What SWIFT is
SWIFT is the network banks use to send each other payment instructions across borders. It is a cooperative founded in 1973, owned by its member institutions and based in La Hulpe, Belgium, and it is overseen by the National Bank of Belgium together with the G10 central banks.
SWIFT carries messages, not money: the funds move through accounts the banks in the chain hold with each other. Since November 2025, cross-border payment instructions travel as ISO 20022 messages, and each carries a UETR, a reference that follows the payment from bank to bank. Banks around the world use it, which is why SWIFT is the rail our payouts module keeps for payments no local rail can reach.
What it does in your platform
Accounts & IBANs
Brings money from abroad to your customers' accounts, where your partner bank accepts incoming SWIFT payments, and lets customers send money to banks abroad where the partner offers it.
Payouts
Reaches the countries and currencies no local rail covers. The module sends SWIFT payments through your bank partner or a payout network and keeps each payment's UETR, so it can be traced through every bank in the chain.
How the connection works
SWIFT is reached through a bank on the network. The module sends each payment to your bank partner or payout network through its API, and the partner turns it into a SWIFT message and reports back.
A payout is due
A supplier abroad is owed US dollars, and none of your local rails reaches their bank. The module screens the payment and holds the amount in the ledger.
A message goes out
Your partner sends it as an ISO 20022 payment message with the supplier's details, their bank's BIC and a UETR, the reference that stays with it through every bank in the chain.
Banks pass it on
Correspondent banks move the money towards the supplier's bank. Where your partner offers SWIFT gpi tracking, each bank's update comes back against the UETR.
It is credited
The supplier's bank credits the account, the partner confirms the payment, and the ledger books it.
Or it comes back
If the receiving bank cannot apply it, the payment comes back with a reason. The module matches it to the payout, the ledger reverses it and the reason shows in the backoffice.
Next to other rails
SWIFT is the route when nothing faster reaches. The Payouts module sends euros over SEPA, pounds over Faster Payments, dollars inside the US over ACH, and pesos and reais over SPEI and PIX, and keeps SWIFT for the rest. Payout networks send SWIFT payments too, so a corridor can have a second route.
The payout screens, the statuses customers see and the ledger entries are the same whichever rail carries a payment. Changing the bank or network that sends your SWIFT payments changes a connector, not your app.
When SWIFT fits best
A strong fit when
- You pay suppliers, partners or customers in countries your local rails do not reach.
- You send currencies your local rails do not carry, such as US dollars to banks outside the US.
- Your customers receive money from abroad on the accounts you provide.
Also worth a look
- A local rail, such as SEPA, Faster Payments or ACH, wherever one reaches the recipient.
- A payout network that pays out locally in the recipient's country.
How we get you live
The partner
We help you get SWIFT payments through your bank partner or a payout network, for the currencies and countries you need.
The routing
We decide with you which payments go by SWIFT and which go local, and which need a second approval.
The keys
The partner's credentials and webhook secrets go into your platform's secrets and nowhere else.
A full test run
Payments, returns and status updates are tested in the partner's test environment where it has one, then a first live payment is followed into the ledger.
