Last reviewed: September 30, 2026
Short answer: A SWIFT code (also called a BIC) identifies a bank. An IBAN identifies one specific account at that bank. A SWIFT/BIC code is 8 or 11 characters long and tells the payment network which institution, in which country and city, should receive a message. An IBAN is up to 34 characters long, starts with a two-letter country code and two check digits, and contains the bank and account details in a fixed national format. For most international transfers into Europe, the Middle East and many other regions you need both: the BIC to find the bank and the IBAN to find the account.
The United States, Canada, Australia, India, China, Japan and several other large economies do not use IBANs for domestic accounts. For those countries you send the SWIFT code plus the local account number and a local routing code such as an ABA routing number, a Canadian transit and institution number, an Australian BSB or an Indian IFSC. Always get these details directly from the recipient through a channel you trust, check the name, and ask the provider for the full cost, including the exchange rate, before you pay.
Sending money abroad still confuses people more than almost any other everyday banking task. The bank form asks for a SWIFT code, an IBAN, an intermediary bank, a charge option called OUR, SHA or BEN, and sometimes a "purpose of payment". Get one field wrong and the money can bounce back weeks later, minus fees. Choose the wrong charge option and your recipient receives less than you promised. Fall for a fake invoice with changed bank details and the money may be gone for good.
This article is general information, not financial or legal advice. Rules and fees change, so confirm the details with your own bank or provider before you send.
In this guide
- SWIFT code vs IBAN: the core difference
- What a SWIFT/BIC code is and how it is built
- What an IBAN is, how check digits work and lengths by country
- Which countries use IBAN
- Countries that do not use IBAN: routing codes explained
- How to find your own SWIFT code and IBAN safely
- What information you need for an international wire
- SEPA vs SWIFT: two very different rails
- Correspondent banks and why fees get deducted
- The exchange-rate markup: the cost you do not see
- SWIFT gpi tracking and typical timing
- Alternatives to a bank wire
- Your rights in the US: the CFPB remittance rule
- UK and EU name checks: Confirmation of Payee and Verification of Payee
- Fraud: fake invoices and changed IBANs
- What to do if a transfer goes wrong
- Checklist before you send
- FAQ
- Bottom line
- Sources
SWIFT code vs IBAN: the core difference
SWIFT is the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, a member-owned cooperative based in Belgium. It runs a secure messaging network that banks and other financial institutions use to send payment instructions to each other. It is important to understand that SWIFT itself does not move money or hold accounts. It carries the messages. The money moves through accounts that banks hold with each other, which is why intermediary banks and fees come into the picture later in this guide.
The code that identifies each institution on that network is the Business Identifier Code, or BIC. It is defined by the international standard ISO 9362, and SWIFT is the registration authority that issues and publishes BICs. In everyday speech, "SWIFT code", "BIC" and "SWIFT BIC" all mean the same thing.
The IBAN, or International Bank Account Number, is defined by ISO 13616. SWIFT is also the registration authority for that standard and publishes the official IBAN Registry, a document that lists each participating country's IBAN format. The IBAN was created in Europe to reduce errors in cross-border payments, and it has since spread to the Middle East, parts of Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and Central Asia.
| Feature | SWIFT code / BIC | IBAN |
|---|---|---|
| What it identifies | A bank or financial institution (and optionally a branch) | One specific bank account |
| Standard | ISO 9362 | ISO 13616 |
| Registration authority | SWIFT | SWIFT (publishes the IBAN Registry) |
| Length | 8 or 11 characters | Varies by country, up to 34 characters |
| Starts with | 4-character institution code | 2-letter country code, then 2 check digits |
| Built-in error check | No checksum | Yes, mod-97 check digits |
| Used by | Banks worldwide, including the US, Canada, Australia and India | Countries that have joined the IBAN Registry (Europe, much of the Middle East and others) |
| Same for all customers of a bank? | Usually yes (or per branch) | No, unique to each account |
| Private? | Public information | Share only with people who need to pay you |
What a SWIFT/BIC code is and how it is built
A BIC is either 8 or 11 characters. The 8-character version identifies the institution's main office in a location. The 11-character version adds a 3-character branch or department code. The four parts are always in the same order.
| Position | Part | Characters | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-4 | Institution (party prefix) | 4 letters or digits | A short code chosen for the bank, often an abbreviation of its name |
| 5-6 | Country code | 2 letters | The ISO 3166 country code, such as GB, DE, US, AE or EG |
| 7-8 | Location (party suffix) | 2 letters or digits | Identifies the city or area of the office |
| 9-11 | Branch code (optional) | 3 letters or digits | A specific branch or department; "XXX" means the head office |
Here is a made-up example to show the pattern: ABCDGB2LXXX. "ABCD" would be the institution, "GB" the United Kingdom, "2L" the location, and "XXX" the primary office. An 8-character code such as ABCDGB2L is treated the same as the 11-character version ending in XXX. This example is invented for illustration and does not belong to any real bank.
