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The beneficiary bank, formally called the "Account With Institution", is the bank that holds the account of the final beneficiary. It is the last bank in the SWIFT payment chain. Look up any beneficiary bank BIC free →
On an MT103, the beneficiary bank is identified in field 57 (variants 57A, 57B, 57C, 57D). Field 57A is the preferred and most common variant — it carries the bank's BIC (8 or 11 characters). 57B carries a clearing-system code and address. 57C carries a national clearing code and account. 57D carries a free-format name and address when no BIC is available. Using 57A with a correct BIC is strongly preferred because it enables straight-through processing at every correspondent bank without manual routing decisions.
The beneficiary bank (field 57) must not be confused with the beneficiary customer (field 59), which follows immediately. Field 57 tells the SWIFT network which institution to deliver the funds to. Field 59 tells that institution which account to credit within its own books. The relationship is: funds arrive at the beneficiary bank (field 57), which then looks up the account number and name in field 59 and books the credit.
Getting the beneficiary bank BIC wrong is one of the most common causes of payment delay and failure. If field 57A contains an invalid BIC or a BIC that is unreachable via the sender's correspondent network, the payment may be rejected by a correspondent mid-chain, returned to the sender, or — in worst cases — misrouted. Ohmyfin's /swift-codes directory allows you to verify any BIC before sending.
When a payment arrives at the beneficiary bank without a BIC in field 57 (i.e. only free-format details in 57D), the receiving correspondent must manually identify the intended bank, which introduces delays and potential errors. Banks and their compliance advisors consistently recommend using field 57A with a full, validated BIC for every international SWIFT payment. Some corridors (intra-SEPA) make the BIC derivable from the IBAN, allowing it to be omitted — but on SWIFT (non-SEPA), the BIC in field 57A should always be present.
In ISO 20022 pacs.008, the beneficiary bank is represented by the CdtrAgt (Creditor Agent) element, containing a structured financial institution identification with BICFI (BIC) and optionally ClrSysMmbId (clearing system member ID, e.g. ABA routing number, Sort Code), Nm (name), and PstlAdr (postal address). The richer structure in pacs.008 eliminates the ambiguity that can arise with free-format MT103 field 57D or 57B.
The payment may be rejected by a correspondent mid-chain, returned to the sender with a rejection code, or in worst cases misrouted. The Ohmyfin tracker will show the rejection reason code (RJCT status) if the payment was rejected. Always verify the BIC at /swift-codes before sending.
Very few banks lack a BIC entirely, but some small or community banks are not direct SWIFT members. In that case, use the BIC of the beneficiary bank's correspondent in field 57A and add the local routing code and account details in field 59 or field 70. Ask the beneficiary to confirm the correct routing details with their bank.
Field 57 is not listed as unconditionally mandatory in the MT103 specification, but in practice it is always required. Without a beneficiary bank identifier, a correspondent has no way to route the payment to the correct institution. Some very simple bilateral correspondent arrangements may allow it to be omitted, but this is exceptional.
Search Ohmyfin's free BIC directory at /swift-codes. You can search by bank name, city, or country. The directory covers over 8,000 active registered BICs. Alternatively, ask the beneficiary to look in their bank's website under "international payments" or "SWIFT/BIC code".
Field 56A (Intermediary Institution) is the bank in the middle of the chain that routes funds between the sender bank and the beneficiary bank. Field 57A (Account With Institution) is the beneficiary's own bank — the last institution in the chain where the final account sits. A payment may have field 56A, but will almost always have field 57A.
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