The money left your account, but less arrived — that's the intermediary bankHow an international bank wire (SWIFT) works and why money goes missing
What you pay for a wire is not what the recipient receives. "Bank to bank, direct, official" sounds like the money should land untouched, but in reality it often has to pass through one or two banks you never see, and each can quietly take a cut. So the money leaves your account, yet the recipient comes up short.
What a bank wire actually is
A bank wire moves money straight from your bank account to the recipient's bank account. Cross-border wires mostly travel over an international messaging network called SWIFT. Think of it as the channel banks use to pass each other the instruction "please pay this amount to such-and-such account." It isn't a money-transfer company; it's a shared standard that banks worldwide run on.
A wire has a clear profile: formal, with a complete bank record, and suited to larger amounts. Many institutions, such as universities, visa offices and property sellers, only accept a bank-to-bank transfer. The trade-offs are a higher fee and 2–5 business days to arrive, and the chance that banks along the way take another cut.
What bank information do you need to send a wire?
A wire's worst enemy is a typo. One wrong letter and the money can stall, bounce back, or even cost a return fee. Before you start, get all of this from the recipient and check every character against what they give you:
- The recipient's name (spelled exactly as it appears on their bank account).
- The recipient's account number, or the IBAN common in Europe and many other regions.
- The receiving bank's SWIFT / BIC code (the key that identifies which bank it is).
- The receiving bank's name, country and city.
- Some countries also need a branch code, routing number or address on top of that.
How to read these and which ones get confused, the mistakes section covers in detail.
Mistakes to rule out before you fill the form
- One wrong character in the recipient details. A misspelled name, IBAN or SWIFT / BIC can stall the money, bounce it back and trigger a return fee. Check every character with the recipient; better yet, have them screenshot the standard receiving details their bank provides.
- Underestimating the intermediary fee and leaving SHA on default. When the recipient needs the full amount but you left it on the shared default, they end up short. Switch to OUR when the exact amount matters.
- Watching only the fee, not what the recipient gets. A low visible fee doesn't mean a low total cost; the rate margin and intermediary fee are the bigger chunk.
- Sending right before a Friday or holiday and expecting it to land fast. Wires are processed on business days; across a weekend or holiday it only gets slower. Leave time if the money is urgent.
- Trusting an "internal express channel" or a stranger posing as support. No legitimate channel privately "speeds up" your arrival or asks you to pay a fee first to "release" a transfer. If you hear that, stop right away.
A bank wire in six steps
Interfaces differ from bank to bank, but the flow is much the same. Using online banking as the example:
- Find the "international / overseas transfer" entry. In online or mobile banking it's usually called "International transfer," "Overseas transfer" or "Wire transfer."
- Enter the recipient details. Type in the name, account number / IBAN and SWIFT / BIC you gathered above, one field at a time; the system will usually ask you to confirm twice.
- Choose the send currency and amount. Note whether it's "debited in your home currency" or "delivered in the recipient's currency," since the two use different rates and margins. How fees and the margin eat your money walks through it.
- Choose who pays the fees. The screen will show OUR / SHA / BEN (or a "who pays the charges" option). This single step decides how much less the recipient gets; see below.
- Check the rate and every charge. Before you submit, the page shows the fee, a reference rate, and sometimes a cable / wire charge. Read them alongside the "recipient will receive" figure.
- Submit and keep the receipt. Note the reference number; it's your proof for any later query. Arrival is usually 2–5 business days, slower across weekends or holidays.
Who does the money actually pass through?
Many people assume a wire goes "straight from my bank to their bank." Often it doesn't. If your bank and the receiving bank have no direct relationship, the money has to be relayed through one or more intermediary banks (correspondent banks) that hand it down the chain.
Every time it passes an intermediary bank, that bank can deduct a fee from the amount before passing it on. That's why the recipient often ends up with tens of dollars less than you sent, not because your bank charged more, but because the banks in the middle each took a cut. This cost is hard to predict precisely beforehand, because you usually don't know how many intermediary banks the money will go through.
