Category 7: Documentary credits, guarantees and standby letters of credit
MT701 Issue of a Documentary Credit
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The MT701 carries the part of a documentary credit that does not fit in the MT700. The issuing bank sends it to the advising bank together with the MT700, with the same credit number, and it holds only the long text fields: goods, documents, additional conditions and special payment conditions.
- Message type
- MT701
- Category
- 7
- Status
- In the current standard
- ISO 20022
- No direct equivalent
What MT701 is used for
A credit with a long description of goods or a long list of documents can exceed the size of one MT700. The issuing bank then sends the MT700 with field 27 showing the total (for example 1/3) and follows it with MT701 messages numbered 2/3 and 3/3. The advising bank waits for the whole series before it advises the credit, because the beneficiary must see all the terms at once.
A field in the MT701 adds to the same field in the MT700: it must not repeat what the MT700 already says, and it must not contradict it. The rules the credit is subject to stay in field 40E of the MT700. Since the 2018 release the MT701 uses the same text fields as the MT700 (45A, 46A, 47A) plus the two special payment conditions fields 49G and 49H; older versions used 45B, 46B and 47B.
- Sent by
- The issuing bank
- Sent to
- The advising bank
MT701 format: sequences and fields
Message text (block 4)Mandatory
No sequences. Field order as in SR 2025.
| Tag | Name | Status | Format | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | Sequence of Total | M | 1!n/1!n | This message’s number in the series and the total, counting the MT700 as number 1. The first MT701 is therefore 2, for example 2/3. |
| 20 | Documentary Credit Number | M | 16x | The credit number from field 20 of the MT700. It links the continuation to the credit. |
| 45A | Description of Goods and/or Services | O | 100*65z | Further description of the goods or services, continuing field 45A of the MT700. |
| 46A | Documents Required | O | 100*65z | Further documents the beneficiary must present, continuing field 46A of the MT700. |
| 47A | Additional Conditions | O | 100*65z | Further conditions of the credit, continuing field 47A of the MT700. |
| 49G | Special Payment Conditions for Beneficiary | O | 100*65z | Further payment conditions that the advising bank passes on to the beneficiary. |
| 49H | Special Payment Conditions for Receiving Bank | O | 100*65z | Further payment conditions meant only for the receiving bank, not for the beneficiary. |
Format notation: n digits, a upper-case letters, c upper-case letters and digits, x any character of the Swift character set, d a decimal number with a comma, ! fixed length, [ ] optional, 4*35x up to 4 lines of 35 characters. M mandatory, O optional, C conditional (a rule decides).
ISO 20022
No ISO 20022 equivalent in general use. Documentary credit messages in category 7 were not part of the November 2025 move of cross-border payment instructions to ISO 20022 and are still exchanged as MT on Swift.
MT701 questions
- How many MT701 messages can follow an MT700?
- The category 7 reference guide allows up to eight MT701 messages after one MT700, so a credit can be sent in up to nine messages. Field 27 numbers them, with the MT700 as number 1.
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