SWIFT codes are a combination of various kinds of letters and are used to identify the branch
codes of the banks. These codes are used as Bank Identifier Codes (BIC).
A SWIFT
code is used to identify a particular branch of a bank. These codes play an important
role in various bank transactions, especially when it comes to international transactions. A SWIFT
code may also be used by various banks to transfer other messages.
A SWIFT code may be of eight to eleven digits and has the following
components:
- - The first four characters are used as the bank codes. Only letters
can be used.
- - The next two characters, only letters, are to describe or give the
country code.
- - The next two characters can be a mix of both numbers and letters.
These are used for location-based codes.
- - The last three characters of the code can be digits and letters, and
are optional. These last three characters in a SWIFT code are used to
give details about the branch code.
A good example of a SWIFT code would be the CommBank’s code- CTBAAU2S
It must be remembered that BICs and SWIFT Codes can be used interchangeably and are one and
the same thing. A SWIFT code is usually used during international bank
wire transfers. However, these codes may also make you pay a higher rate, depending on the
ongoing rates at the time of the transaction. At present, there are more than forty thousand
live SWIFT codes.
Click here to find your SWIFT Codes
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