SWIFT MT — FIN Message Types

The legacy family of financial messages on the SWIFT network, in production since 1977. Five blocks, two- or three-digit numeric tags, and fifty years of interbank payment heritage: the DNA of global financial messaging.

What is SWIFT MT?

SWIFT MT — for Message Type — refers both to the format of financial messages exchanged on the SWIFT FIN network and to the catalogue of message types themselves, each identified by a three-digit code: MT103 for cross-border customer credit transfer, MT202 for interbank transfer, MT940 for customer statement. Designed in the late 1970s as a structured telex, these messages replaced paper correspondence and free-text telex and became the lingua franca of worldwide financial messaging for fifty years.

The three-digit MT code reads as: first digit = category (1 = customer payments, 2 = interbank transfers…), second digit = group within the category, third digit = variant. MT103 is a Single Customer Credit Transfer; MT202 is a General Financial Institution Transfer; MT202 COV is its cover payment variant. Semantics are strictly defined by the SWIFT User Handbook, which ships an annual release every November.

Anatomy of an MT message

Every FIN message is built from five nested blocks, each delimited by a numeric tag between curly braces:

• Block 1 — Basic Header: {1:F01BANKBICAXXX0000000000}, holds the application code (F = FIN), the service (01), the sender BIC, the session number and the sequence number.
• Block 2 — Application Header: {2:I103BANKBICAXXXN}, identifies direction (I = Input, O = Output), the MT number (103), the receiver BIC and the priority.
• Block 3 — User Header (optional): carries network fields like the UETR (Unique End-to-end Transaction Reference, mandatory since November 2018 for gpi).
• Block 4 — Text: the message body, structured into fields identified by numeric tags (:20:, :23B:, :32A:…).
• Block 5 — Trailer: checksums and network controls ({CHK:...}).

A didactic MT103 minimal example, a transfer of EUR 12,500 from a BNP Paribas (France) account to a Deutsche Bank (Germany) account:

{1:F01BNPAFRPPAXXX0000000000}{2:I103DEUTDEFFXXXXN}{3:{108:REF20260514001}}{4:
:20:REF20260514001
:23B:CRED
:32A:260514EUR12500,00
:50K:/FR7630006000011234567890189
ACME SARL
12 RUE DE LA SOIE
69001 LYON
:59:/DE89370400440532013000
HANS MUELLER GMBH
HAUPTSTRASSE 12
60313 FRANKFURT
:70:INVOICE 2026-187
:71A:OUR
-}{5:{CHK:ABC123456789}}

The Block 4 tags are: :20: Sender's Reference, :23B: Bank Operation Code, :32A: Value Date / Currency / Amount, :50K: Ordering Customer, :59: Beneficiary, :70: Remittance Information, :71A: Details of Charges (OUR / SHA / BEN).

Message categories

MT types are organised into nine business categories plus a cross-cutting "n9x" group for acknowledgments and common messages. Historical volume sits in categories 1, 2, 5, 7 and 9.

Migration to ISO 20022 (November 2025)

Since March 2017 SWIFT has planned the staged retirement of the MT format in favour of ISO 20022 XML for cross-border payments and cash management reporting — a programme known as CBPR+ (Cross-Border Payments and Reporting Plus). The final timeline:

• March 2023 — switch-over of the Eurosystem T2/T2S system and EBA Clearing EURO1 to ISO 20022.
• March 2023 — November 2025 — MT/MX coexistence window on SWIFTNet. Banks send in ISO 20022 and SWIFT translates back to MT for receivers not yet migrated (the FINplus In-Flow Translation service).
• 22 November 2025 — official end of coexistence. MT103 and MT202 are no longer accepted in cross-border. Domestic flows remain permitted.

MT ↔ MX equivalences (the SWIFT term for ISO 20022 messages) are standardised by CBPR+:

Use cases in 2026

• Corporate bank reporting — the majority of intraday and end-of-day statements delivered to corporate treasuries by their banks are still sent as MT940/MT942 until back-office migration to camt.053/camt.052 (timing varies, several large banks announce 2026-2027).
• Documentary credits & guarantees — category 7xx (MT700, MT760, MT767) remains heavily used and has no CBPR+-style retirement schedule comparable to payments.
• Securities settlement — category 5xx coexists with the ISO 20022 sese/semt family but stays alive in legacy post-trade.
• Domestic clearing — some corridors (Germany, UK domestic) still accept MT for internal flows; local migration depends on each ACH (BoE CHAPS migrated in June 2023, Fed FedNow is ISO-native, US CHIPS migrated in April 2024).

Further reading

• swift.com/standards/data-standards/mt-messages — official MT standards landing page.
• swift.com/standards/iso-20022 — CBPR+ programme and MX timetable.
• iso20022.org — official registry of ISO 20022 messages, MX equivalents of the MT.
• Sister page on ediverse: ISO 20022.
• Message detail pages — Cat 1/2/9 (payments & reporting): MT103, MT199, MT202, MT299, MT900, MT910, MT940, MT942, MT960.
• Cat 5 — Securities Markets: MT500 (Instruction to Register), MT501 (Confirmation of Registration), MT502 (Order to Buy or Sell), MT503 (Collateral Claim), MT504 (Collateral Proposal), MT505 (Collateral Substitution), MT506 (Collateral & Exposure Statement), MT507 (Collateral Status), MT508 (Intra-Position Advice), MT509 (Trade Status), MT510 (Registration Status), MT515 (Client Confirmation), MT535 (Statement of Holdings), MT536 (Statement of Transactions), MT540 (Receive Free), MT541 (Receive Against Payment), MT542 (Deliver Free), MT543 (Deliver Against Payment), MT564 (Corporate Action Notification), MT566 (Corporate Action Confirmation).
• Cat 7 — Documentary Credits & Guarantees: MT700 (Issue of a Documentary Credit), MT701 (Continuation), MT707 (Amendment), MT710 (Advice of a Third Bank's DC), MT742 (Reimbursement Claim), MT750 (Advice of Discrepancy), MT754 (Advice of Payment), MT760 (Demand Guarantee / Standby LC).
• Cat 3 — Treasury Markets (FX, Money Markets): MT300 (FX Confirmation), MT305 (FX Option Confirmation), MT320 (Fixed Loan/Deposit), MT330 (Call/Notice Loan/Deposit), MT350 (Interest Payment Advice).
• Cat 4 — Collections & Cash Letters: MT400 (Advice of Payment), MT410 (Acknowledgement), MT420 (Tracer), MT422 (Advice of Fate).