A few details trip people up:
- 8 or 11? If your bank gives you an 8-character code, you can usually use it as is. If a form insists on 11 characters, many banks tell customers to add "XXX", but check your own bank's instructions first, because some banks route incoming payments through a specific branch code.
- BICs are public. A BIC is not secret. Unlike an account number, you can look it up in SWIFT's official BIC directory search on swift.com. Anyone can check that a code exists and which institution it belongs to.
What an IBAN is and how it is built
An IBAN wraps a country's existing domestic account number in an internationally recognised envelope. Every IBAN has the same first four characters, followed by a country-specific part called the Basic Bank Account Number, or BBAN.
- Country code (2 letters): the ISO 3166 code, such as DE for Germany, SA for Saudi Arabia or EG for Egypt.
- Check digits (2 digits): calculated from the rest of the IBAN using a mod-97 formula. They let banks and software catch most typing mistakes instantly.
- BBAN (up to 30 characters): the national part. It usually includes a bank identifier, often a branch identifier, and the account number, sometimes with a national check digit. The exact layout is fixed for each country and published in the IBAN Registry.
For example, a German IBAN has 22 characters: DE, two check digits, an 8-digit bank code (the Bankleitzahl) and a 10-digit account number. A UK IBAN also has 22 characters: GB, two check digits, a 4-letter bank code, the 6-digit sort code and the 8-digit account number. An Egyptian IBAN has 29 characters, with a bank code, a branch code and a 17-digit account number after the EG and check digits, according to the Central Bank of Egypt's IBAN standard.
Some formatting rules worth knowing:
- Printed vs electronic format. ISO 13616 describes a "paper" format that splits the IBAN into groups of four characters separated by spaces, to make it easier to read. In electronic form, such as a banking app field, the IBAN is written without spaces. Most apps strip the spaces for you.
- Fixed length per country. Within any one country, all IBANs have the same length. If you count the characters and get a different number from the country's standard, something is wrong.
How IBAN check digits catch mistakes
The two check digits after the country code are the IBAN's built-in spell-checker. You never need to calculate them by hand, but understanding the idea explains why a mistyped IBAN is usually rejected at once, while a mistyped US account number may not be.
The process defined in ISO 13616 works roughly like this:
- Take the full IBAN and move the first four characters (the country code and check digits) to the end.
- Replace every letter with a two-digit number: A becomes 10, B becomes 11, and so on up to Z, which becomes 35.
- You now have one very long number. Divide it by 97 and look at the remainder.
- If the remainder is exactly 1, the IBAN passes the check. If it is anything else, the IBAN is invalid.
When a bank creates an IBAN, it chooses the two check digits so that this calculation comes out to 1. The mod-97 method is good at detecting the errors people actually make: a single wrong digit, and two neighbouring digits swapped. It catches all single-character substitutions and nearly all transpositions. It is not a guarantee against every possible mistake, and it says nothing about whether the account is open or who owns it, but it filters out most typos before a payment leaves your bank.
IBAN lengths by country
ISO 13616 allows IBANs up to 34 characters, but every country picks a fixed length. The table below lists common destinations. Lengths come from each country's entry in the SWIFT IBAN Registry and, for Egypt, the Central Bank of Egypt. If your number does not match the length for its country, stop and ask the recipient to confirm it.
| Country | Code | IBAN length |
|---|---|---|
| Norway | NO | 15 |
| Belgium | BE | 16 |
| Netherlands | NL | 18 |
| Switzerland | CH | 21 |
| Germany | DE | 22 |
| United Kingdom | GB | 22 |
| Ireland | IE | 22 |
| Bahrain | BH | 22 |
| United Arab Emirates | AE | 23 |
| Israel | IL | 23 |
| Iraq | IQ | 23 |
| Spain | ES | 24 |
| Saudi Arabia | SA | 24 |
| Pakistan | PK | 24 |
| Turkey (Turkiye) | TR | 26 |
| France | FR | 27 |
| Italy | IT | 27 |
| Lebanon | LB | 28 |
| Poland | PL | 28 |
| Egypt | EG | 29 |
| Qatar | QA | 29 |
| Brazil | BR | 29 |
| Kuwait | KW | 30 |
| Jordan | JO | 30 |
| Malta | MT | 31 |
Which countries use IBAN
SWIFT's IBAN Registry is the authoritative list. It is updated when a national standards body or central bank asks to add or change an entry, and in recent editions it has covered somewhere around ninety countries and territories. Rather than memorise a number that changes, check the current registry on swift.com if you need to be certain about a particular country.