Why money goes missing: the intermediary fee
The cost of one cross-border wire actually comes in three layers:
- The sending bank's fee: charged by your own bank, visible before you submit.
- The intermediary fee: each intermediary bank along the way takes a cut, hard to pin down in advance. This is the main reason money "goes missing."
- The receiving bank's incoming fee: some receiving banks charge again for crediting an incoming international wire.
Stack the three together and you've explained the common confusion: "I only saw one fee, so why did the recipient lose so much more?" The gap mostly comes from the intermediary and receiving banks. To control it, the fee option in the next section is the key.
To see roughly what lands under each option before you commit, the wire arrival calculator takes intermediary fees and the OUR/SHA/BEN choice together.
OUR / SHA / BEN: who pays, pick one
This seemingly minor option on a wire decides "who covers the intermediary fee," and so it decides how much the recipient actually gets:
- OUR, all charges on you (the sender). Every cost, intermediary fees included, is paid by you, so the recipient gets the full amount. The trade-off is one extra charge on your side, and it's usually a fixed amount collected up front. Best for tuition or paying a supplier, any case where "the recipient must receive an exact amount."
- SHA, shared (the most common default). You pay your own bank's fee; the intermediary fees come out of the transfer. The recipient gets a bit less, and exactly how much less isn't fully fixed in advance. Most everyday personal transfers use this.
- BEN, all charges on the recipient. Every cost comes out of the transfer; you pay only the principal, but the recipient gets noticeably less. Rarely used for ordinary personal transfers.
Remember one line: want the recipient to get the full amount, choose OUR; want to pay a little less yourself and can accept the recipient getting less, choose SHA.
The three fee options compared
| Option | Sender pays | Who pays the intermediary fee | Does the recipient get the full amount | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OUR | Principal + all charges | Sender | Yes, in full | Tuition, paying a supplier, an exact amount |
| SHA | Principal + own bank's fee | Taken from the transfer | No, a little less | Everyday personal transfers (common default) |
| BEN | Principal only | Taken from the transfer | No, noticeably less | Rarely used for personal transfers |
When a wire is worth it
A wire isn't designed to "save on fees," but in a few situations it's still the best option:
- The amount is large. A flat fee is a small share of a big sum, and large amounts need a proper bank channel anyway.
- You need a formal bank record. For tuition, proof of funds for a visa, buying property or business payments, institutions usually accept only a bank-to-bank wire confirmation.
- The recipient specifically requires a bank deposit, and no cheaper compliant route covers that corridor.
The other way round: if you're sending a small amount and the recipient has a phone and a bank account, a transfer app usually delivers more; if the recipient has no bank account and needs cash pickup, Western Union / MoneyGram is more practical. Compare "how much the recipient receives" across options first, then decide whether to wire.
The wire left. Nothing arrived. What now?
Start with the move not to make: don't send it again. A second wire almost always runs into whatever stopped the first, and now you have two payments to untangle instead of one.
Then split the problem, because the halves need completely different handling. Money arrived but short is a fee question: an intermediary or the receiving bank took a cut, which the two sections above explain; what you want is a breakdown, not a search. Nothing arrived at all is the case below.
Check whether it is even late yet
Wires are not instant. On the main currency corridors money usually lands within a few working days, and once you add a time difference, a weekend, a local holiday and each intermediary's own processing cycle, close to a week isn't abnormal. Chasing inside your bank's stated window achieves nothing; the money is almost certainly queued at some link in the chain. There is exactly one moment worth acting on: the window has passed, and your recipient confirms nothing has landed.
Go to the sending bank, not the receiving one
The instinct is to have the recipient ask their own bank. That road is mostly closed: until the money credits, the receiving bank has no record to look up. It does not know anyone is sending anything its way. Your contract is with the bank that sent the money, and only that bank can follow its own message down the chain.
