Send
Pay anyone outside the SEPA area
Every payment that isn’t a euro payment to a SEPA country goes by SWIFT: in the local currency where we cover it, otherwise in US dollars or euros. Euros to SEPA countries go by SEPA instead.
Every destinationSWIFT
SWIFT payments for business
Send in 79 currencies to 165 destinations by SWIFT, and top up your balance by SWIFT in 35 currencies. Every fee we charge is shown before you confirm.
Both directions
Top up
Fund your balance by SWIFT
Send funds by SWIFT to our collection account with your payment reference, in any of 35 currencies, and they are credited to your balance. Euros from the SEPA area arrive by SEPA into your own IBAN.
Receiving moneyWho pays the charges: OUR, SHA and BEN
Every SWIFT payment carries a charge code that says who pays the banks along the way. The example below sends €10,000 through one correspondent bank. The fees in it are illustrative round numbers, not our prices or any bank’s.
| Code | Meaning | You pay in total | Recipient receives |
|---|---|---|---|
| OUR | You pay every charge | €10,050 | €10,000 |
| SHA | Each side pays its own bank | €10,025 | €9,975 |
| BEN | The recipient pays every charge | €10,000 | €9,950 |
Assumed: sending bank fee €25, correspondent deduction €15, receiving bank fee €10. Even under OUR, a correspondent can occasionally deduct a fee in transit.
Inside the European Economic Area, when both banks are in the EEA, the payer and the payee each pay their own bank’s charges — in practice SHA — under Article 62(2) of the EU Payment Services Directive. The charge options available on a given payment are shown when you set it up. Directive (EU) 2015/2366
Confirmations, MT103 and tracking
Payment confirmation
Download a confirmation of each payment to send to your supplier as proof that it left, with the amount, the date and the beneficiary’s details.
MT103 · pacs.008
The payment message
For years a cross-border customer payment travelled as an MT103 message, and suppliers still ask for “the MT103”. Swift has moved these payments to the ISO 20022 standard, where the equivalent message is pacs.008.
Swift on ISO 20022UETR
Tracking reference
Each SWIFT payment carries a Unique End-to-end Transaction Reference, a 36-character code that every bank in the chain sees. It is what a bank uses to trace where a payment is.
Cut-offs and value dates
Each currency has a daily cut-off. A payment instructed after it, at a weekend or on a public holiday in either currency starts on the next working day. Weekends differ: banks in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and most of the Gulf close on Friday and Saturday, while those in the UAE, Morocco, Tunisia and Europe close on Saturday and Sunday. The payment calendar works out the value date for a given currency and day.
Fees
- SWIFT payment out
- 0.25%, min €25.00
- SWIFT payment in
- 0.25%, min €25.00
- Currency conversion
- 0.5%
- SEPA payment out
- €0.50
Figures from the MENA plan. Every fee is shown before you confirm a payment, and banks in a SWIFT chain may deduct charges of their own. All plans and fees →
Questions
- What is a SWIFT payment?
- An international bank transfer sent over the SWIFT network, which banks use to pass payment instructions to each other. When the sending and receiving banks don’t hold accounts with each other, the money moves through one or more correspondent banks, each identified by its SWIFT/BIC code.
- How long does a SWIFT payment take?
- Typically 1 to 3 working days. It depends on the currency, the number of banks in the chain, time zones and bank closing days at each end. A payment instructed after the daily cut-off starts on the next working day. Timings are typical, not guaranteed.
- What does a SWIFT payment cost?
- On the MENA plan, a SWIFT payment out costs 0.25%, min €25.00 and a SWIFT payment in 0.25%, min €25.00. Correspondent and receiving banks may add charges of their own, which is what the OUR, SHA and BEN options allocate. Every fee we charge is shown before you confirm.
- Can I get proof that a payment was sent?
- Yes. You can download a confirmation of each payment to forward to your supplier. If their bank needs to trace the payment through the chain, the reference banks use is the UETR.
- Can I receive money by SWIFT?
- Yes, as a top-up: send funds by SWIFT to our collection account with your payment reference, in any of the 35 currencies you can hold, and they are credited to your balance. Euros from payers in the SEPA area arrive by SEPA into your own EUR IBAN. If you expect euros from a bank outside the SEPA area, ask us first.
Send money → · Receive money →
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