In broad terms, the IBAN is used in:
- All EU and EEA countries, plus the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Monaco, San Marino, Andorra and several non-EU countries in the Balkans and Eastern Europe. For euro transfers under SEPA, the IBAN is the only account identifier you need.
- Much of the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, Iraq and Turkey. In many Gulf countries, the IBAN is required for both domestic and international transfers.
- Egypt, where the Central Bank of Egypt registered with SWIFT for IBAN in 2020. Banks announced that from the end of June 2020, IBAN would be required for domestic and international transfers to and from Egyptian bank accounts. Egyptian bank customers can usually find their 29-character IBAN in their app or on their bank's website.
- Pakistan, where the State Bank of Pakistan introduced the IBAN for bank accounts, and the 24-character IBAN is now standard for transfers.
- Parts of North Africa and elsewhere in Africa, such as Tunisia and Mauritania, with other countries adding entries over time.
- Some countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Brazil, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and El Salvador, and certain island territories.
- Parts of Central Asia and the Caucasus, such as Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
A country appearing in the registry does not always mean every payment into that country requires an IBAN. In some countries the IBAN is mandatory for all transfers; in others it is accepted but local formats still work domestically. When in doubt, use the IBAN the recipient's bank gives them. It is rarely wrong to include it.
Countries that do not use IBAN: routing codes explained
Several of the world's largest payment markets never adopted the IBAN for domestic accounts. When you send money to these countries, you need the recipient's SWIFT/BIC code, their account number and, in most cases, a local bank or branch code. The recipient's bank will tell them exactly which fields to use for incoming international payments.
| Country | Local code | Format | What it identifies | Needed for an incoming SWIFT wire? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | ABA routing transit number | 9 digits | The bank (and sometimes the region or processing centre) | Usually the SWIFT code is enough, but some banks also ask for the routing number; follow the receiving bank's instructions |
| Canada | Transit number and institution number | 5-digit transit (branch) plus 3-digit institution number | The branch and the bank | Often yes, together with the SWIFT code |
| Australia | BSB number | 6 digits | The bank, state and branch | Often yes, together with the SWIFT code |
| India | IFSC | 11 characters: 4 letters, a zero, 6 characters | The bank branch for domestic systems | SWIFT code for the cross-border leg; IFSC often requested too |
| Mexico | CLABE | 18 digits | Bank, branch, account and check digit | Yes, CLABE is the standard account identifier |
Some important points about these codes:
- ABA routing numbers are for US domestic payments. The American Bankers Association created the routing transit number system, and it is used for checks, ACH transfers and Fedwire. A bank may publish one routing number for ACH and a different one for domestic wires. For wires coming from outside the US, the SWIFT code is the key identifier; the receiving bank may specify an intermediary US bank as well.
- IFSC is set by the Reserve Bank of India. It is used by India's domestic systems such as NEFT, RTGS and IMPS. For money coming from abroad, the SWIFT leg reaches the Indian bank, which then credits the account. Many Indian banks ask senders to include the IFSC to speed up that final step.
- The UK is a hybrid. UK domestic payments use a 6-digit sort code and 8-digit account number, but every UK account also has an IBAN for incoming international payments.
If you are paying someone in a non-IBAN country and your bank's form requires an IBAN, do not invent one. Most banks offer a separate field or a country-specific form. If the form truly will not accept the payment without an IBAN, ask your bank for help or consider a specialist transfer provider that supports local account formats.
How to find your own SWIFT code and IBAN safely
If someone abroad needs to pay you, give them the details your bank publishes for incoming international payments. The safest sources, in rough order of reliability, are:
- Your banking app or online banking. Most banks show the IBAN and BIC on the account details screen, often with a "share" or "copy" button. This is the most reliable source because it comes straight from your bank's systems.
- Your bank statement. Paper and PDF statements in IBAN countries usually print the IBAN and BIC near the top. In the US and similar countries, statements show the account number and routing number, but you may need to ask for the SWIFT code.
- Your bank's official website. Many banks publish a page called something like "receiving international payments" with the SWIFT code, any intermediary bank details, and the exact format they want. Type the bank's address yourself rather than following a link in an email.
- A branch or the phone number on your card. For unusual currencies, large amounts or business accounts, call and ask exactly what the sender should enter.
