FAQs

You will generally need below details:

• Payee details: bank name, account holder name and account number or an International Bank Account Number (IBAN).
• Full payee address: including country, state, province, postcode where applicable.
• Payee's bank codes: Such as BIC/SWIFT code or country specific codes.  

Note: details will vary depending on which country you are sending money to. To avoid your international payment being rejected, or additional foreign currency conversions, please check with the payee the currency of the foreign account you are sending money to.

SWIFT/BIC code, also known as Bank Identifier Code (BIC) is an 8-11 alphanumeric code used to identify a bank. You can contact the receiving bank/recipient for the details or use the ‘look up bank’ function in Westpac Online Banking when adding a new payee.

IBAN is an international bank account number. This is an alphanumeric code of 15 to 34 characters. IBAN should be provided for all payments to the EU/EEA, UK and some non-European countries including most states of the Middle East, e.g. UAE, as well as North Africa and the Caribbean region.

Your beneficiary can provide the IBAN for your transfer or if paying to your own account, your offshore bank can provide these details. Please note that the beneficiary’s account number and full address are required to initiate any international money transfer.

Countries that have specific codes:

• USA: ABA routing number also known as Routing Transfer Number (RTN) is a 9-digit code. Used for USA only.
• India: IFSC is an Indian Financial System Code which is an alphanumeric 11-digit code.
• UK and Ireland: Sort codes are used in the United Kingdom and in the Republic of Ireland and are comparable to the BSB we use in Australia. It is a 6-digit number, divided into 3 pairs, for example: 12-34-56.