Two things to ask for by name
When you raise it at a counter or with support, two things are worth naming, because they are rarely offered:
- A copy of the SWIFT message. Most people still call it an MT103; some banks have moved to a newer message standard and use a different name, but "a SWIFT copy of this transfer" is understood anywhere. Treat it as the payment's shipping docket: when it left, the amount and currency, both parties, and whether charges were set to OUR or SHA. When the other side says "we never received it," this is the one piece of hard evidence you hold.
- The UETR, a reference that follows this single payment end to end. With it, the bank can see which institution is holding the money now and when it got there. This is a real improvement of the last few years in cross-border payments, but counter staff seldom volunteer it.
The formal search a bank runs is usually called a trace or an investigation. It normally carries a fee and takes several working days to come back. On a small transfer that fee can approach the amount you are chasing, so weigh it before you ask.
Four things a trace usually comes back with
| What the trace shows | What it means | Your move |
|---|---|---|
| Held at an intermediary for compliance review | That bank wants more information | Send it through your own bank, not directly to the institution holding it |
| Returned, details didn't match | Name, account number or BIC was wrong somewhere | Wait for the refund to land before resending; a return also takes days and can cost a fee |
| Credited to the receiving bank, recipient sees nothing | Usually a posting delay, or it went to a different account | Now it's the recipient's turn, with the date and amount, at their own bank |
| Arrived, but short | An intermediary or the receiving bank deducted charges | Ask for the fee breakdown; if you paid OUR and were still charged, take it up with your bank |
Worth saying plainly: the large majority of properly sent wires do arrive, later than expected but they arrive. What deserves your suspicion on this road isn't the delay. It's any suggestion that appears mid-way about paying something to release or speed up the money, whoever it seems to come from. Bank charges are deducted from the transfer or billed openly at the counter; no legitimate one asks you to move a separate payment somewhere to "activate" money that is already yours. Our scams guide takes that pattern apart.
One more thing: if the same corridor has stalled on you twice, that isn't bad luck, it's the wrong route for this money. A channel that knows the destination well beats tracing every transfer; the four-way comparison is a fair place to choose again.
Common questions
How long should I wait before asking for a trace?
Go by the arrival window your sending bank quoted. Once that window has passed and your recipient confirms nothing has landed, that is the moment to ask. Inside the window, a counter clerk can do exactly what you can do — wait.
How many days does a wire usually take?
Commonly 2–5 business days, depending on how many intermediary banks it passes, the currency and how fast both banks process. Across a weekend or holiday it's slower. Go by your own bank's stated timing.
Why did the recipient get less than I sent?
Mainly the intermediary fees and the receiving bank's incoming fee along the way, plus the rate margin. To have the recipient receive the full amount, choose OUR (all charges on you) when you send.
Are SWIFT and IBAN the same thing?
No. SWIFT / BIC is the code that identifies "which bank"; IBAN is the number that identifies "which account" (common in Europe and beyond). They cover different jobs, and you often need both.
Can a wire be recalled?
Once sent it's usually hard to recall, especially after it has reached the recipient's account. That's why checking the details before you submit is critical; look twice rather than once.
Before you send, have these three to hand: the recipient's name exactly as their account holds it, the account number or IBAN, and the receiving bank's BIC. Get those three right and anything that still goes wrong costs you time, not the money.
Where to verify: wire fees, reference rates and arrival timing go by your own bank's current page and statements; standards like SWIFT / BIC and IBAN can be confirmed through the receiving bank's official channels; total cross-border cost can be cross-checked against public data such as the World Bank's "Remittance Prices Worldwide." This article is education, not investment or legal advice.
Update note (18 Jun 2026): first published, laying out the wire process, the intermediary-fee mechanism and the OUR/SHA/BEN choice.
Update note (7 Sep 2026): retitled the details section around the question people actually ask, and added a reference image on why cross-border payments stay slow and lossy.
Update note (8 Sep 2026): added a full section on tracing a wire that never arrived: when it counts as late, which bank to approach, asking for the SWIFT copy and the UETR, and how to handle each of the four things a trace comes back with.