The intermediary bank notifies the receiving bank the receiving bank credits the intended recipient. Your bank wires the money to the intermediary bank. For example Fidelity requires the intermediary bank information for an international wire transfer. It’s better if you also get information about the receiving bank’s intermediary bank (also known as the correspondent bank) in the U.S. You can look up and verify the receiving bank’s SWIFT code with this online BIC Search tool from SWIFT. For example the SWIFT code for HSBC London is HSBCGB2L. If the bank is in Europe, you also need the IBAN number.Ī SWIFT code, also known as BIC (Bank Identifier Code), is a set of letters and numbers that identifies a bank. International Wire Transferįor a wire transfer to another country, you need the receiving bank’s SWIFT code and account number.

Otherwise the money won’t get credited to the right account. They will tell you to write a “for further credit to” instruction when you do a wire. When the money comes in, they need to know whom the money belongs to. If you are wiring money to an account that’s not a bank account, say a brokerage account, the brokerage firm will give you a bank account they use for all their clients. It should be available immediately, not subject to any hold. I use this Fedwire Participant Search for that.Ī domestic wire transfer arrives on the same day it’s sent. It’s better to double-check the routing number and see it matches the receiving bank. Some banks have multiple routing numbers.

For example Alliant Credit Union’s routing number is 271081528. ABA stands for American Bankers Association.Įvery bank that can receive a wire transfer is assigned a 9-digit routing number. The routing number is also known as the ABA number. Domestic Wire Transferįor a wire transfer within the U.S., you need the receiving bank’s routing number and account number. I’m documenting some info here in case someone hasn’t done it before. If you need the money transferred sooner or if you are transferring money to a different country, you can make a wire transfer. There’s technically international ACH, but I haven’t seen it offered to consumers. It’s typically an overnight process, although some banks make it slower than others. The most commonly used method to transfer money is by ACH.

Charles schwab wire information