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SWIFT and SEPA both move money between banks, but they cover different corridors. SEPA is for euro payments inside the 36 SEPA member countries; SWIFT is for any currency, anywhere in the world.
Details
SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) is free or near-free, settles in T+1, and uses ISO 20022 pacs.008 messages. SCT Instant settles in under 10 seconds. SEPA only works for EUR, only inside SEPA, and there is no concept of correspondent banks — every SEPA bank can reach every other SEPA bank.
SWIFT MT103 / pacs.008 cross-border payments work in any currency to any country, but go through 1-3 correspondent banks, each of which can charge a fee and add delay. SWIFT GPI brings tracking and same-day settlement to most G20 corridors.
Rule of thumb: if both banks are in SEPA and the currency is EUR, use SEPA. For everything else, use SWIFT.
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