What information you need for an international wire
Different banks lay out their forms differently, but a standard international transfer asks for the same core information. Collecting it before you start saves time and reduces the chance of a returned payment.
| Field | What to enter | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|
| Beneficiary name | The account holder's full legal name, or the registered business name, exactly as the bank knows it | Using a nickname, a trading name or only a first name |
| Beneficiary address | Full street address, city, postcode and country | Leaving it blank; many banks now require structured addresses under the ISO 20022 message format |
| IBAN or account number | The IBAN for IBAN countries; the local account number elsewhere | Entering the old domestic account number instead of the IBAN |
| SWIFT/BIC | The recipient bank's code for incoming international payments | Using a code for the wrong branch or the wrong bank |
| Local routing code | ABA, transit/institution, BSB, IFSC, CLABE or similar, where needed | Mixing up an ACH routing number and a wire routing number |
| Recipient bank name and address | As provided by the recipient | Guessing from a search engine |
| Intermediary bank | Only if the recipient's bank specifically lists one | Adding one from an old instruction sheet |
| Currency and amount | Whether you send a fixed amount in your currency or a fixed amount in theirs | Sending in the wrong currency, triggering an extra conversion |
| Charge option | OUR, SHA or BEN (explained below) | Leaving the default without understanding it |
| Payment reference | Invoice number, student ID or a short clear description | Leaving it blank so the recipient cannot match the payment |
| Purpose of payment | Some countries require a purpose code or description, such as family support, tuition or goods | Choosing a vague or incorrect purpose, which can delay the payment |
SEPA vs SWIFT: two very different rails
If you send euros within Europe, you are probably not using a SWIFT wire at all. You are using SEPA, the Single Euro Payments Area. SEPA is a set of schemes, managed by the European Payments Council, that let people and businesses send euro payments across participating countries as easily as within their own country. The participating countries include every EU and EEA member plus others such as the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Monaco and several non-EU European states.
The key SEPA schemes are:
- SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT): the standard euro transfer. Under EU payment rules, the funds must normally reach the payee's bank by the end of the next business day.
- SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst): euro transfers that complete within seconds, at any time of day, every day of the year. The EU Instant Payments Regulation requires euro-area payment providers that offer standard euro transfers to also offer instant ones, at a price no higher than their standard euro transfers.
- SEPA Direct Debit: used for recurring bills and subscriptions, with strong refund rights for consumers.
For a SEPA transfer you normally need only the recipient's name and IBAN. The BIC has not been required for SEPA payments within the EU and EEA for years, although some forms still show the field. EU law also says that providers must charge the same for a cross-border euro payment within the EU as for an equivalent domestic euro payment in the country of the payer. Many banks therefore charge nothing, or very little, for euro SEPA transfers.
| Feature | SEPA transfer | SWIFT international wire |
|---|---|---|
| Currency | Euro only | Almost any currency |
| Geography | SEPA countries (EU, EEA and several others) | Worldwide |
| Details needed | Name and IBAN | Name, address, account number or IBAN, BIC, sometimes local codes and intermediary bank |
| Typical speed | Seconds (instant) or by the next business day (standard) | Same day to several business days |
| Typical cost | Often free or low; EU rules require parity with domestic euro payments within the EU | Sending fee, possible intermediary fees and a receiving fee, plus any exchange-rate markup |
| Intermediary banks | Not normally involved | Common, especially for less-traded currencies |
| Name check before sending | Verification of Payee required in the euro area since October 2025 | Depends on the bank; not a universal standard |
Correspondent banks and why fees get deducted
This is the part of international transfers that surprises people most. You send 1,000 dollars, and the recipient gets 975. Nobody warned them about the missing 25. The explanation lies in how money actually moves between banks in different countries.
How correspondent banking works
Banks cannot send money to each other through SWIFT the way you send an email. The SWIFT message is an instruction; the money itself moves by debiting and crediting accounts that banks keep with each other. A bank that holds an account for another bank is called a correspondent. If your bank and the recipient's bank do not hold accounts with each other, the payment passes through one or more intermediary banks that link them. Each link in the chain may take a fee for its work.
OUR, SHA and BEN: who pays which fee
When you send a SWIFT payment, you choose a charge option. The three standard codes decide who bears the fees.
| Charge code | Meaning | Who pays the sending bank's fee | Who pays intermediary and receiving fees | Result for recipient |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OUR | All charges paid by the sender | Sender | Sender (the sending bank charges an extra fee up front intended to cover them) | Should receive the full amount, though a receiving bank may still charge its own customer an incoming fee in some cases |
| SHA | Charges shared | Sender | Recipient (deducted from the amount along the way, and the receiving bank may charge too) | Receives less than the amount sent |
| BEN | All charges paid by the beneficiary | Recipient (deducted from the amount) | Recipient | Receives the least |
Within the EU and EEA, where both banks are in the region, EU payment rules generally require the shared (SHA) option for payments in EEA currencies, so each party pays its own bank's charges. For payments outside the region, you can usually choose.
