Last reviewed: · Curated by Ohmyfin Organisation editorial.
No. The UETR is a 36-character global tracking ID generated by SWIFT (mandatory since 2018). The 'reference number' usually refers to a bank-assigned identifier (TRN) or the customer's free-text reference in field 20 / 70. They are different fields with different purposes — the UETR for end-to-end tracking, the reference for human-readable identification.
UETR — 36 characters, hex, format 8-4-4-4-12, in MT103 field 121. Mandatory on every SWIFT payment. Used for tracking the payment across the correspondent chain.
Bank reference / TRN — variable length (up to 16 chars), bank-assigned, in MT103 field 20 (Sender's Reference). Different at each bank in the chain.
Customer reference — free text up to 4 lines of 35 chars, in MT103 field 70 (Remittance Information). What the customer writes for the beneficiary's records (invoice number, contract reference, etc.).
When someone says 'send me the reference', clarify which one they mean. For tracking, you want the UETR. For matching to an invoice in accounts payable, you want field 70.
No. The UETR is a 36-character global tracking ID generated by SWIFT (mandatory since 2018). The 'reference number' usually refers to a bank-assigned identifier (TRN) or the customer's free-text reference in field 20 / 70. They are different fields with different purposes — the UETR for end-to-end tracking, the reference for human-readable identification.
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No. Ohmyfin queries the SWIFT GPI network directly via the UETR — no credentials at any bank required.
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