Payment Anatomy
A SWIFT cross-border payment from US to Japan
A high-value USD payment routed through correspondent banks via the SWIFT network, with nostro/vostro settlement.
Payment instruction
MT103 or pacs.008 via SWIFT
Forwarded pacs.008
Credit advice to beneficiary
Fun Fact
A SWIFT cross-border payment touches up to 5 institutions across 2 time zones. SWIFT gpi now tracks 50% of payments arriving within 30 minutes, but outliers can take 2-5 days.