Which should you choose? If the recipient must receive an exact amount, such as a tuition payment, a property deposit or an invoice that says "net of charges", choose OUR and accept the higher up-front fee. Even then, ask the recipient's institution whether it charges for incoming wires, since OUR does not always stop that. If you are sending money to family and a small deduction does not matter, SHA is common and cheaper at the start. BEN is rarely the right choice for personal transfers.
Other fees you may meet
- Sending fee: charged by your bank, often a flat amount per transfer, and sometimes higher when done in a branch.
- Receiving fee: many banks charge their customers for incoming international wires, even when the sender chose OUR.
- Intermediary or "lifting" fees: deducted by banks along the chain.
- Currency conversion: covered in the next section, and often the biggest cost of all.
For a broader comparison of costs across banks and money transfer companies, see our guide on how to send money internationally for less.
The exchange-rate markup: the cost you do not see
When your payment involves a currency conversion, someone sets the rate. Banks and transfer providers rarely use the rate you see in financial news. That "mid-market" rate is the midpoint between buying and selling prices in the wholesale currency market. Providers usually apply their own rate, which includes a margin. The difference between the mid-market rate and the rate you get is a cost, even if the provider says "no fee".
Here is how to think about it with a simple example. Suppose the mid-market rate is 1 unit of your currency to 1.10 units of the recipient's currency. You send 2,000. At the mid-market rate, the recipient would get 2,200. If the provider's rate is 1.067, they get about 2,134. That gap of about 66 units is roughly a 3 percent markup, and it is on top of any transfer fee. The figures are illustrative, but margins of this size on bank transfers are not unusual. Some specialist providers apply much smaller margins, while some banks and cash services charge more.
Ways to reduce the conversion cost:
- Compare the total delivered amount, not the fee. Ask each provider how much the recipient will get, in their currency, after all fees and conversion.
- Check the mid-market rate at the moment you get the quote from a reputable source, then work out the percentage difference.
- Decide who converts. If you send in your own currency, the recipient's bank converts, sometimes at a poor rate. If you send in their currency, your bank converts. Compare both.
- Watch for double conversion. If you send dollars to a euro account through a US correspondent, and then the recipient's bank converts again, you may pay two markups.
- Be wary of "dynamic currency conversion" style offers when paying abroad by card, which work on the same principle. Our guide to foreign transaction fees and DCC explains why paying in the local currency is usually cheaper.
SWIFT gpi tracking and typical timing
Historically, a SWIFT payment disappeared into a black box after you sent it. You knew it had left, but nobody could easily tell you where it was. SWIFT gpi (global payments innovation), launched in 2017, changed that for the banks that use it, which today includes most major banks.
Every gpi payment carries a unique end-to-end transaction reference, or UETR. This is a 36-character code generated when the payment starts, and it stays with the payment through each bank in the chain. Each bank updates the payment's status in SWIFT's central tracker, so the sending and receiving banks can see where the money is, what fees have been deducted, and when it was credited. SWIFT reports that a large share of gpi payments are credited to the end beneficiary within minutes, and almost all within 24 hours. Delays are usually caused by compliance checks, weekends and holidays, time zones, incorrect details, or the last bank in the chain being slow to credit the account.
- Ask for the UETR. Some banks show it in the payment confirmation; others provide it on request. If a payment is late, the UETR lets your bank and the recipient's bank find it quickly.
Typical timing
Timing depends heavily on the route, the currencies and the cut-off times of each bank. As a general guide:
- SEPA Instant: seconds, any time.
- SEPA standard: by the next business day.
- SWIFT between major currencies and large banks: often the same day or next business day.
- SWIFT involving intermediary banks or less common currencies: one to five business days, occasionally longer.
- Transfers that trigger a compliance review: can be delayed by days while the bank asks for more information.
Payments submitted after a bank's daily cut-off time, or on a weekend or public holiday in either country, usually wait until the next business day. If your payment is time-sensitive, such as a property completion or a tuition deadline, send it several business days early.
Alternatives to a bank wire
A traditional SWIFT wire from your bank is not the only way to send money abroad, and it is often not the cheapest for smaller personal amounts. The main alternatives work differently.
Specialist money transfer providers
Companies such as Wise, Remitly, WorldRemit, Western Union, Xoom and others hold accounts in many countries. When you send money, they typically collect it in your country through a domestic payment and pay it out in the recipient's country through a domestic payment, avoiding long correspondent chains. Some show the mid-market rate and charge a separate transparent fee, while others build a margin into the exchange rate. Speed varies from minutes to a few days, depending on the route and payout method. Many support payout to bank accounts, mobile wallets and cash pickup.
