SWIFT MT700, MT760, MT799 and MT103: what each message really means

What is a SWIFT MT message?

Swift is a secure messaging network used by banks and other financial institutions. Each participant is identified by a Business Identifier Code (BIC). “MT” messages are the traditional Swift message types, numbered by category: category 1 covers customer payments, category 2 transfers between financial institutions, and category 7 documentary credits, guarantees and standby letters of credit.

Two points are often misunderstood. First, Swift transports messages; it does not guarantee, verify or fund the transactions described in them. The legal value of a message comes from the bank that sends it and the terms it contains. Second, only Swift participants send messages, and banks normally exchange them only with institutions they have authorised to send them traffic. A trader, a broker or an adviser has no way to “send an MT760” on anyone’s behalf.

The main messages at a glance

How does an MT700 work?

When a buyer’s bank issues a letter of credit, it usually sends an MT700 to a bank in the seller’s country, the advising bank. The message contains structured fields: form of credit, applicable rules (typically UCP latest version, meaning UCP 600), expiry date and place, amount, applicant, beneficiary, how and where the credit is available, shipment details, description of goods, documents required, additional conditions and confirmation instructions (CONFIRM, MAY ADD or WITHOUT).

Under UCP 600, an authenticated teletransmission of the credit is the operative instrument (article 11), and an advising bank that advises it signifies that it has satisfied itself as to its apparent authenticity (article 9). In practice this is why a seller should receive the credit through its own bank, not as an emailed file.

Example (illustrative): a buyer in Côte d’Ivoire asks its bank to issue a credit in favour of a supplier in Spain. The Ivorian bank sends an MT700 to the supplier’s Spanish bank, which checks apparent authenticity and passes the credit to the supplier. If the buyer later extends the shipment date, the issuing bank sends an MT707, which the supplier may accept or reject.

What does an MT760 prove?

MT760 is the message used to issue a demand guarantee or a standby letter of credit. It may be sent to an advising bank that passes the undertaking to the beneficiary, or to a correspondent bank asking it to issue its own local guarantee against the counter-guarantee of the sender. The message states the applicable rules, typically URDG 758 for demand guarantees or ISP98 for standbys, along with the amount, expiry, beneficiary and the conditions of a demand.

An MT760 proves that the sending bank issued (or requested the issue of) an undertaking on the stated terms. It does not prove that the applicant’s cash is “blocked” for the beneficiary, that the instrument is “cash-backed”, or that it can be sold, leased or “monetized”. A guarantee is an obligation of the issuing bank to pay against a complying demand, nothing more and nothing less. Offers to deliver an “MT760 from a top bank” for a fee, to a party with no relationship with that bank, should be treated as a warning sign.

Is an MT799 a commitment?

MT799 is the free-format message of category 7. Like the other free-format messages (MT199, MT299, MT999), it carries narrative text for which no structured message is used: queries, preliminary information, confirmations of details. Its format gives it no special legal weight. Whether a given MT799 commits the sender depends entirely on what it says and on whether the person who authorised it could bind the bank. Comfort-type MT799s are commonly worded “without any engagement or responsibility on our part”.

Three myths circulate widely:

• “MT799 pre-advice of an SBLC.” UCP 600 article 11 recognises a pre-advice for documentary credits, sent as MT705; the issuing bank that sends one is irrevocably committed to issue without delay on terms not inconsistent with it. There is no equivalent rule that turns a free-format MT799 into a promise to issue a standby.
• “RWA via MT799.” A bank stating that it is “ready, willing and able” to issue or fund is not a commitment to do so. See our guide to the RWA letter.
• “POF via MT799.” A free-format message cannot hold or reserve funds. A genuine proof of funds is a bank statement or a letter from the account holder’s bank.

For structured information about an existing transaction, such as a fraud alert or a financing request, Swift also provides MT759.

What is an MT103 and what changed with ISO 20022?

MT103 is the single customer credit transfer: the instruction a bank sends to pay a sum on behalf of its customer to a beneficiary at another bank. An MT103 copy shows that an instruction was issued. It does not show that the beneficiary’s account was credited; a payment can still be rejected, returned, or held for compliance checks along the chain. Copies are also easy to fabricate, so a seller should rely on its own account, not on a document sent by the buyer.

For cross-border payments, Swift has moved to ISO 20022 messages, where the customer credit transfer is the pacs.008 message. The coexistence period between MT and ISO 20022 for cross-border payments ended on 22 November 2025. The term “MT103” remains in everyday use. Category 7 trade messages (MT700, MT760 and related messages) were not part of that payments migration and continue to be exchanged in MT format.

Expressions such as “server-to-server”, “IP/IP transfer”, “download” or “conditional SWIFT payment” do not describe how bank payments work and appear frequently in fraudulent offers.

How do you verify a SWIFT message?

• Ask that any credit, guarantee or standby be advised to you through your own bank, and rely on your bank’s written confirmation.
• Check the issuing bank’s BIC and legal name in Swift’s BIC directory, and confirm that the institution is licensed by its supervisor.
• Contact the issuing bank through contact details you found independently, never the phone number or email in the document you received.
• Do not pay upfront fees to obtain or “release” a message. Banks charge their own customers for instruments they issue; third parties cannot sell a Swift message.
• If in doubt, use an independent document verification before shipping goods or signing a contract.

How Star Alliance helps

We help importers, exporters and contractors prepare the request for a documentary credit, guarantee or standby: review of the transaction, the file and the proposed wording, and coordination with the parties and the issuing institutions. We do not send or receive Swift messages and do not issue instruments; issuance and the final decision belong to the bank. If you need an instrument for a real transaction, start with our standby letter of credit service page.

Frequently asked questions