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An intermediary bank is a correspondent that sits between the sender's bank and the beneficiary's bank when those two have no direct relationship. The instruction is in MT103 field 56. Track your payment and see all intermediaries →
Field 56 carries the identity of the intermediary bank — also called the "third bank" or "correspondent bank" in everyday payment language. Variant 56A carries the bank's BIC. 56C carries a national clearing code (e.g. an ABA routing number for US interbank routing). 56D carries a free-format name and address. In practice, 56A with a BIC is strongly preferred because it enables automated routing at every subsequent correspondent without manual interpretation.
Most international payments pass through one to three intermediary banks, depending on the currency corridor and the sending bank's correspondent network. For a payment from a small regional bank to a beneficiary bank in another continent, the route might be: sending bank to regional correspondent (field 53/54), to major currency clearinghouse (field 56), to beneficiary bank (field 57). Each bank receives the SWIFT message, settles the funds in its books, and forwards the message to the next bank in the chain.
In the SWIFT GPI tracking trail (visible on Ohmyfin), each intermediary bank is listed with the timestamp it received and processed the payment, the fee it deducted, and the status code it applied. Before GPI, this information was completely opaque — a sender had no way to know how many intermediaries their payment had passed through or which one was currently holding it.
The standard MT103 message has only one field 56 — meaning only one intermediary bank can be explicitly named in the message. In practice, payments often pass through more intermediaries than a single field 56 can capture. The additional hops are determined by the bilateral correspondent relationships of each bank in the chain. The full hop list emerges from the SWIFT GPI tracker, not from the original MT103 message.
When Ohmyfin shows the payment status as ACSP (accepted, settlement in progress) for an extended period, the payment is typically mid-flight at an intermediary bank. This can be because the intermediary has a sanctions hold, a cut-off time miss, a technical issue, or is waiting for the next available settlement cycle. Checking the Ohmyfin tracker identifies which specific intermediary is holding the payment, allowing your bank to contact them directly.
Usually 1 to 3, depending on currency, country pair, and the originator's correspondent network. Major currency pairs like USD, EUR, GBP typically have fewer hops (often 1–2) because the correspondent networks are dense. Payments to smaller markets or less common currencies may go through more hops.
Common reasons include: sanctions screening hold, cut-off time miss (payment arrived after the settlement cut-off and must wait for the next cycle), missing or incorrect beneficiary data, or a technical issue. Track the payment on Ohmyfin — the tracker shows which specific bank is holding it and the status code — then ask your bank to follow up with that institution.
An intermediary bank can deduct its processing fee from the payment amount if the charges code (field 71A) is SHA or BEN. Under OUR, the intermediary is still paid but the fee is covered by the sender bank in a bilateral arrangement rather than deducted from the payment. Ohmyfin shows the fees deducted at each hop.
If field 56 is absent, the next bank in the chain must determine the route to the beneficiary bank itself based on its own correspondent network. This usually works for well-connected bank pairs but can cause delays on exotic corridors where the route is not obvious.
In common usage yes — both refer to a bank handling a payment on behalf of another bank. Technically, "intermediary bank" specifically refers to the bank named in field 56 of an MT103. "Correspondent bank" is the broader term covering any bank providing services on behalf of another, including nostro/vostro relationships not explicitly named in a SWIFT message.
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