To find intermediary bank information, start with the recipient: their bank almost always publishes an official incoming wire instruction sheet that lists the intermediary’s SWIFT/BIC code, full legal name, address, and any clearing numbers. If that sheet isn’t available, SWIFT’s free online BIC directory lets you search any bank’s identifier by name and country. Get these details right the first time. Entering the wrong code, or putting it in the wrong field on the transfer form, can bounce the payment, cost you the wire fee, and delay the money by days or weeks.
What Details You Need Before You Start
An intermediary bank is the third institution that connects your bank to the recipient’s bank when the two don’t have a direct settlement relationship. Your money passes through it on the way to the beneficiary. To route the payment correctly, the wire form needs a specific set of identifiers for that middleman bank.
- SWIFT/BIC code. An eight-character code identifying the bank, its country, and location. An optional three-character branch suffix extends it to eleven characters when the payment has to reach a specific office.1Swift. Business Identifier Code (BIC)
- Full legal name. The intermediary’s registered name, matching exactly what appears in global banking directories. Small mismatches trigger compliance review.
- Physical address. Banks use this to confirm the intermediary isn’t on any restricted entity lists, particularly the sanctions lists maintained by the Office of Foreign Assets Control.2FFIEC BSA/AML Manual. Office of Foreign Assets Control
- U.S. clearing codes, when applicable. Transfers routed through the United States may need a CHIPS Universal Identifier or a Fedwire routing number, depending on which domestic clearing system processes the payment.3The Clearing House. CHIPS Universal Identifier (UID) Lookup
Leaving out a clearing code doesn’t always kill the transfer, but it forces bank staff to route the payment manually, which typically adds a fee and a day or two of delay.
Where to Get the Intermediary Details
Ask the Recipient’s Bank First
This is the fastest and most reliable path. Ask the recipient to pull wire instructions from their own bank. Most major institutions publish a dedicated “incoming wire transfer” page on their website with their preferred intermediary partners and every code and address you need. If the recipient can’t find it online, a call to their branch will get them an official instruction sheet.
Treat that document as authoritative. The recipient’s bank chose the intermediary and knows the correct routing for its own incoming payments. Anything you piece together from a general search should still be checked against what their bank says.
Search SWIFT’s Free BIC Directory
When you need to verify a code, or look one up from scratch, SWIFT publishes a free BIC search tool on its website. The directory operates under the ISO 9362 standard and lets you search by institution name, country, or city. It returns the registered BIC along with the entity’s name and address.4Swift. Free BIC Search on swift.com
If someone sent you intermediary details by email or on a document you’re not sure about, cross-checking the BIC in SWIFT’s directory confirms that the code is real, active, and points to a bank in the country you expect.
Check With Your Own Bank
Your bank’s international wire department often already knows which intermediary to use for a given destination country or currency. Some banks have standing correspondent relationships and auto-populate the intermediary field once you select the destination. If you initiate the transfer in person or by phone, the wire specialist can pull the right details from internal reference tables.
Filling Out the Form Without Mixing Up the Two Bank Sections
Every international wire form has two bank sections, and confusing them is the single most common mistake. The intermediary bank section is for the middleman relaying the funds. The beneficiary bank section is for the bank where the recipient’s account actually lives. Put the intermediary’s SWIFT code in the beneficiary field and the payment either fails or lands at the wrong bank. Unwinding that error usually means losing the original wire fee and waiting weeks for a reversal.
A standard form runs in this order: your account details at the top, then the intermediary bank block (SWIFT code, name, address, any clearing codes), then the beneficiary bank block (its own SWIFT code, name, and address), and finally the recipient’s account number and name. The payment flows in that same order. Your bank sends to the intermediary, the intermediary sends to the beneficiary bank, and the beneficiary bank credits the recipient.
Deciding Who Pays the Fees
Most forms include a fee instruction field labeled OUR, SHA, or BEN. These codes decide who absorbs the intermediary’s processing charges, so they interact directly with the routing you just filled in.
