--- title: "How a cross-border payment travels: correspondents, nostros and the UETR (video) | Elucidate" description: "A short video on how a payment moves between banks: correspondents, nostro and vostro accounts, serial and cover payments, the UETR, charge codes and what travels with it." url: https://elucidate.co/guides/how-cross-border-payments-work-video --- [Guides](https://elucidate.co/guides) / [Cross-border payments](https://elucidate.co/guides/how-cross-border-payments-work) / Video Published 7 November 2026 Video · Payments # How a cross-border payment travels, bank by bank How a payment moves from the payer’s bank to the payee’s bank: correspondent banks, nostro and vostro accounts, serial and cover payments, the UETR, the charge codes and the information that must travel with it. No sound: the text is on screen and in the transcript below. The facts are those of the [cross-border payments guide](https://elucidate.co/guides/how-cross-border-payments-work), reviewed 2 November 2026. [Download the video](https://elucidate.co/videos/how-cross-border-payments-work.mp4) (MP4, 7.3 MB). ## In this video 1. [0:00 How a cross-border payment travels](https://elucidate.co/guides/how-cross-border-payments-work-video?t=0) 2. [0:05 Why payments need correspondents](https://elucidate.co/guides/how-cross-border-payments-work-video?t=5) 3. [0:16 Nostro and vostro accounts](https://elucidate.co/guides/how-cross-border-payments-work-video?t=16) 4. [0:26 Serial payments: bank by bank](https://elucidate.co/guides/how-cross-border-payments-work-video?t=26) 5. [0:39 Cover payments: two routes](https://elucidate.co/guides/how-cross-border-payments-work-video?t=39) 6. [0:52 The UETR and tracking](https://elucidate.co/guides/how-cross-border-payments-work-video?t=52) 7. [1:02 Who pays the charges](https://elucidate.co/guides/how-cross-border-payments-work-video?t=62) 8. [1:11 What must travel with a payment](https://elucidate.co/guides/how-cross-border-payments-work-video?t=71) 9. [1:23 Look up a bank in the chain](https://elucidate.co/guides/how-cross-border-payments-work-video?t=83) ## Transcript The video has no voice-over. This is the text it shows, chapter by chapter. - **0:00 · How a cross-border payment travels:** Correspondents, nostro and vostro, pacs messages. How a cross-border payment travels: from the payer’s bank to the payee’s bank, through the correspondents. - **0:05 · Why payments need correspondents:** No account between the two banks. Bank A, the payer’s bank in Brazil, and Bank D, the payee’s bank in Germany, hold no account with each other: across borders, the payer’s bank and the payee’s bank rarely hold accounts with each other. Bank B and Bank C, in the United States, are the dollar correspondents of Bank A and Bank D. A correspondent holds accounts for other banks and pays for them. A dollar payment from Brazil to Germany is usually settled in the United States. - **0:16 · Nostro and vostro accounts:** One account, seen from each side. The respondent, Bank A, holds an account at its correspondent, Bank B, usually in the correspondent’s currency. Nostro, “our account with you”, is Bank A’s view of it; vostro, “your account with us”, is Bank B’s view of the same account. When Bank B pays out of the account, it debits the vostro, and Bank A records a lower balance on its nostro. - **0:26 · Serial payments: bank by bank:** A serial payment, bank by bank: a `pacs.008` customer payment goes from Bank A, the payer’s bank, to Bank B, Bank A’s correspondent, then to Bank C, Bank D’s correspondent, and to Bank D, the payee’s bank, settled at each step. The instruction and the funds travel together. Each bank settles with the previous one, then sends the customer payment on. Every bank sees the payer and the payee, and can screen the payment. Each bank that takes a fee can deduct it on the way. - **0:39 · Cover payments: two routes:** A cover payment: two routes. The instruction, a `pacs.008`, is sent directly from Bank A to Bank D. The funds, a `pacs.009 COV`, go through the correspondents: from Bank A to Bank B, Bank A’s correspondent, then to Bank C, Bank D’s correspondent, and to Bank D, which matches the cover to the instruction. Bank A sends the customer payment straight to Bank D, and the funds