"Can you send me the MT103?" is one of the most common requests in international business โ usually from someone waiting on a payment that hasn't arrived. The MT103 and its sibling, the MT202, were for decades the core SWIFT messages behind cross-border transfers. As of 22 November 2025, both have been formally replaced on SWIFT for cross-border payments by ISO 20022 messages โ pacs.008 and pacs.009. But banks, businesses and customer portals still use the old names, so it's worth understanding both.
The short version
- MT103 (now pacs.008): a customer credit transfer โ a payment from a person or company to a person or company. It carries who paid, who gets paid, how much, and why.
- MT202 (now pacs.009): a bank-to-bank transfer โ moving funds between financial institutions, including to fund a customer payment.
- MT202 COV (now pacs.009 COV): the bank-to-bank "cover" payment that funds an MT103/pacs.008 sent directly to the beneficiary bank, carrying the underlying customer details for screening.
- Only the customer message identifies your payment. A bank-to-bank message isn't proof that a specific customer was paid.
MT103 โ the customer credit transfer
"MT" stands for Message Type. Category 1 messages cover customer payments; the MT103 was the single customer credit transfer. Its key fields read like a payment's biography:
- Block 3, field 121 โ UETR: the 36-character unique tracking reference (e.g. 8-4-4-4-12 format)
- :20: Sender's reference โ the sending bank's own reference
- :32A: Value date / currency / amount โ the interbank settled amount
- :50: Ordering customer โ who is paying
- :52: Ordering institution โ the payer's bank
- :56: Intermediary institution โ a bank in the middle, if any
- :57: Account-with institution โ the beneficiary's bank
- :59: Beneficiary โ who is being paid
- :70: Remittance information โ invoice number or payment reference
- :71A: Details of charges โ OUR, SHA or BEN (who pays the fees)
In pacs.008, the same information lives in structured XML elements โ Debtor, Debtor Agent, Intermediary Agent, Creditor Agent, Creditor, Remittance Information, and Charge Bearer (DEBT/SHAR/CRED, equivalent to OUR/SHA/BEN). The UETR carries across unchanged, so tracking continues seamlessly.
MT202 โ the bank-to-bank transfer
Category 2 messages are transfers between financial institutions. The MT202 moved money from one bank to another โ to fund a nostro account, settle an FX trade, or provide the funding leg for a customer payment. It identifies banks, not end customers: sender's reference, related reference, amount, and the beneficiary institution.
The MT202 COV variant was introduced after the 2008 financial crisis so that cover payments would carry the underlying customer's details, letting every intermediary bank run sanctions and AML checks on the real parties.
What changed in November 2025 โ ISO 20022
After a coexistence period that began in March 2023, SWIFT ended MT/MX coexistence for cross-border payment instructions on 22 November 2025. Payment instructions between banks must now be sent in ISO 20022 format; SWIFT reports that over 97% of messages on its network were in ISO 20022 by the end of 2025. A chargeable conversion service remains as a last-resort contingency for institutions that weren't ready.
| Legacy MT | ISO 20022 replacement | Purpose |
|---|
| MT103 | pacs.008 | Customer credit transfer |
| MT202 | pacs.009 | Bank-to-bank transfer |
| MT202 COV | pacs.009 COV | Cover payment carrying customer details |
| MT103 / MT202 returns | pacs.004 | Payment return |
| MT199 / MT299 (free format) | Moving to structured case-management (camt) messages | Queries and investigations |
Why the change matters for you: ISO 20022 carries richer, structured data โ full remittance information, structured names and addresses, purpose codes. That means fewer payments stopped for missing details, better automated reconciliation, and cleaner compliance screening.
Why people ask for an MT103 โ and how to use it properly
- As proof your bank sent the payment: A copy of the outbound customer message (MT103 or pacs.008) shows the amount, date, beneficiary details and UETR.
- To trace a payment: The UETR lets the recipient's bank locate an incoming payment quickly.
- To resolve disputes: It shows which bank last handled the funds and which charge option was used.
Watch out: A PDF "MT103" emailed by a counterparty is not proof that money is in your account. Fake MT103s are a well-known fraud tactic. The only real confirmation is funds credited to your account, confirmed by your own bank. And an MT202/pacs.009 on its own only proves bank-to-bank movement, not that your specific payment was made.
What this means for your payments
When you send a SWIFT payment, ask your provider for the payment confirmation with the UETR as a matter of routine โ many will still call it an "MT103 copy." When you're waiting to receive funds, ask the sender for that UETR rather than a screenshot. And if anyone tries to reassure you with an MT202, politely ask for the customer payment reference instead.
Sources
- SWIFT โ ISO 20022 end of coexistence: 10 days to go (Nov 2025) โ www.swift.com
- ING โ ISO 20022 SWIFT CBPR+ update โ www.ingwb.com
- SWIFT โ A year of shared progress: 5 highlights from 2025 (30 Dec 2025) โ www.swift.com
