MT 190 Explained: Advice of Charges, Interest and Other Adjustments

MT 190 is how a bank tells the holder of an account with it — typically another bank, using it as a nostro or correspondent account — about a charge, interest amount, or other adjustment it has applied. It's the SWIFT equivalent of a debit-advice line item, sent so the account holder can reconcile its own books without waiting for a full statement.

Key fields

• 20 — Transaction Reference: Reference for this specific advice.
• 21 — Related Reference: Links the charge back to the original transaction it relates to, if there is one.
• 32C / 32D — Value Date, Currency, Amount: 32C for a debit, 32D for a credit — when and how much was adjusted.
• 52a — Ordering Institution: The bank whose account is being adjusted, if different from the message's direct sender.
• 71B — Details of Charges: A breakdown of what the charge actually represents.
• 72 — Sender to Receiver Information: Free text explaining the adjustment in plain terms.

MT 190 is account-holder-facing — it doesn't move funds by itself, it just documents an adjustment that's already been posted, so the account holder isn't surprised when the balance doesn't match what it expected.