Hello
I am in India my bank has a swift code, but my bank tells me I also have to give the swift code for the correspondent bank.
Is the other swift code needed? Are all US Dollar transactions suppose to come from the U.S.? Is that why they ask?
The question is unclear, but I deduce you’re trying to transfer money electronically. Yes, such a transfer needs the full code for both accounts; your bank already has the full code for your account, but they need the full code for the other bank. One of the ways to give this is as “Swift code” (which identifies the other bank univocally) + “account details”; the other common way is as “IBAN code” (which identifies bank plus account univocally).
The coin used for the transaction is irrelevant; the problem is that saying (for example) “Citibank” does not uniquely identify a bank - the Swift code does.
NB as I found out wiring money to the UK. The swift code is needed if you want to wife the funds in the foreign currency. Thus I must use the swift code since it has to be in GBP. Using the IBAN code I can only send dollars that are then converted by the exchange rate. In your case if you do not have the swift code you could only send rupees and no guarantied conversion rate.
This is not true. The SWIFT code is needed for international transfer because it is the routing system most used for the wires. it is usual that the bank that is the receiving bank must be given and very often the bank correspondent if it is not a centre bank.
The OP is asking about correspondent banks in which case he means intermediary bank which I know Citibank sometimes request a customer to use for international transfers. The correspondent is generally but not always a US based bank. (They have a correspondent bank in London too)
It’s only anecdotal but I know that you can ignore the request and transfer money direct to the end bank using only the Swift code (Citibank Manila doesn’t use the IBAN system) and account number. Citibank, well at least in Manila, doesn’t like rejecting money and it invariably makes its way into your account 24 hours ahead of a transfer using an intermediary bank.
The IBAN system is mostly european. Correspondent banks are not generally american banks unless you are using american banks or are in a country with american ties. the banking centres are London and Paris for most other uses.
How do i know if the bank is a central bank?
not a central bank, i am sorry I accidentally missed the word, it is “money centre bank” meaning the major international trading banks at the most important financial centres. These banks are their own correspondents.
you need the correspondent bank if you are sending to another country to a smaller bank or you could have great delays. if you are receiving then your bank should know its own correspondent which is usually one of the big money centre banks.
[quote=“Ramira, post:8, topic:651336”]
not a central bank, i am sorry I accidentally missed the word, it is “money centre bank” meaning the major international trading banks at the most important financial centres. These banks are their own correspondents.
you need the correspondent bank if you are sending to another country to a smaller bank or you could have great delays. if you are receiving then your bank should know its own correspondent which is usually one of the big money centre banks.[/QUOTE
If the bank has a SWIFT code is it a money center bank? how do i tell?
A SWIFT code means it is connected to the SWIFT network. no thing more no thing less.
For what you need, it is simple. If you are sending money out, you need the SWIFT of the receiving bank and you should ask the person getting that for you to also ask the bank the correspondent. if they say they have none, then they are probably one of these big money centre banks.
If you are receiving the money from the outside, then you need to ask them same question to your bank.
Simple.
All I know is that with IBAN I can only send money in USD and the SWIFT code is needed by my bank’s system to send in GBP. They said that SWIFT code is what determines if you can send foreign currency. Are you saying that is incorrect in general and is just the way my bank’s software is set up?
It is incorrect, SWIFT is an interbank exchange platform and standard for international transfers