If the Sender and the Receiver wish to use their direct account relationship in the currency of the transfer, then the MT 103 STP message will contain the cover for the customer transfer as well as the payment details.
If the Sender and the Receiver have no direct account relationship in the currency of the transfer or do not wish to use their account relationship, then third banks will be involved to cover the transaction. The MT 103 STP contains only the payment details and the Sender must cover the customer transfer by sending an MT 202 COV General Financial Institution Transfer to a third bank. This payment method is called 'cover'.
Where more than two financial institutions are involved in the payment chain, and if the MT 103 STP is sent from one financial institution to the next financial institution in this chain, then the payment method is called 'serial'.
In order to allow better reconciliation by the beneficiary customer, the MT 103 STP supports full charges transparency and structured remittance information.
In order to allow better reconciliation by the Receiver, the MT 103 STP gives an unambiguous indication of the interbank amount booked by the Sender/to be booked by the Receiver.
The MT 103 STP gives the Sender the ability to identify in the message the level of service requested, that is, what service is expected from the Receiver for a particular payment, for example, SWIFTPay, Standard or Priority or any other bilaterally agreed service.
The message also allows for the inclusion of regulatory information in countries where regulatory reporting is requested.
