| Field | Meaning | Required |
|---|---|---|
:20: | A unique reference assigned by the sending bank to identify this payment through its whole life. It must not repeat for the same sender within the same business | M |
:23B: | A four character code that tells the receiving bank how to handle the transfer. CRED means a normal credit transfer, SPAY means a SWIFT payment, SSTD means a st | M |
:32A: | The value date on which funds become available to the beneficiary, the three letter ISO currency code and the amount to be paid. For USD 25,000 on 5 November 20 | M |
:33B: | The currency and amount in which the ordering customer instructed the payment, when that differs from the settlement currency in field 32A. It preserves the ori | O |
:50a: | The customer who ordered the payment, identified by account number and name and address. Option K gives account, name and address in free text. Option F gives s | M |
:52a: | The financial institution that ordered the transfer when it is not the sender of the message. It is normally the bank holding the ordering customer account in a | O |
:53a: | The account held by the sender with the receiver, or the correspondent bank through which settlement will occur. It tells the receiving bank where to debit the | O |
:54a: | The account held by the receiver with another bank, used when the receiver does not hold the sender account directly. It identifies the next bank in the settlem | O |
:57a: | The bank where the beneficiary holds an account, when it is not the receiver of the MT103. It directs the receiving bank to forward the payment to the correct a | O |
:59a: | The final recipient of the funds, identified by account number and name and address. Option A gives the account and BIC, option F gives structured name and addr | M |
:70: | Free text information for the beneficiary explaining what the payment is for, such as an invoice number, contract reference or salary month. It is limited to fo | O |
:71A: | A three letter code stating who pays the transfer charges. OUR means the ordering customer pays all charges, BEN means the beneficiary pays all charges, and SHA | M |
Meridian Bank London sends an MT103, reference MER1035521, for USD 25,000 value 5 November 2024 to Harbour Bank Singapore to pay Bright Logistics for invoice INV-1187. This is a pre-migration example, from before coexistence ended on 22 November 2025. Field :71A: is SHA, the beneficiary account is given in :59a:, and the payment settles on the value date.
Valid example from the message catalogue. Scheme rules: MT103 is a SWIFT MT (FIN) message, not a base ISO 20022 message: there is no single global scheme rulebook, and each bank and market practice sets its own format limits and cut-off times on top of the
Worked example: serial method, the same payment in three MT103s
What you will learn
Your objective. By the end of this lesson, you will be able to explain worked example: serial method, the same payment in three mt103s. This worked example is set before the CBPR+ migration, so the payment travels as MT103s.
Why it matters. A business analyst who can trace both methods through the same payment, field by field, understands correspondent banking at a level most practitioners never reach.
Chapter objective: Learner reads and interprets SWIFT MT messages, including MT103, MT202, MT202COV, MT940, and MT950, and explains the purpose, key fields, and business use of each message type. Learner demonstrates this skill using realistic banking examples, explaining each step clearly and using correct terminology throughout.
Key learning points
- Worked example
- MT103 serial
- SHA: SHA
- Sender must provide field 33B whenever
- Field 71F
- Why the serial method
Key terms
Correspondent banking: A service where one bank holds accounts for another bank so the second bank can make payments in currencies or countries where it has no branch.
pacs.008: An ISO 20022 message for a financial institution to financial institution customer credit transfer. It replaces MT103 in cross border payments and carries structured debtor, creditor, charges and...
MT103: A SWIFT message that carries a single customer credit transfer instruction from one bank to another. It names the ordering customer, the beneficiary, the amount, the currency and the value date.
SWIFT MT message viewer showing Worked example: serial method, the same payment in three MT103s.
Practise this lesson
Exercise
Read the MT103 serial message described in this lesson and identify its key parts.
Use the message structure, fields and example in this lesson.
- What to do. List the main blocks of the message, name the field that carries the amount, and name the field that identifies the payment.
Correct result. The message is made of blocks, each carrying a part of the payment instruction. The amount field and the identification field are the two a receiving bank checks first, because without them it cannot process or reconcile the payment.
Why. A message is only useful if you can read it. The blocks tell the receiving bank what to do, and the amount and identification fields are what it checks first.
Check your understanding
Practice question
Which of the following best describes worked example: serial method, the same payment in three mt103s?
Takeaway and next step
What to remember
The sender must provide field 33B whenever charges have been deducted, and also because field 33B was present in the MT103 it received.
Open the message type from this lesson and inspect its fields, then find the field that carries the amount.
Open the ISO 20022 Message Explorer →
Builds on "Worked example: cover method, Paris to Madrid in USD".