These companies are regulated. In the US, they are licensed as money transmitters by states and are subject to the CFPB's remittance rule. In the UK and EU, they are usually authorised as payment or e-money institutions, which must safeguard customer funds, although that protection differs from bank deposit insurance. Always check that the provider is authorised in your country, for example through the FCA register in the UK.
Payment platforms and multi-currency accounts
Platforms such as PayPal and Payoneer, and multi-currency accounts offered by various fintech firms, let you hold and send balances in several currencies. They can be convenient for freelancers and online sellers, but conversion fees and withdrawal fees vary a lot. Our comparison of Wise vs PayPal vs Payoneer looks at how their fees and exchange rates compare, and our guide on getting paid as a freelancer by international clients covers the receiving side.
When a bank wire still makes sense
- Very large amounts, such as a house purchase, where you want the payment to go bank-to-bank with a full audit trail.
- Payments where the recipient insists on a bank wire, such as some universities, law firms and government bodies. For education payments, see our guide on how to pay for studying abroad.
- Currencies or countries that specialist providers do not cover.
- Business payments that need specific documentation for accounting, customs or tax.
Your rights in the US: the CFPB remittance rule
If you are a consumer in the United States sending money to someone abroad, you have specific federal protections under the Remittance Transfer Rule, part of Regulation E, which the CFPB administers. The rule applies to most consumer transfers of more than 15 dollars sent from the US to a recipient in another country by banks, credit unions and money transfer companies that send remittances in the normal course of business. It does not cover business-to-business payments.
The main protections are:
- Disclosures before you pay. The provider must give you a written disclosure showing the exchange rate, the fees and taxes it collects, certain fees charged by others, and the amount the recipient will receive. In limited cases, certain third-party fees may be estimated or described as possibly applying.
- A receipt after you pay. The receipt repeats the key information and adds the date the money will be available, your cancellation and error-resolution rights, and contact details for the provider and for the CFPB and state regulators.
- Thirty minutes to cancel. In most cases, you can cancel within 30 minutes of paying, as long as the recipient has not already picked up or received the money, and get a full refund, including fees. Some transfers scheduled in advance have different cancellation terms.
- Error resolution. If something goes wrong, such as the recipient receiving less than disclosed, the money not arriving by the disclosed date, or the provider making a mistake, you generally have 180 days from the disclosed availability date to report the error. The provider must investigate, usually within 90 days, and fix it, often by refunding you or re-sending the money at no cost.
There is an important limit. If you gave the wrong account number or wrong bank identifier yourself, the rule has a specific process. The provider must try to recover the funds, but if it cannot, you may not get the money back, although it may have to refund certain fees. The protections are therefore strongest against provider errors, not against your own typos or against fraud where you sent money to a criminal on purpose.
UK and EU name checks: Confirmation of Payee and Verification of Payee
An IBAN or account number, on its own, does not tell you who owns the account. Both the UK and the EU now have systems that check the name you enter against the name on the account before you send.
Confirmation of Payee in the UK
Confirmation of Payee (CoP) is a UK name-checking service overseen by Pay.UK. When you set up a new payee, your bank asks the recipient's bank whether the name you entered matches the account. You receive one of a few results:
- Match: the name matches, and you can proceed.
- Close match: the name is similar, and your bank shows you the actual account name so you can correct it or check with the recipient.
- No match: the name does not match, and you are warned to contact the recipient through a trusted channel before paying.
- Unable to check: the check could not be completed, for example because the receiving institution does not take part or the system timed out.
CoP covers UK domestic payments by sort code and account number. It does not usually cover international SWIFT transfers. A "no match" result is not always fraud, since business names, joint accounts and nicknames can cause mismatches, but you should always stop and verify.
The UK also introduced mandatory reimbursement for many authorised push payment (APP) scam victims from October 2024, covering Faster Payments and CHAPS transfers between UK accounts, with a maximum claim limit set by the regulator. International transfers are outside that scheme, which makes checks before sending money abroad even more important.
Verification of Payee in the EU
The EU Instant Payments Regulation requires payment providers in the euro area to offer a free Verification of Payee (VoP) service for euro credit transfers, both instant and standard, from 9 October 2025. Providers in EU countries outside the euro area follow a later timetable. The European Payments Council publishes the VoP scheme rulebook that many providers use to carry out these checks across borders.
VoP works much like the UK service. Before you authorise a euro transfer, your bank checks the IBAN and name with the recipient's bank and tells you whether there is a match, a close match (in which case it shows you the correct name), no match, or that a check was not possible. If you choose to go ahead despite a warning, you usually accept that the provider may not be liable if the money goes to the wrong person. Businesses making bulk payments can opt out of VoP in some cases, but consumers cannot.
