How to Fill Out and Submit the Fidelity Bank Wire Authorization Form

The Fidelity Bank Wire Authorization form is a paper instruction you sign to tell Fidelity to send money by wire from your account to another bank. You only need it for specific situations — most domestic wires can be sent through Fidelity.com without any form at all. When the form is required, you fill in your Fidelity account number, the recipient’s full legal name and address, their bank’s name and ABA routing number, their account number, the dollar amount written both as digits and in words, and your signature exactly as Fidelity has it on file. Then you submit the form at a Fidelity Investor Center, by mail, or (for international wires) by phone.¹

When You Actually Need the Paper Form

Before you download anything, check whether you need the form at all. If you’re sending a domestic wire from a standard brokerage account, log in to Fidelity.com and initiate the transfer online. No paperwork.

The paper form comes into play in three situations:

International wires. Any transfer to a foreign bank or in a foreign currency must be sent using the separate Outgoing International Bank Wire form, or by calling Fidelity at 800-544-2976.¹
Wires above the online limit. Fidelity’s standard cap is $1 million per day per client, with a $100 minimum. For anything over $1 million in a single business day, call 800-343-3548.¹
Accounts without online access. If you manage your Fidelity account by phone or mail, the form is your main path.

The domestic Bank Wire Authorization form is available as a PDF from Fidelity’s website. The international version is a separate document. You can also request either by calling 800-343-3548 or picking one up at a Fidelity Investor Center.

Information to Gather Before You Start

Pull every recipient detail together before you sit down with the form. A single wrong digit in a routing or account number can delay the transfer or send the money to the wrong place, and wires are hard to reverse.

For a domestic wire you need:

The recipient’s full legal name as it appears on their bank account (not a nickname or shortened form).
The recipient’s bank name and the physical address of the branch holding the account.
The nine-digit ABA routing number for that bank.
The recipient’s account number at that bank.
Your Fidelity account number, from your statement or online dashboard.

International wires need more, and the specific requirements depend on the destination currency. Euros require the beneficiary’s IBAN. British pound wires need a six-digit sort code. Australian dollar wires need a BSB code. Canadian dollar wires need an eight-digit transit number. Japanese yen wires require both a branch code and a stated purpose of payment.² If an intermediary bank is involved in routing the funds, collect that bank’s name, address, and routing details too.

Some fields on the form may look like more information than a simple transfer should need. There’s a reason: banks are required to collect and retain records for any funds transfer of $3,000 or more, including the names and addresses of sender and recipient, the date, the amount, and the beneficiary’s bank information.³

Filling Out the Domestic Form

Start at the top with your own information. Write your Fidelity account number clearly and identify the account being debited. If the account has multiple owners, every authorized signer may need to sign.

Move to the recipient section. Enter the dollar amount twice: once in numerals and once written out in words. If the two don’t match, the bank will flag the discrepancy and hold the wire. Fill in the recipient’s full legal name, their bank’s name and ABA routing number, and the destination account number.

The form includes a “further credit to” section. Use it when funds go to an intermediary bank first and then need to be forwarded to a final recipient, which is common with investment and trust accounts. Enter the ultimate beneficiary’s name and account number here so the intermediary knows where to route the money.¹

If there’s a purpose or special instructions field, keep it short and specific. “Real estate closing,” “investment funding,” or “family gift” is enough. Clear purposes help Fidelity’s compliance team process the request without calling you for clarification.

Sign the form exactly the way your signature appears on file with Fidelity. An unsigned form, or one with a signature that doesn’t match, will be rejected. Wire transfers fall under Article 4A of the Uniform Commercial Code, which treats a properly authorized payment order as final once the bank accepts it.⁴ Your signature is the bank’s evidence that you intended the transfer, so review every field one more time before you sign.

