Bank of America (BofA) sends international wires over the SWIFT GPI network and is one of the world's major USD correspondent banks. Every BofA international wire carries a UETR that you can use to track it end to end. Here is how.
Bank of America's primary SWIFT BIC is BOFAUS3N (Bank of America NA, New York). For Merrill Lynch and certain other BofA entities, the BIC may differ. For tracking purposes, BOFAUS3N is the code to recognise.
Finding the UETR in Bank of America Online Banking: log in to bankofamerica.com, go to "Accounts", select the account used for the wire, click "Activity", find the wire, and view "Transaction details". Look for "Wire tracking ID", "End-to-end ID", or "GPI reference". BofA has displayed UETRs in the online portal for personal accounts since 2020 and business accounts since 2019.
If not shown online: call BofA's International Wire Services at 1-800-238-4486 and choose the international wire option. Quote your wire reference number from the confirmation email. Ask for "the UETR in field 121 of the MT103" — this specific phrasing helps the agent locate the right system quickly.
Bank of America CashPro (corporate) and Business Advantage (SME) clients have access to BofA's GPI-connected payment tracking within the portal. The GPI reference appears on the payment detail screen and shows hop-by-hop confirmations including correspondent bank names and fee deductions.
Bank of America as correspondent: BofA (BOFAUS3N) is among the top three USD correspondents in the world, handling clearing for hundreds of smaller banks. If your GPI chain shows the payment stuck at BOFAUS3N, this is almost always OFAC sanctions screening — BofA's compliance infrastructure is among the strictest in US banking. The sender bank must provide additional KYC on the beneficiary to clear the hold.
Typical BofA timelines: US domestic wires — same business day if submitted by 16:00 ET. International USD wires — 1–2 business days. International EUR wires — 1–2 business days. Payments to high-risk corridors (West Africa, some Middle East countries) — up to 5 business days for correspondent screening.
Paste the UETR on Ohmyfin to see real-time GPI status. Ohmyfin reads the same SWIFT GPI data BofA's internal tracking reads, giving you independent confirmation without needing to call.
"In transit" means the wire has been released from BofA's system and is in the SWIFT/correspondent chain. Check GPI status on Ohmyfin for real-time location.
BofA charges an incoming international wire fee (currently USD 15–16 for most personal accounts). This is deducted from the credited amount — which is why a beneficiary may receive slightly less than the sent amount.
Once sent, the GPI chain on Ohmyfin shows every correspondent that confirmed the hop. Before sending, BofA does not publish its routing tables, but it routes most wires through its own global network or established correspondent relationships.
Returns happen when the beneficiary account is closed (AC04), the IBAN is invalid (AC01), the beneficiary name does not match (RR06), or a sanctions hold could not be resolved. BofA should notify you with a reason code. Check with them for the specific ISO 20022 rejection code.