Fraud: fake invoices and changed IBANs
The most expensive international transfer mistakes are often not typos. They are the result of fraud, especially business email compromise (BEC) and invoice redirection scams. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reports BEC every year as one of the costliest types of cybercrime, and UK Finance and the FCA regularly warn about invoice and mandate fraud.
How the scam works
- A criminal gains access to an email account of a supplier, a solicitor, a landlord, a university or even your own company, or registers a lookalike email domain.
- They watch conversations and wait for a payment to be due.
- At the right moment, they send a message saying the bank details have changed. It may include a new IBAN or account number, sometimes in another country, and a plausible reason such as an audit or a new bank.
- You pay the new account. By the time the real supplier asks where their money is, the funds have been moved on.
Warning signs
- Any message that says bank details have changed, especially just before a payment.
- A new account in a different name or a different country from the business you are paying.
- Urgency, secrecy or an instruction not to call.
- Slight differences in the email address or domain.
- A "no match" or "close match" warning from Confirmation of Payee or Verification of Payee.
How to protect yourself
- Verify every change by phone, using a number you already had or found independently, not one from the email that announced the change.
- Send a small test payment for new payees on large transfers, and confirm with the recipient that it arrived before sending the rest. This does not protect against every fraud, but it catches many errors.
- Do not ignore name-check warnings. Stop and verify.
- Protect your email with strong passwords and multi-factor authentication, since compromised email is at the centre of most BEC cases.
What to do if a transfer goes wrong
International transfers can go wrong in several ways: the money does not arrive, arrives short, goes to the wrong account because of a mistake, or goes to a fraudster. Speed matters in every case.
If the payment has not arrived
- Check the timeline. Allow for weekends, holidays and time zones. Compare with the date your provider disclosed.
- Get the payment reference and UETR from your bank or provider, and share them with the recipient so their bank can search.
- Ask your bank to trace the payment. Banks can send a formal investigation request through SWIFT to find where the funds are. There may be a fee for a trace.
- Check for returned funds. If details were wrong, the payment may be returned, often minus fees and at a different exchange rate.
If you sent money to the wrong account by mistake
- Contact your bank immediately and ask for a recall. A recall is a request to the receiving bank to return the funds. It is not guaranteed; if the money has been credited, the receiving bank usually needs the account holder's consent.
- Put it in writing, with the date, amount, reference and the correct details.
- Expect fees and time. Recalls can take weeks and may cost money even if they fail.
- In the US, if the transfer was a remittance transfer and the error was the provider's, use your error-resolution rights. If you gave the wrong number, the provider must still attempt recovery.
If you think you were scammed
- Call your bank immediately using the number on your card or official website, and say you think you have been the victim of fraud. Ask them to recall the payment and alert the receiving bank.
- Report the fraud to the authorities. In the US, report to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) and the FTC. In the UK, report to the national fraud and cybercrime reporting service (or Police Scotland in Scotland), and you can also call 159 to reach your bank safely. In other countries, contact the police and your national fraud reporting service.
- Keep all evidence: emails, invoices, messages, confirmations and screenshots.
- Warn the genuine business if a supplier's email was spoofed or compromised.
- Escalate if needed. If your bank does not handle your complaint fairly, you can go to the CFPB in the US, the Financial Ombudsman Service in the UK, or the relevant national ombudsman or regulator in the EU.
For disputes about card payments rather than bank transfers, the rules are different and often stronger. Our guide on disputing a credit card charge in the US and UK explains chargebacks.
Checklist before you send
Use this checklist before any international transfer, especially a large or first-time one.
- I got the bank details directly from the recipient through a trusted channel, not from an unexpected email.
- I verified any change in bank details by phoning a known number.
- The recipient's name matches the account holder's name, and any name-check warning has been resolved.
- The IBAN starts with the correct country code and has the right length for that country.
- For non-IBAN countries, I have the account number, SWIFT code and any required local code (ABA, transit/institution, BSB, IFSC, CLABE).
- The SWIFT/BIC code matches the recipient's bank, confirmed through the bank's official site or SWIFT's directory.
- I know whether an intermediary bank is needed, from the recipient bank's own instructions.
- I chose the right charge option (OUR, SHA or BEN) for the situation.
- I compared the total amount the recipient will receive with at least one alternative provider.
- I know the exchange rate, the fees and the expected delivery date.
- For a large first payment, I sent a small test amount first.
- I saved the confirmation, reference number and UETR if available.
- I know how to contact my bank quickly if something goes wrong.
FAQ
Is a SWIFT code the same as a BIC?
