MT 205 Explained: Financial Institution Transfer Execution

MT 205 is sent by a bank that has just received an interbank transfer instruction and needs to execute the next leg onward — typically an intermediary or receiving correspondent passing funds further down a chain that started with an MT 202. It carries the same core purpose as MT 202 but is specifically used when the sender is executing a transfer it received rather than originating it.

Key fields

• 20 — Transaction Reference: Reference for this leg of the transfer.
• 21 — Related Reference: Links back to the instruction this message is executing.
• 32A — Value Date/Currency/Amount: When and how much moves on this leg.
• 56a — Intermediary: A further intermediary, if the chain continues.
• 57a — Account With Institution: Where this leg's funds should land.
• 58a — Beneficiary Institution: The ultimate receiving bank for this leg.

In a long correspondent chain, each bank passing funds onward may issue its own MT 205 rather than simply forwarding the original MT 202 — each one is a fresh instruction reflecting that bank's own routing decisions.