What SWIFT and correspondent banking actually mean for your transfer
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International transfers between banks rely on a messaging network that allows financial institutions to instruct each other securely about moving funds, commonly referred to by the acronym SWIFT. It does not move money itself but carries the instructions that tell one bank to debit an account and another bank, often in a different country, to credit the corresponding amount to the recipient.
Because most banks do not hold a direct relationship with every other bank worldwide, transfers often pass through one or more correspondent banks that act as intermediaries, each maintaining accounts with the other to settle balances. Every additional correspondent in the chain can add processing time and sometimes an intermediary handling charge, which is part of why cross border transfers can take longer and cost more than a domestic one.
Newer transfer providers sometimes bypass parts of this traditional chain by holding pooled funds in both countries and settling transactions locally on each side, which can make transfers faster and more predictable. Understanding this background helps explain why the same amount sent through different channels can arrive at noticeably different times and with different deductions along the way.