SWIFT field structure

This section discusses the SWIFT field structure. A field is a logical subdivision of a message block A, which consists of a sequence of components with a starting field tag and delimiters.

A field is always prefaced by a field tag that consists of two digits followed, optionally, by an alphabetic character. The alphabetic character is referred to as an option. For example, 16R is a tag (16) with an option (R) that indicates the start of a block; 16S is a tag (16) with an option (S) that indicates the end of a block. A field is always terminated by a field delimiter. The delimiter depends on the type of field used in a message block.

There are two types of fields used in SWIFT messages: generic and non-generic. The type of field used in a SWIFT message block is determined by the Message Type. What follows is a discussion of these SWIFT field structures. For more on generic and non-generic fields and how to distinguish between them, see Part III, Chapter 3 of the SWIFT User Handbook

Note:
The symbol CRLF shown below is a control character and represents carriage return/line feed (0D0A in ASCII hex, 0D25 in EBCDIC hex).

Non-generic fields

The structure of non-generic fields in SWIFT message blocks is as follows:

:2!n[1a]: data content<CRLF>

where:

: = mandatory colon

2!n = numeric character, fixed length

[1a] = one optional alphabetic character, letter option

: = mandatory colon

data content = the data content, which is defined separately for every tag

<CRLF> = field delimiter

The following is an example of a non-generic field:

:20:1234<CRLF> :32A:...<CRLF>

Note:
In some cases (such as with the tag 15A...n), the data content is optional.

Generic fields

The structure of generic fields in SWIFT messages is as follows:

:2!n1a::4!c'/'[8c]'/'data content

where

:2!n1a: = same format as non-generic fields, except that 1a is mandatory

: = mandatory second colon (required in all generic fields)

4!c = qualifier

'/' = first delimiter

[8c] = issuer code or Data Source Scheme (DSS)

'/' = second delimiter

data content = See Part III, Chapter 3 of the SWIFT User Handbook for the format definition

Note:
Non-generic fields and generic fields cannot share the same field tag letter option letter. In order to distinguish between them easily, a colon is defined as the first character of the column Component Sequence. Generic fields are defined in the same section (Part III, Chapter 3 of the SWIFT User Handbook) as the non-generic fields.

The following character restrictions apply to generic field data content:

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