The formula
Total cost = Sender fee + (N correspondents × per-bank fee) + Receiver fee + (Amount × FX margin ÷ 100)
The number of correspondents depends on the currency pair and the banking relationships on the route. A USD wire between two banks that both hold accounts at the same New York correspondent may touch one intermediary; an exotic-currency route can touch three.
Charging options matter: with OUR, the sender pays all charges (your bank invoices you an estimate up front); with SHA, each bank deducts en route; with BEN, everything is deducted from the beneficiary. SHA is the default for most business wires, which is why modelling deductions is essential.
How to use this calculator
- 1
Enter the wire amount and your bank’s outgoing fee
The outgoing fee is on your bank’s tariff sheet — typically $25–$50 for business accounts.
- 2
Estimate the correspondent chain
Ask your bank how many intermediaries the route uses, or default to 2 for cross-currency routes between smaller banks.
- 3
Add receiving-side charges
Beneficiary banks commonly charge $5–$25 to credit an inbound international wire.
- 4
Set the FX margin
If the wire converts currency, include your bank’s FX margin — often the biggest cost of all. Set 0 for same-currency wires.
Why wires arrive short — and how to stop it
Under SHA charging, each correspondent deducts its handling fee from the principal before passing it on. Neither the sender’s receipt nor the beneficiary’s statement itemises these deductions clearly, so a $60 shortfall on a supplier payment turns into a dispute about who underpaid. Suppliers then start padding invoices or demanding OUR charging, which costs the buyer more.
The structural fix is to use routes with fewer hops: local-rail delivery where available, or a provider that maintains direct payout capability in the destination market. When funds are delivered over a domestic rail on the last leg, there is no correspondent chain to deduct from.
MT103s and proving what was sent
When a wire arrives short or late, the MT103 message is the evidence: it shows the amount instructed, the charging option and the route taken. Businesses that pay suppliers by SWIFT should request the MT103 for every material payment and share it proactively — it collapses most "you underpaid" disputes in minutes.
A payments platform that gives you the payment trail by default removes this friction. KeyBS Pay provides transaction tracking and documentation for each payment, and quotes the receive amount up front so the short-arrival problem is priced out before execution rather than argued about after.
Common use cases
Predicting arrival amounts
Tell your supplier what will actually land before wiring, so the commercial invoice and the received amount reconcile.
Diagnosing a short arrival
Reverse-engineer last month’s $75 shortfall by modelling the correspondent chain your bank used.
OUR vs SHA decisions
Compare the cost of paying all charges up front (OUR) against the deduction risk of SHA on a per-payment basis.
Route selection
Quantify what a two-correspondent SWIFT route costs versus a provider with local payout rails on the destination side.
Automate this with the API
Check indicative settlement paths and timing for a corridor before choosing a SWIFT route.
curl "https://keybs.io/api/v1/tools/settlement?from=GH&to=CN" \ -H "x-api-key: YOUR_FREE_KEY"Free Tools API docs and key registration
Frequently asked questions
How many correspondent banks does a typical SWIFT wire use?
Between zero and three. Major-currency wires between large banks often use one shared correspondent. Cross-currency or emerging-market routes typically add one or two more hops. Your bank can tell you the route for a specific destination — ask before sending a large payment.
What is the difference between OUR, SHA and BEN?
They are SWIFT charging options. OUR: the sender pays every bank’s charges, so the full principal arrives. SHA (the default): the sender pays its own bank; intermediaries deduct from the principal. BEN: all charges are deducted from the beneficiary. For supplier payments where the invoice must be settled exactly, OUR or a local-rail route avoids disputes.
Why did my wire take four days?
Timing is route-dependent. Each correspondent processes in its own business hours and its own time zone, and compliance reviews at any hop can pause the chain. Fewer intermediaries generally means faster and more predictable delivery.
Can I avoid SWIFT fees entirely?
For many corridors, yes in part: providers that hold local payout capability deliver the final leg over domestic rails, removing correspondent deductions. An explicit provider fee replaces the opaque chain. Whether the total is lower depends on the route — model both here.
Does KeyBS Pay use SWIFT?
KeyBS Pay routes payments through partner rails which may include SWIFT segments where appropriate, alongside local payout rails. Pricing is quote-based: the fee and committed receive amount are disclosed before you approve, so route-level deductions are not your problem to reconcile.
What is an MT103 and when do I need one?
The MT103 is the standard SWIFT customer-payment message — effectively the wire’s receipt and routing record. Request it whenever you need to prove payment to a supplier, resolve a short arrival, or trace a delayed wire.
Corridors, tools and reading for this calculator
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