Filling Out the International Form

International wires go through Fidelity FOREX LLC, which converts your U.S. dollars into the chosen foreign currency at an agreed rate and then sends the proceeds to the foreign beneficiary.²

Every field in the beneficiary section must be completed. That means the beneficiary’s full name, street address, city, state or province, postal code, and country, along with the receiving bank’s SWIFT code and any currency-specific codes the form lists for your destination.

The international form requires a Medallion signature guarantee. That’s a specific stamp from a financial institution that verifies your identity and signature; a regular notary stamp is not a substitute. There is one workaround: if you complete the form in person at a Fidelity Investor Center with all signers present, the Medallion requirement is waived.²

If your international wire qualifies as a “remittance transfer” under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, submitting the paper form is only the start. Fidelity cannot finalize the transaction until you consent to a prepayment disclosure delivered by telephone, covering the exchange rate, fees, and the amount the recipient will actually receive.² Expect a call before your wire moves.

How to Submit the Completed Form

There are four ways to get the form to Fidelity, and the right one depends on the type of wire and how much time you have.

Online, for standard domestic wires. Log in to Fidelity.com, go to the transfer section, and initiate the wire digitally. No form needed, and it creates a timestamped record.
Fidelity Investor Center. Bring the completed form to a local branch. This is the best option for international wires because staff can review the form on the spot, apply the Medallion guarantee if needed, and verify your identity in person.
Mail. Send the signed form to the address printed on it. This is the slowest route and adds days, so use it only when timing isn’t tight.
Phone, for international wires. Call 800-544-2976 and have a representative initiate the transfer instead of mailing the form.¹

Whichever route you choose, keep a copy of the completed form. If anything goes wrong later, that copy is your record of what you authorized.

Fees, Limits, and Timing

Fidelity charges no fee for incoming or outgoing wire transfers.¹ The receiving bank on the other end may still charge a fee to accept the wire, and intermediary banks in an international transfer sometimes deduct their own fees from the funds in transit. Fidelity has no control over those charges.

The daily limit is $1 million per client, with a $100 minimum per wire. Larger transfers can be arranged through customer service at 800-343-3548.¹

Domestic wire requests submitted before 4:00 p.m. ET on a business day are typically processed and available to the recipient the same day. Requests received after that cutoff, or on weekends and bank holidays, move to the next business day.⁵ International wires generally take one to three business days, depending on destination country, intermediary banks, and currency conversion.

Fidelity’s security team may call the phone number on your account to confirm you authorized the wire. Answer the call and confirm the details, or the transfer could be held.

Verify Everything Before You Sign

Treat every wire as permanent. Under UCC Article 4A, a payment order can be cancelled only if the cancellation reaches the receiving bank before it accepts the order, and Fedwire processes transfers in real time, so that window can be minutes or less.⁴ Domestic wires are also generally outside the error-resolution protections of Regulation E, which covers electronic fund transfers like ACH but not wires routed through Fedwire.⁶ If you enter the wrong account number, the bank’s obligation to recover the funds is limited.

Two habits protect you. First, double-check every digit on the form before signing: routing number, account number, dollar amount, beneficiary name. Second, if someone recently sent you new or updated wiring instructions, verify them by calling the recipient at a phone number you already had on file, not a number pulled from the same email. That single call defeats most business email compromise scams, where a criminal impersonates a known contact and swaps in their own account information.

If you realize you made a mistake, call Fidelity immediately at 800-343-3548. The bank may not be able to reverse the transfer once the receiving bank has accepted it, but the sooner you call, the better your chances.

1
Fidelity. Bank Wire Transfers at Fidelity
2
Fidelity. Outgoing International Bank Wire – FOREX Wire
3
FFIEC BSA/AML InfoBase. FFIEC BSA/AML Assessing Compliance with BSA Regulatory Requirements – Funds Transfers Recordkeeping
4
Legal Information Institute. UCC – Article 4A – Funds Transfer
5
Fidelity. Choose Between an EFT or a Bank Wire
6
eCFR. 12 CFR Part 1005 – Electronic Fund Transfers (Regulation E)