The term money transfer service refers to the ability to transfer money from one person (or institution) to another.

The quickest and safest method of transferring funds is via bank wire transfers, the procedure for such a transfer is as follows:

1. The person who wishes to execute the transfer advises their bank of the amount of money to be paid as well as the bank details of the payee; these details will include the IBAN and BIC code.

2. Once the sending bank has received all the relevant details and authorization they will transmit a message, via a secure system, to the receiver’s bank that it effect payment as per the instructions given.

3. This type of transfer usually takes three business days for the funds to clear.

The price of a bank wire transfer will vary according to such factors as the country the money is being sent to, the amount the payment is for etc.

The majority of international transfers are processed through a co-operative society called SWIFT, which operates a global network to facilitate the transfer of financial messages. Banks use these financial messages to exchange data for the transfer of funds between the various financial institutions.

Each financial institution is assigned a code, usually referred to as a Bank Identifier Code (BIC) or Swift Code. These codes are traditionally eight digits long and identify the name of the bank, the country of the bank and the city the banks head office is based in.

The other method of identification that banks throughout the world use is the IBAN. The IBAN (International Bank Account Number) is defined as a standard numbering system developed to identify bank accounts from around the world. It was originally developed by banks in Europe to simplify transactions involving bank accounts from other countries.

If you are unfamiliar with money transfer services it can be a great idea to employ a payment service provider to supply the facility for you.

Some Payment Service Providers (PSP’s) will offer a money transfer services facility, this is particularly useful for businesses that require making a high number of wire payments. Experienced and well established PSP’s will have links with a number of banks throughout the world, which will allow them to offer more competitive prices for bank wire payments. The other advantage offered by using a PSP is that they will deal with the administrative side of the wire payments, as this work can be extremely time consuming, especially if there are a high volume of payments to be made.