A SWIFT code, formally called a Business Identifier Code (BIC), is an 8- or 11-character address that tells banks exactly which institution and branch should receive an international wire. If you have been wondering what a SWIFT code is and how it works, the short answer is that it is a standardized identifier inside a secure messaging network run by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, a cooperative of more than 11,500 member institutions across over 200 countries and territories.1Swift. Who We Are The code itself does not move money. It routes the instructions that tell banks where the money should go.
What the Code Actually Identifies
Every SWIFT/BIC code follows the ISO 9362 standard, and each segment carries a specific piece of routing information.2Swift. Business Identifier Code (BIC) Reading one is straightforward once you know what to look at:
- Characters 1–4 are the bank code, a shortened version of the institution’s name. Bank of America is BOFA.
- Characters 5–6 are the two-letter ISO country code. US is the United States, GB is the United Kingdom, DE is Germany.
- Characters 7–8 are the location code identifying the city or region of the main office. These can be letters or numbers.
- Characters 9–11 are an optional branch code pinpointing a specific branch, department, or service unit. When those three characters are missing, the code refers to the bank’s head office.
So BOFAUS6S decodes to Bank of America, in the United States, in San Francisco. An 11-character version with a branch suffix might look like BOFAUS6SGFX. One wrong character can delay a transfer by days or route it to the wrong place entirely, which is why banks commonly charge $25 to $50 to investigate or amend a misrouted wire.
How a SWIFT Code Moves a Payment
When you initiate an international wire, your bank composes a standardized message naming the sending bank, the receiving bank’s SWIFT code, the account identifier, the amount, the currency, and the beneficiary. That message travels over SWIFT’s network to the receiving bank, which credits the recipient’s account. The funds themselves settle separately through the banks’ correspondent relationships.
If your bank has a direct relationship with the recipient’s bank, the payment can clear in a day. If it does not, the message and the money pass through one or more intermediary (correspondent) banks that bridge the two institutions. International transfers typically take one to five business days, with slower settlement for smaller banks or countries with stricter capital controls.
Once your bank submits the wire, you receive a transaction reference. For payments routed over SWIFT, this includes a Unique End-to-End Transaction Reference (UETR), a 36-character string that functions like a tracking number for the payment from initiation to confirmation.3Swift. What Is a Unique End-to-end Transaction Reference (UETR)? Domestic wires sent through Fedwire use a different identifier called an IMAD.4Federal Reserve Services. Format Frequently Asked Questions SWIFT’s gpi service lets participating banks, and increasingly their customers, monitor payment status in real time.5Swift. Swift GPI
Finding and Verifying the Right Code
The fastest place to find your own bank’s SWIFT code is the account details or international transfer section of your online banking portal. Paper statements often list it alongside other account identifiers, and most banks publish wire transfer instructions on a public page you can reach without logging in. Customer service can confirm it over the phone, which is worth doing before sending a large amount.
For a code someone else has given you, SWIFT runs a free BIC search tool at swift.com that draws from its reference database of more than 107,000 registered BICs across 227 countries.6Swift. BIC Search Look the institution up by name, city, or country, and compare the result against what the recipient provided. If the codes do not match, contact the recipient’s bank directly before sending anything.
SWIFT Codes Are Not Routing Numbers
A SWIFT code is not the same as an ABA routing number. ABA routing numbers handle domestic transfers within the United States; SWIFT codes handle international ones. If someone overseas is wiring money to your U.S. account, they need your bank’s SWIFT code, not the routing number printed on your checks. Some banks assign different SWIFT codes depending on the currency being received, so confirm the correct one before sharing it.
When You Also Need an IBAN, CLABE, or IFSC
The SWIFT code identifies the bank. A separate identifier tells the bank which account. Over 70 countries, including nearly all of Europe and much of the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of the Caribbean, require an International Bank Account Number (IBAN) for incoming transfers. The United States does not use IBANs. Mexico uses an 18-digit CLABE for interbank transfers, and India uses an IFSC code to identify branches. If your recipient is in one of those countries, ask their bank which identifiers are required, because your bank’s wire form may not prompt you for the right one.
