Swift code - what is it and why use it?

Transfers between countries are carried out daily for large and small amounts. If you make payments abroad, sooner or later you will encounter the following types of transfers.

Swift code. What it is? This code is part of the international payment system. Perhaps, it is the most popular and widespread, because with the help of it you can send money to another person who is in almost any country.

In addition, this system of transfers is used by all countries that carry out international financial transactions. It's very convenient. Thanks to a wide correspondent web, translations can be sent in almost any currency.

Swift code. What it is?

This is the code that is assigned to each participant in the popular money transfer system. You can find it in a bank or other financial institution.

Even well-known translation systems such as Contact, Western Union and others do not have such a wide network of points of sending / receiving payments and can not boast of the same popularity.

How is this money transfer system arranged?

Each bank has correspondent accounts in other foreign banking institutions. Of these, the network of this type of translation consists. Accounts must be opened in all currencies in which money transfers are made.

When the client comes to the bank and indicates all the necessary details, the bank determines through which foreign accounts it is best to send money, and sends them. And so, from the account to the account, the money moves until they stop on the specified account.

Thanks to this system, it is possible to send a transfer to any country that is connected to the Swift system.

What are the advantages?

• Money can be sent to almost any country. Imagine Swift connected to more than 1000 corporations and 10,000 institutions around the world.

• Multicurrency. No translation system supports transfers in the same number of currencies.

What are the disadvantages?

Speed of making transfers and payments. Unlike other systems, you can get transfers within 10-15 minutes from the moment you send, in Swift the gap is much longer. The average duration of the transfer is 2-3 days, depending on the length of the chain of banks that will pass non-cash money.

It is necessary to know the swift code of the receiving bank and the account number of the person or organization to which the transfer is made. This very often causes difficulties, since customers turn to the bank without this information. If the recipient does not have the requisites, then when sending the transfer one can make a mistake and the money will go wrong or hang on some correspondent bank accounts on demand.

How to send such a transfer?

Let's say you want to send money to an English university for training. The first thing you need to know is the bank details of this institution. Call them or send an email requesting them to indicate their account number and swift code of the bank to which they need to send money to pay for their tuition.

For example, swift code Sberbank of Russia (head office) is as follows: SABRRUMM. But every representation of even one and the same institution can have its own separate code.

This helps to speed up the payment process. That is, if your account is in the Altai branch, then it is necessary to indicate the following details of it "Sberbank swift code SABRRUMMAC1".

After these data are received, contact a branch of the bank nearby. Do not necessarily go to the main office - go to where it is convenient for you to perform this operation, all the same the cost of the service is the same everywhere.

A bank employee will ask you to swift code. What it is, was stated above. He also needs to provide information with the number of the bank current or card account where the money sent should be credited. In addition, he needs to know the purpose of payment.

If you pay for studies, the operator will have to indicate payment for education and then write your name in Latin at the end. If the wrong swift code, account number or the purpose of payment is unclear, the transfer will not be sent.

A few tips

Even if you know swift code, what it is and the account number in the bank, you still need to ensure that when sending the operator correctly indicated all the details and purpose of the payment.

Also remember that in certain countries there are a number of restrictions for transfers both for the amount of dispatch and the amount of money received.

If you urgently need to send a transfer for an amount that is greater than the restrictions, you can take the help of colleagues or close people by dividing one sum into several parts.