What payee details are required to send money abroad?
When sending money abroad, you will need the following information from the payee:
Payee Name
The full name of the person or business you are sending the payment to.
Payee Address
You will need the full address, including town and country of the person/ business that you are sending payment to. If the town and country are missing the payment may be rejected by the receiving bank
Account details for the Payee
- BIC, Account Number or IBAN
The Account Number is used by the beneficiary bank to refer to their customers account. The IBAN (International Bank Account Number) is an international standard for identifying bank accounts. It is preferred when making international transactions as it is a more accurate way of locating beneficiary accounts when sending International Payments.
For certain countries you may be asked for additional information:
A BIC (Bank Identifier Code) is a way of indicating the bank and country that an International Payment is going to be sent. SWIFT (Society for World Interbank Financial Telecommunication) codes are often the same as BIC Codes and function in the same way.
- National Clearing Code and Account Number
A National Clearing Code is a code provided by banks that do not offer their customers an IBAN. You do not need to confirm a national clearing code (or NCC) if you have an IBAN for the beneficiary. National Clearing Codes are sometimes referred to as 'Federal Wire Numbers' by American banks, or a CLABE in Mexico.
Purpose of Payment and Reason for Payment
Purpose of Payment codes / Reasons for Payment are required by the banks of certain destination countries. For more details, please see Purpose of Payment code requirement for specific countries.