Transcript and full text
Show transcript
This worked example is set before the CBPR+ migration, so the payment travels as MT103s. The same payment, USD 367,574.90 from a French company at BNP Paribas to a Spanish company at Santander, can settle by the serial method instead. In the serial method only one message type is used, the MT103 serial. But the message is sent three times, once between each pair of banks in the chain, and each time its content changes slightly. Following these changes is the best way to understand how serial payments really work. The same payment today travels as a chain of pacs.008 messages, one between each pair of banks. The first MT103 serial goes from BNP Paribas (BNPAFRPP) to Wells Fargo (PNBPUS3N). BNP Paribas instructs Wells Fargo to debit its account and credit the intermediary institution, Bank of New York Mellon (IRVTUS3N). Fields 53A and 54A are absent, because the payment does not go through correspondents in the MT sense. BNP Paribas has a direct account with Wells Fargo. Field 52A is absent too, which means the ordering customer is a customer of BNP Paribas itself. Field 57A is present, naming Santander (BSCHESMM) as the account with institution, because the beneficiary account is not held by Wells Fargo but by Santander. Charges are SHA. The second MT103 serial goes from Wells Fargo (PNBPUS3N) to Bank of New York Mellon (IRVTUS3N). Wells Fargo instructs Bank of New York Mellon to debit its account and credit Santander's account. Two things change. First, field 52A is now present, naming BNP Paribas as the ordering institution. The ordering customer is not a customer of Wells Fargo, so Wells Fargo adds this field so the next bank knows who really ordered the payment. Second, Wells Fargo deducts its charges. A new field 71F appears with the value USD20. The interbank settled amount in field 32A is now USD 367,554.90, which is the instructed amount of USD 367,574.90 in field 33B minus the USD 20 charges. The sender must provide field 33B whenever charges have been deducted, and also because field 33B was present in the MT103 it received. The third MT103 serial goes from Bank of New York Mellon (IRVTUS3N) to Santander (BSCHESMM). Its meaning is different from the first two. Bank of New York Mellon is informing Santander that its account has been credited and the funds are for the beneficiary customer, so Santander should credit the beneficiary account. It is a notification of credit, not an instruction to debit. Field 52A is still present, carried forward from the previous message. Field 57A is now absent, because the beneficiary account is held by Santander itself, the receiver of this message, so there is no need to name an account with institution. A second field 71F is added with the value USD22, Bank of New York Mellon's charges. The message now carries two 71F fields, USD20 and USD22. The interbank settled amount is USD 367,532.90, which is the instructed amount of USD 367,574.90 minus USD20 minus USD22. Compare the two methods. In the cover method, the announcement and the cover travel separately, and the beneficiary bank may credit its customer before the funds arrive, depending on trust, amount, and relationship. In the serial method, each bank only acts when it receives the message and the funds together, so there is no gap between instruction and money. That is why the serial method is often called the American method and the cover method the European method. The serial method is preferred in the United States, the cover method prevails in Europe. A business analyst who can trace both methods through the same payment, field by field, understands correspondent banking at a level most practitioners never reach.
This worked example is set before the CBPR+ migration, so the payment travels as MT103s. The same payment, USD 367,574.90 from a French company at BNP Paribas to a Spanish company at Santander, can settle by the serial method instead. In the serial method only one message type is used, the MT103 serial. But the message is sent three times, once between each pair of banks in the chain, and each time its content changes slightly. Following these changes is the best way to understand how serial payments really work. The same payment today travels as a chain of pacs.008 messages, one between each pair of banks.
The first MT103 serial goes from BNP Paribas (BNPAFRPP) to Wells Fargo (PNBPUS3N). BNP Paribas instructs Wells Fargo to debit its account and credit the intermediary institution, Bank of New York Mellon (IRVTUS3N). Fields 53A and 54A are absent, because the payment does not go through correspondents in the MT sense. BNP Paribas has a direct account with Wells Fargo. Field 52A is absent too, which means the ordering customer is a customer of BNP Paribas itself. Field 57A is present, naming Santander (BSCHESMM) as the account with institution, because the beneficiary account is not held by Wells Fargo but by Santander. Charges are SHA.
The second MT103 serial goes from Wells Fargo (PNBPUS3N) to Bank of New York Mellon (IRVTUS3N). Wells Fargo instructs Bank of New York Mellon to debit its account and credit Santander's account. Two things change. First, field 52A is now present, naming BNP Paribas as the ordering institution. The ordering customer is not a customer of Wells Fargo, so Wells Fargo adds this field so the next bank knows who really ordered the payment. Second, Wells Fargo deducts its charges. A new field 71F appears with the value USD20. The interbank settled amount in field 32A is now USD 367,554.90, which is the instructed amount of USD 367,574.90 in field 33B minus the USD 20 charges. The sender must provide field 33B whenever charges have been deducted, and also because field 33B was present in the MT103 it received.
The third MT103 serial goes from Bank of New York Mellon (IRVTUS3N) to Santander (BSCHESMM). Its meaning is different from the first two. Bank of New York Mellon is informing Santander that its account has been credited and the funds are for the beneficiary customer, so Santander should credit the beneficiary account. It is a notification of credit, not an instruction to debit. Field 52A is still present, carried forward from the previous message. Field 57A is now absent, because the beneficiary account is held by Santander itself, the receiver of this message, so there is no need to name an account with institution. A second field 71F is added with the value USD22, Bank of New York Mellon's charges. The message now carries two 71F fields, USD20 and USD22. The interbank settled amount is USD 367,532.90, which is the instructed amount of USD 367,574.90 minus USD20 minus USD22.
Compare the two methods. In the cover method, the announcement and the cover travel separately, and the beneficiary bank may credit its customer before the funds arrive, depending on trust, amount, and relationship. In the serial method, each bank only acts when it receives the message and the funds together, so there is no gap between instruction and money. That is why the serial method is often called the American method and the cover method the European method. The serial method is preferred in the United States, the cover method prevails in Europe. A business analyst who can trace both methods through the same payment, field by field, understands correspondent banking at a level most practitioners never reach.
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