SWIFT message types

SWIFT message types

SWIFT messages consist of five blocks of data including three headers, message content, and a trailer. Message types are crucial to identifying content.

All SWIFT messages include the literal "MT" (Message Type). This is followed by a 3-digit number that denotes the message type, category, and group. Consider the following example, which is an order to buy or sell via a third party:

MT502

The first digit (5) represents the category. A category denotes messages that relate to particular financial instruments or services such as Precious Metals, Syndications, or Travelers Checks. The category denoted by 5 is Securities Markets.

The second digit (0) represents a group of related parts in a transaction life cycle. The group indicated by 0 is a Financial Institution Transfer.

The third digit (2) is the type that denotes the specific message. There are several hundred message types across the categories. The type represented by 2 is a Third-Party Transfer.

Each message is assigned unique identifiers.

A 4-digit session number is assigned each time the user logs in.

Each message is then assigned a 6-digit sequence number.

These are then combined to form an ISN (Input Sequence Number) from the user's computer to SWIFT or an OSN (Output Sequence Number) from SWIFT to the user's computer. It is important to remember that terminology is always from the perspective of SWIFT and not the user.

The Logical Terminal Address (12 character BIC), Day, Session and Sequence numbers combine to form the MIR (Message Input Reference) and MOR (Message Output Reference), respectively.