If you need to send money to Colombia from Canada, one of the most reliable ways to do so is with a SWIFT money transfer. Learn about this method for international transactions and how Western Union makes it easy for you to reach loved ones and business associates.
What is SWIFT?
SWIFT stands for Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications. It’s a global cooperative that connects banks around the world and is used to send information about transactions, securely and rapidly.
First and foremost, SWIFT is a communications service. Rather than actively transferring funds or maintaining accounts, it allows banking services in different countries to communicate about transactions. This service isn’t limited to international transactions, as businesses regularly use SWIFT to accept payments from customers who use different banks. The network acts as a facilitator for these transactions while keeping sensitive data secure.
Before SWIFT, banking services used a different messaging service that resembled a fax machine or a phone network. While it was functional, it lacked speed and didn’t have a consistent, unified code system to identify transactions. Instead, those who wanted to initiate a transaction had to send a detailed message describing the intended transaction, which needed to be interpreted and processed. While this older system, called Telex, got the job done, it did so inefficiently and with high risk of error.
By contrast, SWIFT uses a coding system with a consistent format, which ensures usability and accuracy!
How do SWIFT money transfers work?
SWIFT is used by members from all parts of the financial sector, including trading houses, securities dealers, and exchange brokers. But if a company based in Toronto that banks locally at a Bank of Montreal branch needed to pay an invoice to a vendor based in Bogota, Colombia, who banked with Banco Popular, SWIFT is the way to go.
In the past, the Canadian company would need to type out a detailed request in Telex, and hope that the person in Colombia would interpret it correctly. Now, all the company needs to do to is take the intended Colombian recipient’s SWIFT code and account number to the Bank of Montreal, and pay a small transaction fee.
With that information, the Bank of Montreal can send payment over the SWIFT network to the vendor’s Colombian bank. When the vendor’s bank is notified of the incoming transfer, it credits the vendor’s account. In a way, the SWIFT network is like a game of telephone.
Generally, payment only takes a few days to transfer, but if multiple intermediary banks are involved or conflict between certain countries, it may take longer. Intermediary banks are used if two banks or other financial institutions don’t have a business relationship. The transaction can still proceed, but more steps may be required, which may incur more fees.
What is a SWIFT code?
SWIFT started as 239 banks from 15 different countries coming together to streamline their system for payments and wire transfers. Today, over 11,000 financial institutions in over 200 countries and territories are SWIFT members. Each member receives a unique SWIFT code, which are sometimes called Bank/Business Identifier Codes (BICs).
This code contains either eight or 11 characters and identifies the bank name, its city and country. Sometimes its branch is included as well, which is why the code can have up to 11 characters.
It’s also worth noting that a SWIFT code is not the same as an IBAN code.
Sending money from Canada to Colombia
Whether you’re conducting business or sending money to family, transferring funds from Canada to Colombia couldn’t be easier with Western Union. Use our online website or the Western Union money transfer app to send money to Colombia. You can be sure that your transaction will be secure, thanks to the SWIFT network.
