GLOBAL PAYMENTS KNOWLEDGEISO 20022 / SWIFT / SEPA / MT / MX
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SWIFT serial payment (MT103)

A cross-border customer transfer where the MT103 hops from bank to bank and money moves as book transfers across correspondent accounts.

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Contributor Shubham Mathure

STEP 1 / 10MESSAGE

The customer orders a USD transfer abroad

Ordering customer → Bank Alfa (ordering bank)

The ordering customer instructs Bank Alfa to pay a supplier banked at Cassia Bank in another country. Bank Alfa has no direct account relationship with Cassia — that is why correspondents exist.

Step 1 of 10: The customer orders a USD transfer abroad

  1. 01Message
    The customer orders a USD transfer abroadOrdering customer → Bank Alfa (ordering bank)
  2. 02Processing
    Bank Alfa validates and screensBank Alfa (ordering bank)
  3. 03Posting
    The customer's account is debitedBank Alfa (ordering bank)
  4. 04Message
    The MT103 goes to Bank Alfa's USD correspondentBank Alfa (ordering bank) → Meridian Bank (correspondent) · MT103
  5. 05Processing
    Meridian validates and screens in the middleMeridian Bank (correspondent)
  6. 06Settlement
    Money moves across the books of MeridianMeridian Bank (correspondent)
  7. 07Message
    Cassia is advised its nostro was creditedMeridian Bank (correspondent) → Cassia Bank (beneficiary bank) · MT910
  8. 08Message
    The MT103 continues serially to CassiaMeridian Bank (correspondent) → Cassia Bank (beneficiary bank) · MT103
  9. 09Processing
    Cassia validates the incoming paymentCassia Bank (beneficiary bank)
  10. 10Posting
    The beneficiary is creditedCassia Bank (beneficiary bank)
MESSAGECLEARING OBLIGATIONSETTLEMENTPOSTING
Full step-by-step text (works without JavaScript)
  1. 01Message
    The customer orders a USD transfer abroadOrdering customer → Bank Alfa (ordering bank)

    The ordering customer instructs Bank Alfa to pay a supplier banked at Cassia Bank in another country. Bank Alfa has no direct account relationship with Cassia — that is why correspondents exist.

  2. 02Processing
    Bank Alfa validates and screensBank Alfa (ordering bank)

    Format and balance checks plus sanctions screening. Cross-border payments face stricter screening because more jurisdictions are involved.

    Screening checkpoint: Outbound cross-border screening — Ordering and beneficiary parties, banks, and remittance text are screened before the payment leaves.

  3. 03Posting
    The customer's account is debitedBank Alfa (ordering bank)

    Bank Alfa books the debit and, per the charge option, any fees.

    • DR Ordering customer's account at Bank Alfa — USD 250,000.00
  4. 04Message
    The MT103 goes to Bank Alfa's USD correspondentBank Alfa (ordering bank) → Meridian Bank (correspondent) · MT103

    In the serial method the payment instruction itself travels through the account chain. Meridian holds Bank Alfa's USD account (Bank Alfa's nostro), so Meridian can debit it.

  5. 05Processing
    Meridian validates and screens in the middleMeridian Bank (correspondent)

    Every bank in the chain screens independently. Meridian also checks that Bank Alfa's account has cover for the debit.

  6. 06Settlement
    Money moves across the books of MeridianMeridian Bank (correspondent)

    Both Bank Alfa and Cassia hold USD accounts at Meridian. Settlement here is a book transfer in commercial bank money: Meridian debits one account it holds and credits the other.

    No clearing house is involved — the correspondent's ledger is the settlement venue. This is settlement in commercial bank money, not central bank money.

    • DR Bank Alfa's USD account at Meridian (vostro) — USD 250,000.00
    • CR Cassia's USD account at Meridian (vostro) — USD 250,000.00
  7. 07Message
    Cassia is advised its nostro was creditedMeridian Bank (correspondent) → Cassia Bank (beneficiary bank) · MT910

    The MT910 credit confirmation lets Cassia's reconciliation match expected funds against its nostro account movement.

  8. 08Message
    The MT103 continues serially to CassiaMeridian Bank (correspondent) → Cassia Bank (beneficiary bank) · MT103

    Meridian forwards the payment instruction to the beneficiary bank with the full ordering and beneficiary details intact.

  9. 09Processing
    Cassia validates the incoming paymentCassia Bank (beneficiary bank)

    Account checks and inbound screening. Only when funds are confirmed on the nostro and checks pass is the beneficiary credited.

  10. 10Posting
    The beneficiary is creditedCassia Bank (beneficiary bank)

    Cassia credits its customer, net of any beneficiary-side charges the charge option allows.

    • CR Beneficiary's account at Cassia — USD 250,000.00

What this simplifies: Both banks share one USD correspondent, so settlement is a single book transfer. Longer chains add hops, charges, and time; FX is omitted.

LEARN THE CONCEPTS BEHIND THIS FLOW

Sources for this flow3
  1. Official requirement

    Swift Standards MT (annual standards releases) ↗ — Swift

    Defines the MT message standards (including MT101, MT103, MT202/202 COV, and the MT9xx statement messages) exchanged over the Swift FIN network, maintained through annual standards releases. · Checked 2026-07-12

    Full field-level specifications live in the Swift Knowledge Centre User Handbook behind a swift.com login; content here relies on public summaries. Swift ended MT-to-ISO 20022 coexistence for in-scope cross-border payment instructions (for example MT103 and MT202) in November 2025; MT statement messages are being phased out on a separate timeline.

  2. Market practice

    Correspondent banking (final report) ↗ — CPMI, Bank for International Settlements

    Defines correspondent banking arrangements, including nostro/vostro account relationships, and analyses the decline in correspondent relationships and its drivers. · Checked 2026-07-12

    Published in July 2016; its statistics cover 2011-2015 and are dated, but the definitions and arrangement types remain widely used.

  3. Simplified educational illustration

    Payments Signal editorial teaching models — Payments Signal

    This site's own simplified teaching models. · Checked 2026-07-12

    What this simplifies: Single shared correspondent; real chains may involve two or more correspondents and FX conversion.

    Used wherever diagrams, scenarios, figures, or example values are didactic constructions rather than sourced facts; every such use carries a simplifications disclosure. All people, companies, banks, and list entries in examples are fictional.