separately, through the correspondents. Bank D credits the payee once the cover arrives. The cover copies the payer and payee details, so the correspondents can screen it. - **0:52 · The UETR and tracking:** One reference, end to end: `9dbf6d2d-3db5-4e70-a516-6068da42d8a3`. A UETR is a version 4 UUID: 32 hexadecimal characters in five groups. The unique end-to-end transaction reference: the first bank sets it, and every bank after it passes it on unchanged. Banks that are members of Swift GPI report each step against the UETR, up to the credit to the payee. - **1:02 · Who pays the charges:** Three codes for the charges. The payer’s bank states in the customer payment who bears them. `DEBT` (MT: `OUR`): the payer pays all charges; the payee receives the full amount. `SHAR` (MT: `SHA`): each side pays its own bank’s charges. `CRED` (MT: `BEN`): the payee pays all charges, deducted from the amount. - **1:11 · What must travel with a payment:** Payer and payee details travel with it. FATF Recommendation 16: information on the payer and the payee accompanies a wire transfer through the whole chain, so every bank can screen it. Revised in June 2025 as “Payment transparency”. The changes come into effect by the end of 2030. In law: in the EU, Regulation (EU) 2023/1113, applicable since 30 December 2024; in the US, 31 CFR 1010.410, for USD 3,000 or more. - **1:23 · Look up a bank in the chain:** Look up a bank in the chain: its BIC, its LEI, its national bank codes, how it is written as an agent in a payment message, and whether it is on the Swift GPI member list, at elucidate.co/directory. The full guide is at elucidate.co/guides/how-cross-border-payments-work. **Look up a bank in the chain.** Search the directory by name, BIC, LEI or national bank code to see the institution, how it is written as an agent in a payment message and whether it is on the Swift GPI member list. [Search the directory](https://elucidate.co/directory/search) ## Sources - [How a cross-border payment travels](https://elucidate.co/guides/how-cross-border-payments-work). Elucidate guide, reviewed 2 November 2026: the text this video follows. - [Correspondent banking](https://www.bis.org/cpmi/publ/d147.htm), July 2016. Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI). - [Standards MT Release 2018: mandatory changes in category 1 and category 2](https://www.swift.com/news-events/news/standard-mt-release-2018-mandatory-changes-category-1-and-category-2), on the UETR. Swift. - [FATF updates Standards on Recommendation 16 on Payment Transparency](https://www.fatf-gafi.org/en/publications/Fatfrecommendations/update-Recommendation-16-payment-transparency-june-2025.html), June 2025. Financial Action Task Force (FATF). - [Regulation (EU) 2023/1113](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/1113/oj) on information accompanying transfers of funds and certain crypto-assets. EUR-Lex. - [31 CFR 1010.410](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-31/subtitle-B/chapter-X/part-1010/subpart-D/section-1010.410), records to be made and retained by financial institutions. Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. ## Read the guides - [Guide · Payments How a cross-border payment travels The full guide: correspondents, nostro and vostro accounts, serial and cover payments, the messages, the UETR, charges and payment transparency.](https://elucidate.co/guides/how-cross-border-payments-work) - [Video · Payment codes BIC, IBAN or routing number? Three codes, three jobs What a BIC, an IBAN and a national bank code each identify, and which codes a payment needs.](https://elucidate.co/guides/bic-iban-routing-number-video) - [Guide · RMA What a Swift RMA authorisation controls The authorisation a bank needs from another before it can send it payment messages on Swift.](https://elucidate.co/guides/swift-rma) FinCrime Index ## Assess the financial crime risk behind a counterparty A BIC, an LEI or a licence identifies an institution. It does not assess it. The Elucidate FinCrime Index (EFI) is an independent score of the financial crime risk of banks and payment firms. Ask what it covers for the counterparties you deal with. [Get the score](https://elucidate.co/directory/score) [Read about the FinCrime Index](https://elucidate.co/ratings)