How to parse the remitter's country out of SWIFT tag 50F

What the “F”?

The 50F tag is an important variant on the tag 50 you know and love. Adopted at about the same time that the European Union enacted EU 1781/2006, the tag provided a structure for remitter data that banks in the EU/EAA could use in building their compliance programs. (Further details about EU 1781, and other payments transparency legislation will be the topic of a separate post. This post is the non-nonsense, high-speed, low drag guide to getting some critical data out of your wire messages and into your AML systems)

Step 1. Focus on the messages where 50F can be used.

The 50F tag can appear in the following messages;

• MT101
• MT102
• MT102+
• MT103
• MT103+
• MT202COV
• MT205COV
• CHIPS encapsulations of SWIFT Covers
• FedWire encapsulations of SWIFT Covers

Tag 50 can be thought of as having 2 main components; account or identifier information and the name/address block of data. In tag 50F, both components can contain the ISO country code related to the remitter's address.

Step 2. Get the ISO country codes out of the account or identifier information.

Special codes in 50F, when present, they are always in line 1 of tag 50F, taking the place normally showing the remitter's account number.

Code	Description	Location of ISO country code ('AQ' used as example)
ARNU	Alien Registration Number	ARNU/AQ/9999999999999
CCPT	Passport Number	CCPT/AQ/99999999999999
CUST	Customer Number	CUST/AQ/9999999999999
DRLC	Driver's License	DRLC/AQ/999999999999
NIDN	National Identity Number	NIDN/AQ/999999999999
SOSE	Social Security Number	SOSE/AQ/999999999999
TXID	Tax Identification Number	TXID/AQ/999999999999

Step 3. Get the ISO country codes out of the name/address block

In the 'name and address' portion of tag 50, the country ISO code is shown immediately after any appearance of “3/”, “7/” or “8/”.

Here's an example of the ISO code found using “3/”;

:50F:/GB29PNBP60161331926819

1/FELICITY ASHTON

2/BLDG 155

3/AQ/MCMURDO STATION

7/ is another way to provide a customer identification number, and is different in syntax from the special code “CUST”. It would be:

7/AQ/issuer-id-code/customer-id-number

8/is another way to provide a national ID number, and is different in syntax from the special code “NIDN”. It would appear as;

8/AQ/national-id-num

Recap

Cut and paste these steps into your to-do list or project plan to make sure you're getting the remitter's country code out of SWIFT tag 50F;

Step 1. Focus on the messages where 50F can be used. (101, 102, 102+, 103, 103+, 202COV, 205COV, and don't forget the CHIPS and FedWire encapsulations of SWIFT covers may have the tags as well.

Step 2. Get the ISO country codes out of the account or identifier information. Parse on “ARNU/”, “CCPT/”, “CUST/”, “DRLC/”, “NIDN/”, “SOSE/” and “TXID/”. Take the next two characters. They are the 2-letter ISO country code.

Step 3. Get the ISO country codes out of the name/address block. Parse on “3/”, “7/” and “8/”. Take the next two characters. They are the 2-letter ISO country code.

Happy hunting!