offshorebankwire.com

While banks in the United States use SWIFT to make payments to banks outside of the United States, domestic bank-to-bank transfers work a little differently.  In the US they use something called the Fedwire system.

The Fedwire system utilizes the Federal Reserve System and its bank routing numbers.  Bank routing numbers work in a similar way to how Automated Clearing House, or ACH payments, effect the payment and collection of checks.

European banks, on the other hand, making domestic wire transfers, or transfers within the European Union also utilize the International Bank Account Number, or IBAN.

SWIFT Codes and Offshore Wire Transfers

Most international wire transfers are executed using the SWIFT system.  In the SWIFT system, each financial institution is provided an ISO 9362 code, also known as a Bank Identifier Code, BIC Code, or SWIFT Code. These codes are generally eight characters in length.

As an example Capital Conservator’s offshore banking accounts have a US dollar account through Uruguay’s government bank, Banco de la Republica Oriental del Uruguay (BROU).  BROU is an international bank. BROU’s  head office is in Montevideo, Uruguay.  Its SWIFT code for its primary office is BROUUYMM.

• BROU identifies Banco de la Republica del Uruguay
• UY is the country code for Uruguay
• MM is the code for Montevideo

For some receiving banks, by using an extended code of 11 digits, the international wire can be directed to a specific office. For example, BROUUYMM500 would direct the payment to an office of BROU numbered 500 “ciudad vieja”, or “old town” in downtown Montevideo, Uruguay.

(The preceding was meant as example only since BROU routes all incoming wires to the appropriate branch office by the individual account holder’s account number.)