- OUR. You pay all intermediary fees upfront. The recipient gets the full amount.
- SHA (shared). You pay your bank’s outgoing fee; the recipient’s side absorbs the intermediary and incoming bank charges. This is the common default.
- BEN (beneficiary). All fees come out of the transfer amount before it reaches the recipient.
If you’re paying an invoice for exactly $5,000 and the recipient expects $5,000, choose OUR. Otherwise the intermediary’s deduction will leave them short and you’ll have to send a second wire to cover the gap. For personal transfers where both sides are flexible on the exact amount, SHA is usually fine.
The intermediary itself can also deduct a processing fee from the transfer amount, generally $15 to $30, and more than one intermediary may sit in the chain depending on the route. Currency conversion along the way adds a spread on top of the mid-market rate. On larger amounts that spread can dwarf the wire fees, so ask your bank for the exact exchange rate before confirming.
Verifying the Information Before You Send
Wire transfer fraud, particularly through compromised email, caused over $2.77 billion in reported losses in 2024.5Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2024 IC3 Annual Report The typical scheme: a fraudster compromises someone’s email, intercepts a legitimate invoice or payment request, and swaps in their own intermediary bank details. Everything else in the message looks authentic. You wire the money, and it goes to the thief.
The FBI recommends verifying any payment instructions or changes to banking details by calling the recipient directly at a number you already have on file, not one listed in the suspicious email.6Federal Bureau of Investigation. Business Email Compromise Be especially skeptical when someone pressures you to send urgently, or provides new intermediary details that differ from previous transactions with the same recipient. A two-minute phone call is the cheapest fraud prevention available.
Cross-referencing any SWIFT code you’ve been given against the free BIC directory is another fast sanity check. If the code doesn’t exist, or maps to a bank in an unexpected country, something is wrong.4Swift. Free BIC Search on swift.com
What Happens if the Intermediary Details Are Wrong
Cancellation Within 30 Minutes
If you catch the mistake right after submitting, federal regulations give you a short cancellation window. Under the Remittance Transfer Rule, a provider must honor a cancellation request received within 30 minutes of payment, as long as the funds haven’t already been picked up or received. The provider then has to refund the full amount, fees included, within three business days.7eCFR. 12 CFR 1005.34 – Procedures for Cancellation and Refund of Remittance Transfers The rule applies to consumer international transfers over $15 sent through banks, credit unions, and money transmitters.8Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 1005.30 Remittance Transfer Definitions
Error Resolution Up to 180 Days
For problems you find later, you can report an error to your provider up to 180 days after the disclosed date the funds were supposed to be available. Covered errors include incorrect amounts, computational mistakes, and failures to make funds available by the promised date. The provider has to investigate and either resolve the claim or explain in writing why no error occurred.9eCFR. 12 CFR 1005.33 – Procedures for Resolving Errors
Recalling a Wire After It’s Sent
Outside that regulatory window, getting money back from a completed wire is hard. Your bank can send a SWIFT recall message to the intermediary and beneficiary banks asking them to freeze and return the funds, but the receiving bank isn’t obligated to comply. Recovery rates drop sharply after the first 24 hours, and once funds are withdrawn or moved, recall becomes extremely unlikely. If you discover fraud, contact your bank’s wire or fraud department immediately and ask them to initiate a recall before the receiving bank releases the money.
When the Bank Made the Mistake
When a bank itself mis-executes your wire, such as using the wrong intermediary or ignoring your payment instructions, it’s liable for your expenses, incidental costs, and any interest you lost because of the delay. Consequential damages beyond those categories are only recoverable if you have an express written agreement with the bank covering them.10Legal Information Institute (LII) / Cornell Law School. UCC 4A-305 – Liability for Late or Improper Execution or Failure to Execute Payment Order In practice, if a botched wire causes you to miss a business deal, the bank owes you interest on the delayed funds but probably not the lost profit.
Once you submit, your bank generates a unique transaction reference number. Save it. That number is your proof of the transaction and the identifier you’ll need to trace a delayed payment or open a dispute.