determine the main advantages of SWIFT transfers:
- Security and reliability with crediting to bank accounts;
- High speed of information messages and transactions;
- No restrictions on the amount of transfers and the use of currencies;
- Favorable commissions for significant amounts and payment at the expense of the recipient.
All this suggests that the system was developed by bank specialists for regular customers working with large sums. Actually, S.W.I.F.T. that is what it is.