Beyond those codes, your bank will typically ask for the recipient’s full legal name and address, the recipient bank’s full name and address, the account number or IBAN, the SWIFT/BIC, and the amount and currency. Names must match what the recipient’s bank has on file; banks verify this information under federal Know Your Customer rules tied to the Bank Secrecy Act.7FFIEC BSA/AML Manual. Assessing Compliance with BSA Regulatory Requirements – Customer Identification Program
What a SWIFT Transfer Costs
Outgoing international wires from U.S. banks average around $45, ranging from about $25 at online banks to $65 or more at traditional institutions. Incoming international wires typically cost the recipient around $15. That is the fee you can see. The costs you cannot always see sit in intermediary charges and exchange rate markups.
When the payment passes through correspondent banks, each one can deduct its own fee from the amount in transit. Your bank will usually ask you to pick a fee instruction code when you set up the wire:
- OUR means you pay all fees, including intermediary charges, and the recipient receives the full amount.
- SHA (shared) means you pay your bank’s fee while the recipient absorbs the receiving bank’s fee and any intermediary deductions. This is the default at most banks.
- BEN means the recipient pays everything, with all fees deducted from the amount before it arrives.
If you need the recipient to receive an exact amount, choose OUR and expect $10 to $30 in additional intermediary charges on top of your bank’s wire fee.
The bigger cost on cross-currency transfers is usually the exchange rate. Banks typically add a markup of 2% to 4% above the interbank mid-market rate and keep the spread. On a $10,000 transfer, that is $200 to $400 that never appears as a line-item fee. For remittance transfers, federal rules require the provider to disclose the exchange rate, all fees, and the exact amount the recipient will receive before you commit.8eCFR. 12 CFR 1005.31 – Disclosures Compare the quoted rate against the current mid-market rate to see what the conversion is really costing you.
For euros sent to banks inside the European Economic Area, a SEPA transfer is almost always cheaper and faster than SWIFT. Standard SEPA credit transfers settle in one business day, SEPA instant transfers clear in seconds, and many banks charge little or nothing for them. The equivalent SWIFT transfer could cost €10 to €30 or more and take several business days.
If Something Goes Wrong
Federal law gives you a 30-minute window to cancel a remittance transfer after you pay, as long as the funds have not already been picked up or received. Cancellation can be made by phone or in writing, and the provider must refund the full amount, including fees, within three business days.9eCFR. 12 CFR 1005.34 – Procedures for Cancellation and Refund of Remittance Transfers
After the cancellation window closes, you still have 180 days to report an error on a remittance transfer. For general electronic fund transfers, the standard error-reporting window is 60 days from when the statement showing the error is sent. The bank must investigate within 10 business days and correct a confirmed error within one business day after that, or extend the investigation up to 45 days while provisionally crediting your account.10eCFR. 12 CFR Part 1005 – Electronic Fund Transfers (Regulation E)
Once a wire has cleared, reversing it is harder. Your bank can send a recall request through the SWIFT network, but the receiving bank is not obligated to return the funds unless the recipient cooperates. The farther the payment has traveled, the lower the odds of recovery.
That irreversibility is why wire fraud works. The FBI documented over 305,000 business email compromise incidents between 2013 and 2023, with more than $55 billion in exposed losses worldwide.11IC3. Business Email Compromise: The $55 Billion Scam The common pattern is an emailed set of “updated” wire instructions with a different SWIFT code and account number, sent by someone impersonating a party you trust. Verify any wire instructions by calling the recipient at a number you already have on file, treat last-minute changes as a red flag, and run any unfamiliar SWIFT code through the official BIC search before you send. If you realize funds have gone to a fraudulent account, contact your bank immediately so a recall request can go out while there is still money to recover.