Is the UETR the same as the payment reference number?

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.

Details

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.

Key facts

• UETR — 36 chars, global, field 121, for tracking
• TRN / Sender's Ref — bank-assigned, ~16 chars, field 20
• Remittance Info — free text, field 70, for invoice matching
• Always clarify which 'reference' someone is asking for

Frequently asked questions

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