Yes. BIC (Business Identifier Code) is the formal name under ISO 9362, and SWIFT is the organisation that issues them. People use "SWIFT code", "BIC" and "SWIFT BIC" interchangeably.
Do I need both an IBAN and a SWIFT code?
For payments to IBAN countries outside SEPA, most banks ask for both. For euro SEPA transfers within Europe, the IBAN alone is normally enough. For countries without IBANs, you need the SWIFT code plus the local account number and often a local routing code.
Does the United States use IBAN?
No. US accounts use an account number and a 9-digit ABA routing number. For incoming international wires, the sender uses the US bank's SWIFT code and the account number, plus any routing or intermediary details the bank specifies.
Why is my SWIFT code 8 characters when the form wants 11?
An 8-character code refers to the bank's main office. Many banks tell customers to add "XXX" to make 11 characters. Check your bank's instructions first, because some want a specific branch code.
Can I find someone's IBAN from their name?
No. IBANs are not published in public directories. You need to get the IBAN from the account holder. Be suspicious of anyone claiming to look it up for you.
What happens if I enter the wrong IBAN?
If the check digits do not work out, the payment will usually be rejected before it is sent. If the IBAN is valid but belongs to someone else, the money may be credited to the wrong account. In the UK and euro area, name checks help catch this. Contact your bank immediately to request a recall.
Why did the recipient receive less than I sent?
Most often because you chose SHA or BEN charges, so intermediary and receiving banks deducted fees, or because a currency conversion happened at a rate that included a markup. Choosing OUR and sending in the recipient's currency can reduce surprises, though the receiving bank may still charge its own customer.
How long does an international wire take?
SEPA Instant takes seconds and SEPA standard transfers arrive by the next business day. SWIFT wires between major banks often arrive the same or next business day, but routes with intermediary banks or compliance checks can take several business days.
Is SWIFT the same as SEPA?
No. SEPA is a European system for euro payments, run under European Payments Council schemes and EU rules. SWIFT is a global messaging network used for payments in many currencies between banks worldwide.
Can a SWIFT transfer be cancelled?
Once sent, a SWIFT payment usually cannot simply be cancelled, but your bank can request a recall. In the US, consumer remittance transfers can generally be cancelled within 30 minutes of payment for a full refund, provided the money has not been picked up or deposited.
What is a UETR and how do I use it?
A UETR is a unique 36-character reference attached to a SWIFT gpi payment. Ask your bank for it if a payment is late. The recipient's bank can use it to locate the payment in the SWIFT tracker.
Bottom line
The SWIFT/BIC code finds the bank, and the IBAN finds the account. Where IBANs exist, use them; where they do not, collect the right local codes from the recipient's bank. Choose your charge option deliberately, compare the total delivered amount rather than the headline fee, and treat any change of bank details as a red flag until you have verified it. Keep your references, act quickly if something goes wrong, and use the protections that apply where you live.
Sources
Official sources referenced in this guide.
- SWIFT: International Bank Account Number (IBAN) and IBAN Registry (registration authority for ISO 13616), swift.com/standards/data-standards/iban-international-bank-account-number
- SWIFT: Business Identifier Code (BIC), ISO 9362, and BIC search, swift.com/standards/data-standards/bic-business-identifier-code
- SWIFT: Swift gpi, swift.com/products/swift-gpi
- SWIFT: ISO 20022 migration for cross-border payments, swift.com/standards/iso-20022
- International Organization for Standardization: ISO 13616 Financial services, International bank account number (IBAN), iso.org
- Central Bank of Egypt: IBAN, cbe.org.eg/en/payment-systems-and-services/payment-systems/iban
- European Payments Council: SEPA Credit Transfer, SEPA Instant Credit Transfer and Verification Of Payee schemes, europeanpaymentscouncil.eu
- European Commission: Instant Payments Regulation (EU) 2024/886 and cross-border payments Regulation (EU) 2021/1230, finance.ec.europa.eu
- European Central Bank: Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) and euro foreign exchange reference rates, ecb.europa.eu
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Remittance Transfer Rule, Regulation E subpart B (12 CFR 1005.30-1005.36), consumerfinance.gov
- Financial Conduct Authority: Financial Services Register and guidance on payment services and scams, fca.org.uk
- Pay.UK: Confirmation of Payee, wearepay.uk
- Payment Systems Regulator: APP scam reimbursement requirement, psr.org.uk
- Financial Stability Board and Bank for International Settlements: G20 roadmap for enhancing cross-border payments, fsb.org and bis.org
- FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center: Business email compromise and annual reports, ic3.gov
- Reserve Bank of India: NEFT, RTGS and IFSC, rbi.org.in
- Payments Canada: routing numbers, payments.ca
- Australian Payments Network: BSB numbers, auspaynet.com.au