Global money movement for global businesses

SWIFT is an abbreviation for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication and stands for a worldwide network of banks that work collaboratively to provide their customers with international bank transfers.

All SWIFT transfers are carried out via the payer's bank, which gets debited and routed through multiple intermediary banks before the recipient's bank is credited. This whole process can take up to 1-5 business days.

A local transfer uses a network of financial institutions to send money directly to a recipient’s local bank account. These transfers are settled in the local currency by the recipient’s bank. All you need are the recipient’s local bank account details.

Local transfers are generally cheaper and faster than SWIFT transfers. They typically settle instantly or within 1 business day, depending on the country’s payment infrastructure. By contrast, international wire transfers (via SWIFT) are used for cross-border payments but can take 1–5 business days and incur higher fees due to intermediary banks and currency conversion.

The key difference between international wire transfers and local bank transfers is that local transfers are typically faster and more cost-effective, while international wire transfers tend to involve higher fees due to intermediary banks and currency conversions.